Indefinite Leave To Remain Long Residency - Time Spent Outside the UK

[Narmeen]

Dear all,

I have arrived the UK on 24 September 2012 on Tier 4 student visa valid from 3 September 2012 until 17 January 2017.

I applied on time and extended my student visa valid from 7 February 2017 until 30 April 2019.

Whilst my visa was still valid, I applied for asylum on 27 October 2017 and I was interviewed after 6 months, during which I was allowed to carry on studying and working, and granted asylum straight after my interview on 23 April 2018 for five years.

There has been no refusals. There has been no criminal offences. The continuous residence is not broken.

I passed my life in the UK test and hold a university degree certificate. I am working and I have been with the same employer for more than six years now.

Now I am close to completing 10 years of lawful and continuous residency in the UK. I want to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain based on living in here for 10 years using super priority service, rather than waiting to apply in April 2023 when I have no right to use super priority service and it may take months to obtain ILR. To apply now would save me time to apply for British citizenship earlier.

My questions (concerns) are:

1) Am I allowed to apply now (considering I am a refugee)? If so, what are my chances of success?

2) What will happen to my refugee status if I apply now? Will the Home Office revoke my refugee status before granting ILR?

3) When I applied for asylum, the Home office took my national passport and retain it and I am having Travel Document now. When I will be granted ILR, can I still use my travel document (considering I will not be a refugee anymore)? Will using my national passport not cause me trouble when I will later apply for British citizenship?
I would like to know how could I travel (not necessarily to my home country).

4) I have 3 children, one came with me to England and lives with me since then completing 10 years here and my other 2 children were born in England. They are all my dependents. When do I need to submit applications for them?

5) Shall I apply by myself or having a solicitor is essential?

I would really appreciate your advice and looking forward to hearing from professionals and from individuals as well who have been in a similar situation or aware of similar cases. Many thanks.

[zimba]

You are free to apply for ILR under the long residence using form SET(LR). Refugee ILR via form SET(P) has some exemptions you will not benefit from if you go via the long residence. When you get ILR you are no longer a refugee. You should be able to continue using your travel document.

Note that you were granted asylum probably based on your claim that your life will be in danger going back. Your 10 years include time spent as an asylum. If you go back to your country after your ILR, UKVI can revoke your ILR as it will prove that you acquired ILR through deception by lying on your asylum application.

Non-UK-born children can get ILR when both parents are settled using form SET(F). UK-born children do not need ILR as they can directly be registered as British using form MN1 after you get ILR. You do not need a solicitor

[Narmeen]

Dear Zimba,

Thank you very much for your reply.

My travel document will expire on 22 April 2023 when my Refugee Leave to Remain expires (same as my children's). If I apply now and I will obtain ILR on basis of long residency, am I eligible to renew my Travel Document? Am I allowed to do so?

I do not want to use my national passport at all for the concerns you mentioned in your reply.

I would highly appreciate your guidance.

[zimba]

Yes, you still can use a travel document after your ILR: https://www.gov.uk/apply-home-office-travel-document

[Narmeen]

Dear Zimba,

Thank you so much, this is great!

May I ask you 2 more questions, please?

1. When filling out the travel history section, I depended on departure and arrival dates I kept accurately on my notebook because my national passport was taken and still retained by Home Office when I applied for asylum.

When on the application form asked (Do you have a valid passport?) I gave details of my travel document.

Now in my checklist of the required documents (I have not submitted yet), it requires me to submit:
The passport issued by my home country!

How will I put it on the form so that it will not appear as a mandatory document? Or how shall I direct Home Office to have access to my national passport to check for the travel dates I mentioned? What is the best way to sort this properly, please? I'm worried if this causes me trouble.

2. My eldest child (13 years ole) who was born outside the UK and came with me 10 years ago and has always been my dependant, has also completed his 10 years of long residence. Can he apply for ILR using SET (LR) using super priority service same as me straight after I obtain my ILR, please? Because I have access to public recourse I thought may be SET F is not right for him? His father (who divorced me years ago) is having leave to remain because of having children living in the UK on 10 years rout, which he renews every 2.5 years.

Many many thanks for your help. I'm really grateful.

[zimba]

1. The form is generic. UKVI has your immigration data. Just provide your travel document
2. Your child is eligible on their own using SET(LR). SET(F) cannot be used unless the father is also settled

[Narmeen]

Dear Zimba,

I would like to thank you very very much for answering all my questions promptly. You are doing an amazing job helping people out voluntarily! You are a STAR!

