Post
by sfljiaf » Sun Dec 22, 2019 10:33 am
I researched this a while ago, more in the context of naturalisation, but also with ILR in mind for a friend. From what I found online and talking to an immigration lawyer, it's more important to show that you were within the limit than the exact dates. As I understand it, the burden of proof for that is in principle on you, but it tends to be reasonable. Basically, if you don't have passport stamps, do your best to provide rough dates as Zimba says, and try to include a few alternative pieces of evidence that support your story (but it doesn't have to be 100% beyond-any-reasonable-doubt watertight if no evidence of that standard is available).
For instance, if you have been in continuous employment with the usual annual vacation days, then it would be implausible for you to have exceeded the 540 days. In such a case you could include a letter from your employer, perhaps together with some sort of record of your employment from HMRC. In other cases it might not be quite as straightforward, but you could still provide evidence that you were in the UK most of the time, or resident here at least. For instance a letter from your university confirming that you were a student and had to attend lectures and tutorials regularly. Yearly council tax bills could provide some (weaker) evidence, too.
A few different pieces of evidence from independent sources can help, especially if each is weaker; but don't include hundreds of pages of documents. You might want to include a brief note or cover letter explaining the situation, and listing the evidence you provide (with an explanation of its context where necessary).
In theory, bank records or mobile phone statements could also show that you were in the country, through usage of your debit card or calls you placed. But I suspect that those would be too much volume to include, if you've even kept them for that far back. Maybe someone else has thoughts on this though?
Certainly also include a copy of the SAR response with the application even though Home Office have that data anyway, as it's your responsibility to provide evidence. Plus it shows that you have taken every reasonable step to ensure that the data you provide is accurate.
Hope this all helps. Do let us know how it goes, please. My friend has yet to do his ILR, so he would be very grateful to hear about your experience. And good luck!
