Post
by try-one » Sat Dec 22, 2007 10:32 am
You broke the conditions of your entry clearance and worked illegally; when applying for permanent residency you must show 5 continuos years working with proper entry clearance.
When you present the ILR application, you would have to state your work and immigration history; you would need to show that one job ended in June 07, then anothe started 5 months later. You did not have a work permit for the work in between and you were not legally entitled to work for the employer "Z".
According to immigration procedures you would have two options when applying for ILR:
1. Disclose the fact that you worked for employer "Z" without a work permit (Likely to damage your chances for ILR)
2. Disclose the fact that you stayed in the country without a visa (illegal stay) for 5 months (Case workers can exercise discretion, highly unlikely that they would grant your the ILR)
Even if you try to apply for ILR in 2012 (five years from now), you would still have the risk of someone at Home Office noticing that you overstayed your visa in the five months between june and dec and getting you in trouble.
One option to clean the whole story is to take the WP approval letter and apply for entry clearance in your home country; this way you don't have a high risk of getting in trouble. This would represent loosing 3 years of surviving in this country and it is not an ideal situation....however it is much better than loosing 5 years and the chance of ILR.
You can play your odds and try to apply in 09 and pray for the case worker not to notice...however, as you are probably aware, this country is tightening the immigration laws and controls and by 09 they would have more mechanisms to spot problems. Your NI contributions go every month from the employer to HR&C, it doesn't matter if your employer didn't mention to the HO that the employer left, they just need a peek at the database to see that your NI payments are 5 months short.....on your ILR application you have to provide the NI number....anyway, not an easy one.
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Life is a journey, not a destination (S. Tyler)