ILR 10 years route - Advice please

[inuk007]

Hi there, I'm currently on Skilled worked visa from Nov 2021. This means that I will be eligible for ILR only on Nov 2026 in 5 years route. However I have had combination on ICT and Dependent Visa since Mar 2015 as below. Point to note is, I had to leave UK, go back to India, obtain new visa and travel again to UK. I satisfy the below conditions as well:
1) No stay out of UK 180 days in any 12 months period
2) No stay out of UK for more than 540 days till now.

Am I eligible for ILR in 10 years route from Mar 2025?

UK Stay History:
1) Stayed in UK 14/Mar/2015 to 14/Apr/2015 - ICT Dependent.
2) Went to India and stayed 166 days and processed new Visa as visa expired.
3) Stayed in UK 27/Sep/2015 to 18/Sep/2016 - ICT Short Term.
4) Went to India and stayed 144 days and processed new visa as visa expired.
5) Stayed in UK 10/Jan/2017 to 08/Jan/2019 - ICT Long Term.
6) Went to India and stayed 165 days and processed new visa as visa expired.
7) Stayed in UK 22/Jun/2019 to 20/Nov/2021 - ICT Dependent
8 ) Switched to Skilled Worker from 21/Nov/2021 till date

[CR001]

All visas count for long residence ilr.

This route for you means it is more complication for your dependents who won't be able to stay on PBS Dependent visas and will have to switch to FLR M meeting all the requirements and this resetz their 5 year ilr clock to zero.

[inuk007]

Thank you. I was told that if we leave out of country and come back to UK in different visa (as the previous one expired and new visa is obtained), this will not be counted for 10 years route. Is this correct information? Hence the confusion.

[CR001]

Thank you. I was told that if we leave out of country and come back to UK in different visa (as the previous one expired and new visa is obtained), this will not be counted for 10 years route. Is this correct information? Hence the confusion.

If you leave BEFORE the visa expires and return with a new visa within 180 days, it counts. The only time it does NOT count is if you leave the UK after your visa expired.

[inuk007]

Hi Team,

As confirmed in my previous post, I will be eligible for ILR in March 2025 under 10 years route considering the below history (please note every time I leave country, I had valid visa due to expire soon, and had to get new visa from India and come back). There was a confusion with statement - "Left the United Kingdom in circumstances in which he could have had no reasonable expectation at the time of leaving that he would lawfully be able to return"

1) Stayed in UK 14/Mar/2015 to 14/Apr/2015 - ICT Dependent.
2) Went to India and stayed 166 days and processed new Visa as visa expired.
3) Stayed in UK 27/Sep/2015 to 18/Sep/2016 - ICT Short Term.
4) Went to India and stayed 144 days and processed new visa as visa expired.
5) Stayed in UK 10/Jan/2017 to 08/Jan/2019 - ICT Long Term.
6) Went to India and stayed 165 days and processed new visa as visa expired.
7) Stayed in UK 22/Jun/2019 to 20/Nov/2021 - ICT Dependent
8 ) Switched to Skilled Worker from 21/Nov/2021 till date

I have a question for my dependents. Currently my dependents are on Skilled Worker Dependent. When I quality for ILR in 10 years route on Mar 2025, I believe my dependents can continue extending Skilled Worker Dependent (and no need to switch to family visa)? And they will be eligible for ILR either in 5 years (as skilled worker dependent) or 10 years (if they qualify earlier under this category)?

[zimba]

Yes

ILR clock does NOT reset for skilled worker dependants when the main applicant settles under the long residence

[inuk007]

Hi team, while going through the below guidance I’m little confused. Considering my situation as mentioned above - every time I leave UK though I had valid visa, I come back to UK with new visa that was applied after few months of expiry of previous visa. Does it break my continuous residence ? Just struggling to interpret the below:

