advised not apply (Solihull PEO) - more than 90 days out

Readers of these boards may have seen my earlier posts re applying for ILR.

Only issue I had was in 2007, I was outside of UK for 120 consecutive days.

Today, I went to the Solihull PEO office.

As others have mentioned, no payment is taken before the interview with the case worker. This is a massive plus.

Caseworker asked for application form, passports and biometric cards.
She flipped thru pages, looked at the list of absences that I provided on the form. She pointed out that one of my absences was for 4 months. She enquirer as to reason. I explained and showed her the supporting docs.

She went to speak to someone at the back, presumably the senior officer on duty. She came back to say that they cannot process my application as they do not have a SEO or grade 7 officer

I asked if they have ever have one in this office, she said no.

She advised I try Croydon PeO , but advised they may turn my application into a postal one whilst "extra checks" are made.

Very disappointed, but at least I did not have to pay over £2000!!

Not sure what to do now, either go to Croydon PEO, go postal route or just wait until end October when my application is guaranteed to be successful?

My current tier 1 only expires next year.

I would appreciate your thoughts. [/list]

jack902 wrote:Readers of these boards may have seen my earlier posts re applying for ILR.

Only issue I had was in 2007, I was outside of UK for 120 consecutive days.

Today, I went to the Solihull PEO office.

As others have mentioned, no payment is taken before the interview with the case worker. This is a massive plus.

Caseworker asked for application form, passports and biometric cards.
She flipped thru pages, looked at the list of absences that I provided on the form. She pointed out that one of my absences was for 4 months. She enquirer as to reason. I explained and showed her the supporting docs.

She went to speak to someone at the back, presumably the senior officer on duty. She came back to say that they cannot process my application as they do not have a SEO or grade 7 officer

I asked if they have ever have one in this office, she said no.

She advised I try Croydon PeO , but advised they may turn my application into a postal one whilst "extra checks" are made.

Very disappointed, but at least I did not have to pay over £2000!!

Not sure what to do now, either go to Croydon PEO, go postal route or just wait until end October when my application is guaranteed to be successful?

My current tier 1 only expires next year.

I would appreciate your thoughts. [/list]

Hi Jack,
In my opinion its better to go on October. As you said at that time your ILR will be guaranteed. If you go to croydon PEO, there is 50/50 chances that you get ILR as it depends on the discretion of the case worker and there is a risk of loosing £2000.00. As you are on tier 1, i dont think there will be any effect on your ilr if there is any changes in immigration law and you will not have any work restriction ( in terms of changing employer and stuffs like that) for another six month. If you apply by post, it might take 3-6 months and again there is a 50-50 chances that you might get it. The only difference that ILR will give you is certainty of living in this country for foreseeable future and access to certain benefits. Do you think its worth to take a risk of loosing money just to get ILR 6 months earlier? If i were you, i will not.
All the best
BR

I remember someone in a similar situation as you and he was also advised to send a postal application by Solihull PEO but he actually gave Croydon a try and his application was approved there. As Croydon is UKBA’s HO and they have more senior case workers than any other PEO.

Main reason for trying to apply ASAP is that my partner is studying. With ILR as well, she will qualify for much reduced tuition fees in September.

Also, there were rumours that a rule change may be introduced whereby your dependent must have been resident for 5 years as well (it is currently 2 years)

Your partner should still be able to pay local fees as long as she is on a dependant visa (not student visa) and she is in UK for at least 3 years.

I think the 2 to 5 years qualifying time would apply to spouse visas, not dependants of working visas.

Hi Jack

What was the reason you provided ??? asking this cos there were many such cases of more than 90 days dealt at this PEO with success and the case workers were able to exercise their discretion ... wonder why not this time ?

linkers wrote:Your partner should still be able to pay local fees as long as she is on a dependant visa (not student visa) and she is in UK for at least 3 years.

I don't think this statement is correct.

Jambo wrote:

linkers wrote:Your partner should still be able to pay local fees as long as she is on a dependant visa (not student visa) and she is in UK for at least 3 years.