May I ask you my last question, please? It is about reasons for wanting to stay in the UK. I have 3 children who grew up and born here and I (a working single mum) work as a school teaching staff and my life is centred here. I was not sure if I am supposed to mention it that I am a refugee and I want to stay for safety reasons since I am not applying in a refugee category? sorry my question looks dump, but I am overthinking it and I am afraid if I make a mistake.

Thanks again for your time and help.

[zimba]

That is again a generic question and part of the form. These answers do NOT change your eligibility criteria. Your eligibility is determined as per the immigration rules, not the answers you provide on the form

You do not need to provide any reason as you are eligible as per the rules. No need to answer that question

[Narmeen]

Dear All,

I am filling out the SET LR application based on 10 years long residence. However, I have been a refugee for the last few years. When applied for asylum, the Home Office took and retained my passport. I have a Travel Document though.

In the passport section on the application form, it asks:
''Do you have a valid passport? Use your passport to complete this section. If you cannot supply your current and valid passport as part of your application, select No.''

When I choose Yes, it asks for passport number, issue and expiry date.
When I choose No, the following options appear.

You are unable to provide your passport with your application because

- You have lost it, or it was stolen

- You have never had a passport (for example, because you were born in the UK)

- You have previously applied for leave and your passport has not been returned

- You have sent the Home Office your passport as part of someone else's application

- Other

Could you please help me how shall I answer this question, please? Many thanks. I do really appreciate your support.

[vinny]

- You have previously applied for leave and your passport has not been returned

[Narmeen]

Yes, Vinny. It is sorted now. Thank you very much. I was then asked to give my travel document details.

[Narmeen]

Hello Everyone,

I'm filling out Indefinite Leave to Remain application form based on 10 years long residence.

The date I am basing this application (10 years residence) on is 24 September 2012.

However, I have been in the UK the year before on short visa to study English Language Course (from July 2011 until December 2011) after completing it successfully, I returned to my home country and obtained a new visa to study my university degree. There was a nine months gap, this is why I am not counting that time at all. Instead, my period of stay I'm basing my ILR application now on starts from 24 September 2012 when I returned to the UK to study and I stayed legally and continually since then.

My question is: Do I need to give details of my travel history before 24 September 2012 ?
or my travel history before 24 September 2012 is irrelevant to this application?

If I need to include all, should I write a note where it says (What was reason for this time spent outside the UK) to give the detail that these absence days are not included in my travel history?

I do really really appreciate your support. Thank you very much.

I do really appreciate your guidance. Thank you very much.

[Ticktack]

Hello Everyone,

I'm filling out Indefinite Leave to Remain application form based on 10 years long residence.

The date I am basing this application (10 years residence) on is 24 September 2012.

However, I have been in the UK the year before on short visa to study English Language Course (from July 2011 until December 2011) after completing it successfully, I returned to my home country and obtained a new visa to study my university degree. There was a nine months gap, this is why I am not counting that time at all. Instead, my period of stay I'm basing my ILR application now on starts from 24 September 2012 when I returned to the UK to study and I stayed legally and continually since then.

My question is: Do I need to give details of my travel history before 24 September 2012 ?
or my travel history before 24 September 2012 is irrelevant to this application?

If I need to include all, should I write a note where it says (What was reason for this time spent outside the UK) to give the detail that these absence days are not included in my travel history?

I do really really appreciate your support. Thank you very much.

I do really appreciate your guidance. Thank you very much.

Base your application on your 10 years. The HO know your immigration history.
You can write a note if you please, but they know the rules.

[Narmeen]

Thank you very much.

As I mentioned my ILR application (10 years long residence) is based on my stay from 24 September 2012. However, I first entered the UK on 6 July 2011 and I stayed until December 2011 (studying a language course) when I went back to my home country because I finished my language course and I applied for my visas second time from my home country to study for my degree.

My question is ... when on the application form it asks .. ''When did you first enter the UK ?''
Should I say 6 July 2011 ? or Should I say 24 September 2012 when the period of 10 years has been based on it on this application ?

Thank you so much for helping me voluntarily and answering my questions in this worrying time. I do highy appreciate it.

[zimba]

The answer to that question does not change anything. You can put any. I repeat again that your answers on the form do not determine your eligibility

[Narmeen]

Dear All,

First of all, I would like to THANK YOU very much for responding promptly and volunteering to my worries when I applied for ILR, which has been successful.

