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I am doing ILR application for my wife who is on a Tier 2 Dependant visa expiring on 5th May 2025.
Visa history:

1st Visa dates: August 2018 - April 2019 (As I had only 8 months of my Tier 2 visa left at the time)
2nd Visa dates (1st Extension): From April 2019 till May 2022
3rd Visa dates (2nd Extension): From May 2022 till May 2025

Hence she has been on Tier 2 dependant for more than 6 years (around 6 years and 6 months approx). I got my ILR in November 2018 and later on British citizenship in Jan 2021.

My questions on her application are as follows:
1) When did you first enter the UK?
This is the date you entered the UK when the period of stay you are basing this application on started.
I am not sure what date to put in. As this application is based on five years route but my wife first entered the UK on 11 August 2018 as mentioned above about 6 and half years ago.

2)Does the period of stay on which this application was based include any leave granted since 11 January 2018? Option Yes or No
Didn't understand this question as to why they have mentioned 11 January 2018.

3)Does she have to pass an English language test? As for her Tier 2 dependant visa she never had to give any English test nor she has any degrees which are taught in English.

Please if someone can answer these questions for me would appreciate it.

Thanks
Ali

1. That date has no effect on ILR. She enters the date she initially entered the UK

2. The absence limit applies only to any visa period that was issued after 11 Jan 2018. That is because rules were changed in 2018 to impose absence limits on dependants

3. Yes. She needs to demonstrate her English language level at B1
SELT exam: https://www.trinitycollege.com/qualific ... SE-grade-5

Hi Zimba thanks for your response really appreciate as always. Please if you don't mind clarify one more query please.

So my question is around absences from the UK, as I mentioned my wife entered the UK in Aug 2018 but for the ILR application, her qualifying period will be from the last 5 years. So let's assume she makes an application on 1st of March 2025 for which the qualifying period of 5 years would be 01/03/2020 to 01/03/2025.
In this period there was a time frame where she was out of the UK for exactly 180 days. I will list down all her absences from the UK below

Exit date	Entry date	Days	Country
05/12/2018	11/12/2018	6	Turkey
01/11/2019	04/11/2019	3	Spain
21/12/2019	19/01/2020	29	Pakistan
23/08/2020	19/02/2021	180	Pakistan
30/12/2022	05/01/2023	6	Morocco
20/03/2023	29/07/2023	131	Pakistan
20/11/2024	07/01/2025	48	Pakistan

So my questions are:
1) Will she need to list down all the absences from 2018 till now? As the first 3 on the table are before the qualifying period of 5 years.

2) Most importantly the 4th one on the list will have any impact on her application as it is exactly 180 days? Although she was at Heathrow on the 19th Feb so technically half day absent from the UK on that day which makes it 179 days in my opinion. Should I say 179 days or 180 on the application form?

3) Will home office be looking at the qualifying period from last 5 year i.e. from 01/03/2020 or from the date she entered the UK for the first time i.e. 10/08/2018

1. No. Only absences in the last 5 years matter

2. Only full absence days are counted. So travel days, half days, etc do not count

3. The 5-year qualifying period is counted BACKWARDS from the date of the ILR decision. They consider the last 5 years

See: Applicants can benefit from the date of the ILR decision

Hi Zimba,
Thanks for your previous replies. I would really appreciate if you can clarify this question below please.

So as I mentioned earlier one of the absences my wife has from the UK is about exactly 180
so she left UK fly out of UK on the 22nd Aug 2020 and reached Pakistan the next day on 23rd Aug 2020.
She returned to the UK on the 19th Feb 2021. On her passport she has an entry stamp from Pakistan on 23rd Aug 2020 and entry stamp from the UK airport of 19th Feb 2021.

The questions regarding the absence in the application are below:

When did you leave the UK and Crown Dependencies? 23 August 2020

When did you return to the UK and Crown Dependencies? 19 February 2021

Are these answers correct? or the return to the UK date should be 18th Feb 2021? As she was in the UK on the 19th or would the home office know that she was back in Uk on the 19th.

This is really important as if we count all the days from 23rd Aug 2020 to 19th Feb 2021 (including 19th) that will make 181 days but if we count till 18th Feb 2020 that makes 180 days.

I hope you understand my question.

The dates should be based on the UK dates only, when she left or entered the UK as per her flight time of arrival/departure.
It has nothing to do with date of entry/exit to/from another country.

zimba wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 22, 2025 2:52 am

The dates should be based on the UK dates only, when she left or entered the UK as per her flight time of arrival/departure.
It has nothing to do with date of entry/exit to/from another country.

Thanks Zimba.
Apologies but one last question in this context please, I checked the flight tickets and outgoing date from UK was 22nd August 2020 and arrival date in the UK 19th Feb 2021. So we will put these dates in the application question.

So my question is that the visa case officer will not be including 22nd aug 2022 and 19th feb 20221 as days outside of UK in his calculations right? As my wife was in the UK for sometime/hours/halfday in those days?

alisattar09 wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 22, 2025 3:42 pm

zimba wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 22, 2025 2:52 am

The dates should be based on the UK dates only, when she left or entered the UK as per her flight time of arrival/departure.
It has nothing to do with date of entry/exit to/from another country.

Thanks Zimba.
Apologies but one last question in this context please, I checked the flight tickets and outgoing date from UK was 22nd August 2020 and arrival date in the UK 19th Feb 2021. So we will put these dates in the application question.

So my question is that the visa case officer will not be including 22nd aug 2022 and 19th feb 20221 as days outside of UK in his calculations right? As my wife was in the UK for sometime/hours/halfday in those days?

The system would calculate your wife as being outside the UK from 23rd August to 18th Feb as full days out.

alisattar09 wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 22, 2025 3:42 pm

zimba wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 22, 2025 2:52 am

The dates should be based on the UK dates only, when she left or entered the UK as per her flight time of arrival/departure.
It has nothing to do with date of entry/exit to/from another country.

Thanks Zimba.
Apologies but one last question in this context please, I checked the flight tickets and outgoing date from UK was 22nd August 2020 and arrival date in the UK 19th Feb 2021. So we will put these dates in the application question.

So my question is that the visa case officer will not be including 22nd aug 2022 and 19th feb 20221 as days outside of UK in his calculations right? As my wife was in the UK for sometime/hours/halfday in those days?

Yes. Absence under the immigration rules is defined as a full day of absence from the UK

Thanks guys really appreciate