I don't think this statement is correct.

Jambo is correct. One can only pay home fees if he/she is free of immigration control (ILR) and also have lived in UK for at least 3 years. I know this because my wife is on ILR but she hasn't been here for 3 years so she doesn't qualify as home student as i enquired from some universities on her behalf.

In my opinion its better to go on October. As you said at that time your ILR will be guaranteed. If you go to croydon PEO, there is 50/50 chances that you get ILR as it depends on the discretion of the case worker and there is a risk of loosing £2000.00... Do you think its worth to take a risk of loosing money just to get ILR 6 months earlier? If i were you, i will not.

And even more importantly, if your application is referred for further consideration and ends up following the postal timelines you may get ILR faster by waiting until Oct and having a same-day appointment then. I know of two people who applied for ILR (by post) more than 6 months ago and they still haven't had an approval decision.

Reason given was that father was diagnosed with terminal illness and subsequently passed away. Had all original documents.

Case worker was friendly, but said they don't have a SEO or grade 7 employee there.

She told me they never have one there. This was concerning, because I have read posts on this forum where people have been granted ILR with greater thAn 90 consecutive days outside Uk.

Perhaps, in those instances, they did not pick up the absences.

Therefore, I would not advise anyone to use Solihull in these circumstances. However, as no fees are paid beforehand, it is a low risk option.

Really very sorry to hear you situation. I have the similar sort of situation. My 5 Years shall be complete on 27 July 2012 but my visa for tier 1 is up to the 14 Oct 2012.

I was out more than 180 days in 5 years ( up to the July 2012) and one time 92 days out in one go. What should you guys recommend that should i apply in July or in Oct. If i apply in Oct 2012 then will my problem living out more , shall be solved? or Is it still on the CW to decide in Oct?

Plz Suggest with your experiences.
Thanks

rizwo wrote:Really very sorry to hear you situation. I have the similar sort of situation. My 5 Years shall be complete on 27 July 2012 but my visa for tier 1 is up to the 14 Oct 2012.

I was out more than 180 days in 5 years ( up to the July 2012) and one time 92 days out in one go. What should you guys recommend that should i apply in July or in Oct. If i apply in Oct 2012 then will my problem living out more , shall be solved? or Is it still on the CW to decide in Oct?

Plz Suggest with your experiences.
Thanks

Depends when did your 92 days leave occur? Mine was right at the beginning of my 5 year stay.

Your clock effectively resets after the longer than 90 days absence

jack902 wrote:

rizwo wrote:Really very sorry to hear you situation. I have the similar sort of situation. My 5 Years shall be complete on 27 July 2012 but my visa for tier 1 is up to the 14 Oct 2012.

I was out more than 180 days in 5 years ( up to the July 2012) and one time 92 days out in one go. What should you guys recommend that should i apply in July or in Oct. If i apply in Oct 2012 then will my problem living out more , shall be solved? or Is it still on the CW to decide in Oct?

Plz Suggest with your experiences.
Thanks

Depends when did your 92 days leave occur? Mine was right at the beginning of my 5 year stay.

Your clock effectively resets after the longer than 90 days absence

Like your situation my 92 days period occurred from 24August 2007 to 26 Nov 2007. ( Granted Tier 1 on July 2007 Inside UK from Student). I think that My 180 Days can be taken from September 2007 to September 2012.

If the case worker decides to aggregate your 92 days period then you may be better off living a little longer than 5 year period to make for the extra absence...

sunil.suneel wrote:If the case worker decides to aggregate your 92 days period then you may be better off living a little longer than 5 year period to make for the extra absence...

Thanks Very much for the kind advice.
So you reckon that i should apply in Oct instead of July 2012 so that i fall within the 180 days limit? If i apply in Oct 2012 then its mean that i lived 71 more days.....

Thanks again.

rizwo wrote:

sunil.suneel wrote:If the case worker decides to aggregate your 92 days period then you may be better off living a little longer than 5 year period to make for the extra absence...