CR 4.1. An applicant’s continuous residence period will be broken if any of the following apply:
(a) the applicant is convicted of an offence and sentenced to a period of imprisonment (unless it is a suspended sentence) or directed to be detained in an institution other than a prison, unless the applicant is applying for settlement under Appendix Settlement Family Life or Appendix Private Life and CR 4.4. applies; or
(b) the applicant is subject to a deportation order, exclusion order or exclusion direction; or
(c) the applicant is subject to removal directions, or in the case of an application under Appendix Long Residence removed from the UK, under section 10 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999; or
(d) the applicant does not currently have, or did not have, permission, unless:
(i) the applicant was granted permission following a successful application where paragraph 39E of these rules applied; or
(ii) (except for applications under Appendix Long Residence), the applicant had permission when they left the UK, applied for entry clearance before that permission expired, or within 14 days of that permission expiring, and that application for entry clearance was successful; or
(iii) the application is under Appendix Long Residence, and the applicant had permission when they left the UK and returned to the UK with a valid permission (on the same or another route) provided they do not exceed the absence period in CR 2.1, CR 2.2. or CR 2.2A; or
(iv) CR 4.2. applies; or
(e) the applicant is absent from the UK for longer than the periods permitted under CR 2.1, CR 2.2., and CR 2.2A, and none of the exceptions in CR 2.3, CR 2.5, CR 3.1. and CR 3.2. apply; or
(f) the applicant is removed from the UK, is deported or leaves the UK having been refused permission to enter, permission to stay or settlement, and any permission held at the time of that voluntary departure has expired, unless CR 4.2. applies.
CR 4.2. Any period without permission under CR 4.1.(d) before 24 November 2016 will break the continuous residence period unless:
(a) the applicant made a successful application for permission (either in or outside the UK) within 28 days of the date their previous permission expired: or
(b) the applicant had permission when they left the UK, applied for entry clearance before that permission expired and that application for entry clearance was successful.

[zimba]

That does NOT apply to the long residence path to ILR. Under the long residence rules, you can leave with a valid visa and return within 6 months without issues.

[inuk007]

Thanks for the response @Zimba. Could you please help me to understand why it is not applicable for long residence route please? I see this reference in almost all documents. Another example:

source: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... pdf#page26
Applications for permission that were made outside the UK before 26 November
2016 will not break continuous residence if:
• the applicant made a successful application for permission within 28 days of
their previous permission expiring
• the applicant had permission when they left the UK and made a successful
application for entry clearance before that permission expired


source: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration ... -residence
CR 4.2. Any period without permission under CR 4.1.(d) before 24 November 2016 will break the continuous residence period unless:
(a) the applicant made a successful application for permission (either in or outside the UK) within 28 days of the date their previous permission expired: or
(b) the applicant had permission when they left the UK, applied for entry clearance before that permission expired and that application for entry clearance was successful.

Reason I'm worried because, in my immigration history, I left UK on 18/09/2016 (ICT Short term Visa End Date being 20/09/2016. I applied ICT long term and visa start date was 29/12/2016 and arrived UK on 10/01/2017. As per the above statement, I might have broken continuous residence as I didn't apply next visa within 28 days of previous permission expiring or made a successful application for entry clearance before that permission expired.

I wanted to be sure before I pay the visa fee to avoid any refusal on these clause. Sorry to ask more questions.

[zimba]

Look at 'Example 2: specific to Appendix Long Residence' in the guide you shared yourself

Also paragraph CR4.1(d)(iii) of the immigration rules says:

(iii) the application is under Appendix Long Residence, and the applicant had permission when they left the UK and returned to the UK with a valid permission (on the same or another route) provided they do not exceed the absence period in CR 2.1, CR 2.2. or CR 2.2A; or
(iv) CR 4.2. applies; or

So CR 4.2 applies normally but under long residence, it is effectively excluded

[inuk007]

Thanks Zimba. I did, however in the example 2, there is no mention about when the applicant applied for new visa - within expiry of the previous visa or within 28 days of expiry. Hence the confusion.

[inuk007]

Hi Team, another confusion please on 10 year route.

As per the page - https://www.gov.uk/long-residence/eligibility

I can see the below, is it not contradictory to case worker guidance?
If your time abroad began before 11 April 2024
During the 10-year qualifying period, you do not have continuous residence if you were abroad for more than:

548 days in total
184 days in any 12-month period

Case worker guidance says - https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... bookmark40

Appendix Long Residence: transitional arrangements for applicants where the absence started before 11 April 2024
Appendix Continuous Residence (at paragraph CR 2.2A) recognises that its provisions are different from the previous long residence rules at paragraph 276A and makes transitional arrangements specifically for long residence applicants.

These transitional arrangements preserve the position that continuous residence will be broken if an applicant has been absent from the UK for more than 184 days at any one time where the absences started before 11 April 2024, or for more than a total of 548 days overall in any part of their qualifying period before 11 April 2024.This means that:

any single absences started before 11 April 2024 must be no longer than 184 days
any part of a 10-year qualifying period before 11 April 2024 must not have total absences of more than 548 days
from 11 April 2024 the applicant must not have been outside the UK for more than 180 days in any 12-month period (see Calculating the length of absences)

[zimba]

Please ignore the Gov.UK as the details are often missing or inaccurate.
You must stick to the official guide and the rules ONLY

[inuk007]

Hi Team, I’m eligible for ILR in March 2025. I’m planning to write Life in the UK test by this month or November. While registering it is asking for ID proof and suggests if we have BRP, we should use it. As my BRP is expiring by end of December and we will moving to e-visa, wanted to understand if there will be any issues with the reference / Certificate I get after passing the exam. Will it be linked to my BRP that I use as ID proof? If so I might be in trouble as by the time I apply for ILR in March, I will not be having valid BRP (as it expires in Dec 2024).

