COVID 19 / Absence from the UK - Implication on ILR

[r2d2z2]

Hi All,

Hope you are all well and safe. I have a question regarding the current situation and potential impact on ILR application (for which I will be elligible in about 4 years).

Due to COVID 19 outbreak, my whole team (and most of the company) is in the WFH regime. As we will not return to the office in the foreseeable future, I have asked my manager if it would be fine to work remotely from my home country. The exact timing has not been specified, but it is assumed to last until it is deemed safe to return to the office. This has been approved by my manager without issues.

However, what is holding me back from travelling to my home country is the potential violation of ILR continuous residence stating that any absence outside the UK needs to be in line with the type of Visa. For Tier 2, this would be paid annual leave, secondments, business trips etc.

I have read elsewhere on this forum that working from abroad can be counted under allowable absence if approved by the employer via letter. My question is if there is a difference/threshold for the periods we spend outside the UK under this regime? Would it be a violation of ILR condition if I spend working from abroad approximately 2 months or so while the whole team is on WFH? Just to fully clarify, I would be paid as normal in my bank account and pay all other UK taxes and bills. Furthermore, even with additional 3 months outside the UK, I would not be near exceeding 180-days rolling period.

Any help or clarification on this would be highly appreciated.

[zimba]

If you do not exceed the absence limits you should be fine however due to potential travel restrictions (or quarantine on arrival requirements) that could be imposed in the future, you may end up staying much longer and risk breaking your continuous residence. Travelling at the moment is not recommenced at all

[r2d2z2]

Thanks a lot, Zimba, your input is much appreciated! Could you please just confirm that working from abroad is allowable for any period as long as permitted by the company and leading to less than 180 days of absence in rolling 12-month period? Would this be indicated on a spreadsheet as a personal or business travel? Also, is it necessary for the company to provide a particurlalr reason why have they allowed me to work remotely from abroad? Furthermore, have you maybe seen anyone on this forum who has been in a similar situation and succesfully applied for ILR?

I would highly appreciate if you could please clarify the above.

Regarding travelling, I appreciate that nothing is certain at this moment, and that is why I am still contemplating the trip. Luckily, my home country is in Europe, and not badly hit by COVID-19, so travel risks are minimised as much as they can be. However, we don’t know for the future...

[zimba]

This is fine. If any of your absences are in connection with employment you will need to provide a letter from the relevant employer detailing the purpose and period of absences, including periods of annual leave.