Thanks Very much for the kind advice.
So you reckon that i should apply in Oct instead of July 2012 so that i fall within the 180 days limit? If i apply in Oct 2012 then its mean that i lived 71 more days.....

Thanks again.

Definitely it will be advantageous than applying in July ... but tat said, it will not guarantee you any results ...

jack902 wrote:Reason given was that father was diagnosed with terminal illness and subsequently passed away. Had all original documents.

Case worker was friendly, but said they don't have a SEO or grade 7 employee there.

She told me they never have one there. This was concerning, because I have read posts on this forum where people have been granted ILR with greater thAn 90 consecutive days outside Uk.

Perhaps, in those instances, they did not pick up the absences.

Therefore, I would not advise anyone to use Solihull in these circumstances. However, as no fees are paid beforehand, it is a low risk option.

I am wondering if the reason they did not decide was due to your absences being due to compassionate reason ?

Cricinfo and Jambo: I know people who are still on Tier-1 General but have been living in UK for over 3 years (as they were on HSMP before) and they had to pay the local fees.

I will try to dig out the evidence for it but I am pretty sure that you don’t have to be a Citizen or a Permanent Resident of UK. As long as you have a long term visa (except student visa), and you have been living in any part of EU, local fees are applied on you.

sunil.suneel wrote:

jack902 wrote:Reason given was that father was diagnosed with terminal illness and subsequently passed away. Had all original documents.

Case worker was friendly, but said they don't have a SEO or grade 7 employee there.

She told me they never have one there. This was concerning, because I have read posts on this forum where people have been granted ILR with greater thAn 90 consecutive days outside Uk.

Perhaps, in those instances, they did not pick up the absences.

Therefore, I would not advise anyone to use Solihull in these circumstances. However, as no fees are paid beforehand, it is a low risk option.

Caseworker was very clear that they cannot deal with case as the approval of SEO or grade 7 is required. And that the Solihull PEO office does not have one. Therefore recommendation of Croydon PEO was given as option

linkers wrote:Cricinfo and Jambo: I know people who are still on Tier-1 General but have been living in UK for over 3 years (as they were on HSMP before) and they had to pay the local fees.

I will try to dig out the evidence for it but I am pretty sure that you don’t have to be a Citizen or a Permanent Resident of UK. As long as you have a long term visa (except student visa), and you have been living in any part of EU, local fees are applied on you.

I look forward to your extra input here. The cheaper home student fee more than offsets any PEO application fee. Literally a £5000 per year possible deduction in tuition fees

linkers wrote:Cricinfo and Jambo: I know people who are still on Tier-1 General but have been living in UK for over 3 years (as they were on HSMP before) and they had to pay the local fees.

I will try to dig out the evidence for it but I am pretty sure that you don’t have to be a Citizen or a Permanent Resident of UK. As long as you have a long term visa (except student visa), and you have been living in any part of EU, local fees are applied on you.

The rules are quite clear. However, I believe the institution can decide to only charge home fees even if you don't meet the required categories. Maybe they got lucky.

That could be true Jambo.

I believe compassionate ground may be refused by Croydon as well. The only exemptions for the "No more than 90 days in one absence" and "no more than 180 days in total over 5 years" are:

1. If the trips were for business reasons and the applicant continued to be based in UK (e.g. pay council tax, income tax on UK salar received etc.).

2. In line with the employer's annual leav epolicy. However must prove that they were based in the UK (as per above examples).

Compassionate grounds would be completely at the discretion of the Case Worker.

Hi All,
A friend of mine has been under almost same ciscumstances as JACK904 and in my opinion, there is a chance of approval for ILR provided that caseworker and HEO use their discretionary power. In fact, I discussed this with 2 well reputed solicitors and they also agree that such a case would fall under 'Discretionary power' due to the compasionate and compelling nature of the case. In fact, if you read guidance in detail, there is a sentence or two about COMPELLING circumstances and obviously, illness of one's father and then his subsequent death should fall under the definition of compelling/compasionate grounds. It is concerning that Solihull hasn't got a HEO there, though.
Could anybody share their experience at Croydan for same kind of application please?
Regards,