Immigrationboards.com

hi i would be grateful if i can get some more information on my status at the moment.i am currently on the old working permit system since 2008 and im due to apply for my ilr in March 2013.i just had a baby in may 2011 and im on maternity leave since april 2011 and i would like to know whether this will affect my indefinite leave to stay when i apply as i am thinking of taking up to a year of maternity leave.the problem is that my company only pays three months up to 90% and the further 6 months will be from the statutory maternity pay. do i need to go back to work after the 9months or i am allowed to take more unpaid maternity leave. Also my question is will this one year gap be taken into consideration when applying for my indefinite leave to remain. any help will be greatly appreciated.

1. Avoid going on unpaid leave if you can.
2. But if you can't then avoid being absent from UK during any such period.
3. If that is also not possible then at least make sure that you are not absent from UK for more than 90 days during such period.

IMHO ...

thank you sushhmehta for your reply. At the moment i am away on holiday.I am out of the country for 70 days and i am on statutory maternity pay.Do u think this will affect my ilr.Also my statutory maternity leave ends end of December, do you think i have to go back to work(as i was thinking of taking two more months without pay).I will apprciate if you can give some more information on maternity leave as you can find nothing on UKBA website and it is very confusing.

1. Return to UK within 90 days of exit. If you wish to return to where you are, best that you stay in UK for a few days upon return and then travel again.

2. Maternity leave has nothing to do with immigration so you cannot expect to find any associated information on UKBA website.

3. From immigration perspective, what is relevant to settlement are absences from the UK. There is no special provision for being absent from UK while on maternity leave ... because to be absent during such leave is (was) your voluntary decision. So, you should return before you exceed the allowed concession of "single absence of no more than 90 days". If you do not, your ILR clock may reset.

thanks sushdmehta for your help.that is why i planned to be out of the u.k for only 70 days after having my baby because i knew that i cannot exceed more than 3months out of the u.k.Please can you tell me about the effect of taking unpaid maternity leave after your statutory maternity allowances.Do i have to go back to work after this finishes or can i take more unpaid maternity leave without this affecting my ilr.

Given that you intend to go on unpaid leave between Dec '11 and Mar '12 but your settlement is due only in Mar '13 (one year later), IMHO, it should have no affect on the application .. after all, you will be on "leave" albeit without pay ... but still employed.

That said, if I were you, I would follow what I have stated in my very first response in the topic.

thank you for your reply. so do u advise me to avoid taking unpaid leave as stated.i do not want anything to affect my ilr given that i have done so many sacrifices for these years. i intend to take two months of unpaid leave because of childcare problem but if it will affect my ilr i will go to work asap.