ILR for refugee - counting time as a previous student

[Wiso71]

Hi All,

I'm an international student who is not married from a British citizen.

I first came to the UK on a student visa in Sep 2012.

In Dec 2014, I was granted a refugee status, following a sur-place application made 3 months before.

I understand that in general, people with successful asylum applications can apply to ILR after being legally present in the UK for 5 years.

My questions are -- assuming no travel outside the UK, and regardless of other ILR/citizenship requirements:

- From which date should this 5-years requirement be calculated?

- Should the 5 years be all spent as a refugee?

- In my case as currently a refugee, does time spent on a previous student visa count in the ILR and neutralisation applications? What is the earliest dates on with I can apply for ILR and then for citizenship?

Many thanks

W

[CR001]

You cannot count time as a Tier 4 student visa for 5 years residence ILR. It only counts if applying based on 10 years residence.

Your 5 years will be from the date you were granted refugee status for ILR. For naturalisation, the rules are slightly different and Tier 4 would count, but best to concentrate on getting to ILR first as the rules can change at any time for citizenship.