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I always thought I have no GAP for all these years, after the advise I took from this website I finally requested SAR, just to make myself more confident on my 10 years record.
Last night when I get home I received the post, with all the information. After reviewing it, I was suprised that I have been rejected once back in 2003 in one of the visa extensions, totally suprised, I was a bit worry and go on googling all similar cases, some experienced problems when applying ILR but some same were fine, hope an expert here can give me further advice.

Visa record
11 Jun 2002 -31 oct 2003 (2 Sep2002 Landed, therefore hopfully apply for ILR on 2 Aug 2012）
Oct 2003 My school sent an application to extend my visa, CID search summary case raised date 14 Oct 2003, ，home office case note : List sheet inidcate no fee paid, rejected payment, returned Docs, they also sent a letter to my school saying the prescribed fee has not been paid in connection to your clients application for Limited leave to remain..... We do not consider that an exception to the requirement to pay the fee applies to your clients case... If you want your client s application to be considered, you must return the application with fee within 28 days.

Home office sent the document back on 30 Oct 2003, which was one day before my visa expiry date，my school sent the application back on 1 Dec 2003, which already exceeded 28 days allowance period. (however when I google postal strikes in 2003, there were some un-offical strikes around late Oct- early Nov )

this is how it looks on the summary

14 Oct- G-Student - outcome- reject
01 Dec- G-Student -Outcome- Grant
The remainig applications were all made on time and have no issues ( cos it's done by myself rather than other ppl !!)


Is this count as a GAP as my visa were due to expired on 30 Oct 2003 , but the Grant application raised date was 01 Dec 2003 ?

How shall I explain in my ILR application .... this was not due to my personal fault and I was totally un-aware of the situation at the time ( school pays the application fee as it's all inculded in my course fee )

I think the Home Office are a lot more strict & not willing to grant ILR easily after all those new immigration rules came out , can this be their excuse to reject my ILR ?

1 Dec may have been the date that the Home Office received or considered your application. Try to find out the date on which the school actually posted it. Moreover, do they have still have any proof of the posting date? If you're lucky, you may well be within the 28 days.

Else, you could try to argue that your actual gap was less than 10 days, after taking into account the 28 days extension explicitly given.

vinny wrote:1 Dec may have been the date that the Home Office received or considered your application. Try to find out the date on which the school actually posted it. Moreover, do they have still have any proof of the posting date? If you're lucky, you may well be within the 28 days.

Else, you could try to argue that your actual gap was less than 10 days, after taking into account the 28 days extension explicitly given.

if I can proof they send it within 28 days Home Office will not consider as a GAP ? ( can I say there were postal strike...The school representative who submitted my application is no longer working there )

It shouldn't be considered as a gap if it was sent within 28 days.

Write a cover letter and explain things to the home office. Remember that they are not just going to take your word for what you say, therefore prepare some documents which are verifyable to support your case. For example on the strikes, it will be useful to have some news articles about them. Contact your school as well so that they support your version of events.

vinny wrote:It shouldn't be considered as a gap if it was sent within 28 days.

I think I didnt make myself clear on the 1st post. there were two cases raised date for my application, one was the rejection, one is the grant
In addition the entire application was returned together with passport, from what other ppl experienced of similar situation, it seems HO consider this as GAP ?


i.e:
14 Oct 2003- Reject
1- Dec -2003 - Grant ( when the application was re-sent)

If you click on the given link, you will see that the first rejection does not matter if the payment was subsequently sent within 28 days.

vinny wrote:If you click on the given link, you will see that the first rejection does not matter if the payment was subsequently sent within 28 days.

Thanks very much Vinny, I feel more confident now, I got the BBC news supporting that there was indeed a strick, figuress cross hope they will accept my application, can't afford to loss the case.