So now I have Indefinite Leave to Remain based on 10 years long residence. My child who is 13 years old and was born outside the UK has always been my dependant since coming to the UK. My child's father (not British) and I are now divorced. My child has also spent 10 years of continuous and lawful residence.

My question are:
1. Does my child also need to fill out SET LR application form? Is this the right category for him?

2. My child is now having a travel document because I have a refugee status. He has ever had 2 national passports in his life. The first one he used to enter the UK and kept having it until 2017 when it got lost whilst being in our home country. He got a new national passport (2nd one), which is now retained by the Home Office as a refugee dependant. When my child applied for Travel Document, the Home Office sent a letter asking for his 2nd passport, which I wrote a note back saying ''it went lost in home country''. They issued his travel document straight after. A few months ago, my mother moved a wardrobe at her house in my home country and found the lost passport there. Now my son is applying for ILR - Long residence, I am not sure what to say about that passport. Shall I still say it is lost? Shall I say it has been found and sent scanned pages of the passport? I do not want to make a mess. Apart from this, my child's application looks very straightforward. I would really appreciate your advice. Thank you.

[zimba]

1. Yes
2. No need to say anything. It is lost as as far as they are concerned

[Narmeen]

Thank you so much indeed.

When filling out the details of my son's passport. I am facing a problem and I would really appreciate your advice, please. (He's having his travel document and he will submit copy of all pages).

My son (13 years old) has only had 2 national passports in his life. The 1st one got lost and the 2nd one is held by the Home Office. Both are expired now.
1st one issue and expiry date: 26 September 2010 - 23 September 2018
2nd one issue and expiry date: 7 August 2017 - 6 August 2021

On the form it asks:
Do you have a valid passport? No.
Can you provide your passport with your application? I am unable to provide my passport because I am in the UK with refugee leave and my passport is held by the Home Office.
Are you able to provide details of your passport using a copy of the information? The problem starts here, where I choose YES [[I have a copy of the first page, and I want to provide the details (Passport number, issuing authority, issue date and expiry date)]]. However, when I put down the expiry date 6/8/2021. An error message appears ''Enter a date that is in the future'' and it won't let me continue. Thus, I had to choose NO so as to be able to continue.

The problem carries on because the next question straight after this on the application form, asks: ''Do you have the details of your most recent expired passport?''. Here, I am not sure, which passport details shall I provide? His 1st (lost) passport or his 2nd (retained) passport? His 2nd retained passport is his most recent expired passport. However, I have had to say NO I can't provide the details of this passport in the previous question because of that technical error there.

Shall I provide his 2nd passport (retained) here and provide a copy of the first page in the document section?

So sorry for my long post. I do greatly appreciate your advice. Thanks.

[AmazonianX]

Provide details of the recently expired one in the possession of HO.

[Narmeen]

Thank you so much. I have followed your advice.

In the declaration section of my son's (13 years old) ILR application form, I've chosen the option ''I am the parent of the applicant who is aged under 18 and completing and submitting the form on their behalf''. Then asked ''In what capacity are you representing the applicant?'' I have chosen Family member - Mother.

The next thing is ''Consent for the Home Office to request verification checks for joint accounts or third party support. Are you relying on evidence from someone else to provide your financial circumstances? For example, on a joint bank account in someone else's name?''

My question is, should I say NO because I don't rely on anyone financially (I work part time and receive benefits). However, (this made me feel confused) my ex-husband (who is the father of my son whom this ILR application is for) is paying the fees of my son's ILR application. So, I, the mother whom my son normally lives with me, have filled out the application form and gave the details of both parents as we both have parental responsibilities and the father, who is having direct regular contact with our son, is using his card to pay the application fees.

I'm worried if I have made a mistake since I thought ILR based on 10 years long residence is not related to financial circumstances, but why it asks me this question I wondered. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[contorted_svy]

The question is asking whether the documents you submitted are in your and someone else's name, eg bills or bank statements. No issue if someone else is paying the fee. If that is the case the other person (s) must sign the form to give their consent to the HO using their data. It's for data protection reasons, it won't have any effect on your application as far as the declaration is signed correctly.

[Narmeen]

I would like to thank you very much for your help answering my questions about my son's ILR application form, which has been successful! You're doing an amazing job!

[AmazonianX]

I would like to thank you very much for your help answering my questions about my son's ILR application form, which has been successful! You're doing an amazing job!

Congratulations

[contorted_svy]

I would like to thank you very much for your help answering my questions about my son's ILR application form, which has been successful! You're doing an amazing job!

Great news! Congratulations.