ECAA to ILR with 10 years LR
Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 12:38 am
Hello all,
I am looking for some advice on absences from the UK when calculating 10 years continuous residence. Here's my immigration timeline.
September 2005- September 2007- student visa
September 2007- September 2008- international graduates scheme.
September 2008- September 2009- Tier 1 (post study work)
September 2009-September 2011- Turkish Employed (ECAA1- first indent)
September 2011-September 2012- Turkish Employed (ECAA1- second indent)
September 2012-September 2015- Turkish Employed (ECAA1- third indent)
I have entered the UK on 14 September 2005 with a visa valid from 5 September 2005. My current permit expires 1 September 2015.
I am planning to apply for ILR on SET(LR). I understand I will be eligible to apply 28 days before I fulfil 10 years, which will be 28 days before 14 September 2015. Is this correct? This means I will be able to apply for ilr without having to extend my ECAA1 again just before 1 Sep 2015. Do I need to add absences in the 10 years to this calculation? None of my absences are over 180 days and are all paid annual leave.This means I have not broken continuous residence. Can you confirm my understanding of this is correct?
Also, I am planning a career break outside of the UK for less than 180 days from January 2015 with paid annual leave and mostly unpaid leave without quitting my job, so I will be returning to my job at the end of my career break.My question is if by taking unpaid leave, will i be breaching conditions of my current 'ECAA1 Turkish employed' permit. As far as I understand I will not be in breach because I will still be part of the UK workforce and will still have a job. All I am a bit unclear about is the unpaid leave to do this because you need to be working in UK to qualify for ECAA1 continuously for the first year with the same employer and with other conditions thereafter finally without no restrictions on the third indent, which I am on now.
I guess I have fulfilled all the initial conditions to qualify for ECAA1 in the past. But please bear in mind that breaks in employment on ECAA1 are unclear after you are on the third indent. For instance, the ECAA1 guidance states that voluntary unemployment breaks the rules to be eligible for ECAA1 initially. See link to ECAA1 guidelines fyi.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... _0_EXT.pdf
Would a career break for less than 180 days break the rules of ECAA1 and continous residence for ILR (LR). I understand absences for ILR(LR) does not necessarily need to be work related or due to compassionate circumstances as long as one absence is less than 180 days and you do not need provide letters from work to support your reason for absence. Can you confirm this is correct?
It will be very helpful if you can comment on these as I don't want to shoot myself in the foot when I have come this far by taking unpaid leave. I don't want to break the 10 years continuous residence. I need to know if it will break the rules and if so, I will postpone it.
I appreciate all comments and suggestions.
Many thanks
serr
I am looking for some advice on absences from the UK when calculating 10 years continuous residence. Here's my immigration timeline.
September 2005- September 2007- student visa
September 2007- September 2008- international graduates scheme.
September 2008- September 2009- Tier 1 (post study work)
September 2009-September 2011- Turkish Employed (ECAA1- first indent)
September 2011-September 2012- Turkish Employed (ECAA1- second indent)
September 2012-September 2015- Turkish Employed (ECAA1- third indent)
I have entered the UK on 14 September 2005 with a visa valid from 5 September 2005. My current permit expires 1 September 2015.
I am planning to apply for ILR on SET(LR). I understand I will be eligible to apply 28 days before I fulfil 10 years, which will be 28 days before 14 September 2015. Is this correct? This means I will be able to apply for ilr without having to extend my ECAA1 again just before 1 Sep 2015. Do I need to add absences in the 10 years to this calculation? None of my absences are over 180 days and are all paid annual leave.This means I have not broken continuous residence. Can you confirm my understanding of this is correct?
Also, I am planning a career break outside of the UK for less than 180 days from January 2015 with paid annual leave and mostly unpaid leave without quitting my job, so I will be returning to my job at the end of my career break.My question is if by taking unpaid leave, will i be breaching conditions of my current 'ECAA1 Turkish employed' permit. As far as I understand I will not be in breach because I will still be part of the UK workforce and will still have a job. All I am a bit unclear about is the unpaid leave to do this because you need to be working in UK to qualify for ECAA1 continuously for the first year with the same employer and with other conditions thereafter finally without no restrictions on the third indent, which I am on now.
I guess I have fulfilled all the initial conditions to qualify for ECAA1 in the past. But please bear in mind that breaks in employment on ECAA1 are unclear after you are on the third indent. For instance, the ECAA1 guidance states that voluntary unemployment breaks the rules to be eligible for ECAA1 initially. See link to ECAA1 guidelines fyi.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... _0_EXT.pdf
Would a career break for less than 180 days break the rules of ECAA1 and continous residence for ILR (LR). I understand absences for ILR(LR) does not necessarily need to be work related or due to compassionate circumstances as long as one absence is less than 180 days and you do not need provide letters from work to support your reason for absence. Can you confirm this is correct?
It will be very helpful if you can comment on these as I don't want to shoot myself in the foot when I have come this far by taking unpaid leave. I don't want to break the 10 years continuous residence. I need to know if it will break the rules and if so, I will postpone it.
I appreciate all comments and suggestions.
Many thanks
serr