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I'm applying for ILR Set(O) and one of the requirements according to https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... riod-in-uk is to calculate the 5-year continuous period in the UK, but it's not explained clearly enough there.

In particular, I'm struggling to understand what counts as the beginning of my 5-year period as I transitioned from Tier 4 to Tier 2 back in 2017. Here are my key dates:

• 18 Aug 2014 - I first entered the UK with a Tier 4 visa for a PhD
• 15 Sep 2017 - I finished PhD and started working and being paid as a researcher at the same Uni, while Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) was in preparation. It was a transition from Tier 4 to Tier 2 that Unis do, or at least used to do back then, HR handled this whole process.
• 6 Nov 2017 - My CoS was issued
• 7 Nov 2017 - Tier 2 visa application is submitted. I have a letter as a proof
• 13 Nov 2017 - CoS has this as the "Work start", even though I was already working at this point. (BTW, my Tier 4 was valid for the entire transition period.)
• 6 Dec 2017 - Tier 2 visa application approved. I have a letter as a proof of this date
• 22 Dec 2017 - "Date of issue" on my first BRP card

I guess it's either the 6th or 22nd of December 2017. (The reason I want to clarify it is that I would like to apply asap and don't wait until the very end of my current visa.)

Your qualifying date should be your visa approval date, 6 Dec 2017, so you can apply 28 days before then. They would use a date that is favourable to you to consider your qualifying period.

The application date or COS start date is not relevant. As you have been advised, it is from first visa issue date

Thank you contorted_svy and Zimba!

The thing is that both of you suggest different dates:
- visa approval date, 6 December, OR
- visa issue date, 22 December

I understand the second one is a safer option, but it became a matter of principle to understand what the guidance implies as it's very vague.

We both suggested the 6th December, when your visa was approved. 22 Dec is when your BRP was issued, not your visa.

Thank you for clarifying!! Yeah, BRP became synonymous to visa in my mind and I forgot that they are not the same thing.