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any ideas?

Hi bak to gb,
You asked a good question.
You can apply for ILR after 4 yrs and 11 month. It starts from the date you enter UK.If you enter Uk within 28 days of issue of your visa start date that is 1st sept, then you have to extend your visa just once that is after 2 years. Otherwise if you enter UK later than 28 days then you have to get it extended 2 times.

I'll try and explain it.

Applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain(ILR) is somewhat different from applying for after Further Leave to remain (FLR).

You can apply for FLR 6 weeks before your current EC will expire (after 2 years) and you will further get 3 years EC. That means if your EC starts from 1st septem 2007, after first FLR your EC will be valid till 31st Aug 2012.
Unlike FLR, ILR can only be granted after your stay in UK has been atleast 4 years 11 months and 2 days. Or in other word, you can apply for ILR 28 days prior to 5 years time after you first entered UK on HSMP status.

So it means, if you Enter UK after 28th of September, then you will have to apply for another FLR after 5 years, because you will not be eligible to apply for ILR and you EC will expire before you would be able to apply for ILR (i.e. your time in UK is less than 4 years 11 months and 2 days).

I hope that this would help.

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Hi again BACK_TO_GB,

When you will apply for your first FLR, the home office will issue 3 years visa starting from the date of issue. Lets say you sent your FLR application on 1st of August 2009. The HO processed your application on 19th of August and issued visa on 20th of August 2009. This visa will have validity from 20th of August 2009 to 19th of August 2012. Which means you lost extra 11 days for your ILR application at the end of 5 years period.

Now lets look into another example which probably you want to follow.
You sent your FLR application on 28th of August 2009(2 days before your visa expiry, you are allowed to do that as long as it reaches HO before 1st September 2009). Lets say they processed your application on 15th september and stamped a visa valid from 16th of September 2009 to 15 of september 2012. This means you have gained extra 15 days to file your ILR

I hope you are able to understand what I am trying to explain.

About the duration you can stay outside UK, I dont know much about that as I havent done enough research on that area. Hope somebody else can shed some light on it.

Best of luck with your future in UK.

P.S. I am also going to UK on 24th of August. When r u planning to arrive?