[CR001]

Why not just use your passport or drivers license if you have one? Keep it simple. None of us know what the full extent of the e-visa and any issues that might occur will be. We don't work for UKVI.

[inuk007]

Thanks for your quick reply. The instructions says:

“If you have a valid United Kingdom Biometric Residence Permit then you must bring this to the test centre as your identification document.

If you do not have a United Kingdom Biometric Residence Permit you may use one of our other accepted identity documents.”

Hence I’m gave my BRP details. At the same time I’m worried by the time I apply for ILR, BRP will be expired.

Is the result really mapped/linked to ID we chose or it is just to very identification on the day of exam. Any guidance would be appreciated.

[alterhase58]

Results of tests are not mapped to any ID ...
As was suggested just take your passport - your BRP will expire soon (NOT your ILR) so don't see a problem.

[inuk007]

Hello Moderators,

I just had a look at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration ... -residence

Finally they removed CR 4.2 which clears few confusion. However, could you please help me with the below please?
CR4.1
(d) the applicant does not currently have, or did not have, permission, unless:
(i) the applicant was granted permission following a successful application where paragraph 39E of these rules applied; or
(ii) (except for applications under Appendix Long Residence), the applicant had permission when they left the UK, applied for entry clearance before that permission expired, or within 14 days of that permission expiring, and that application for entry clearance was successful; or
(iii) the application is under Appendix Long Residence, and the applicant had permission when they left the UK and returned to the UK with a valid permission (on the same or another route), provided they do not exceed the absence limit in CR 2.1., CR 2.2. or CR 2.2A.; or
(iv) for any period without permission before 24 November 2016, the applicant made a successful application for entry clearance or permission (either in or outside the UK) within 28 days of the date their previous permission expired; or
(v) the dates on which the applicant was in the UK without permission were in the period from 1 to 31 August 2020 and the applicant had permission immediately before then; or
(e) the applicant is absent from the UK for longer than the periods permitted under CR 2.1., CR 2.2., and CR 2.2A., and none of the exceptions in CR 2.3., CR 2.5., CR 3.1. and CR 3.2. apply; or
(f) the applicant is removed or deported from the UK; or
(g) the applicant leaves the UK voluntarily having been refused permission to enter, permission to stay or settlement, and any permission held at the time of that voluntary departure has expired, unless CR 4.1(d)(iv) applies.

Is the above (marked in yellow CR 4.1 (iv)) applicable for Long Residence? or is this only for other category? In my case, I didn't have valid visa from 21/09/2016 to 29/12/2016, when I was in India. However, I went to India before the visa expiry and returned back with valid new category visa within 180 days.

Also, considering the below:
CR 4.3. Where CR 4.1(d)(i) to (iv) applies, any period of time where the applicant did not have permission will be disregarded when calculating the continuous residence period in CR 6.1.


Should I exclude all the gaps in my visa when I was in India while I was waiting for new visa to be applied while calculating 10 years of continuous residence and wait until I accumulated 10 years with valid Visa? If so, I can't count from my first entry from March 2015? Note: All the time I went to India within expiry of visa and came back with new Visa within 180 days and total absence is < 540 days.

[zimba]

Only one of the items under CR4.1(d) applies. Those are all separated by 'or' as you can see, so (iv) does not apply only (iii) applies when applying under the long residence. You really need to pay attention. Also, any time spent without valid leave is excluded under long residence so you need to subtract time spent without leave, even when the lawful continuous residence is not broken.

[inuk007]

Thank you so much for the response @Zimba. Sorry for more questions, Looking further in to my case history below, in the line 4, I was in India without Visa (ICT short term Visa Expired on 20-Sep-2016 and new ICT Long Term started on 29-Dec-2016), This period of 100 days without Visa when I was in India, should be excluded from 10 years? Does it mean I will not be eligible for ILR in March 2025 (10 years from Mar 2015) and I have to wait further 100 days to apply? I was assuming days spent outside UK without visa will not be disregarded for calculating Continuous residence as we are saying CR 4.1 d is not applied due to 'unless'.

CR 4.1. An applicant’s continuous residence period will be broken if any of the following apply:
(d) the applicant does not currently have, or did not have, permission, unless:
(iii) the application is under Appendix Long Residence, and the applicant had permission when they left the UK and returned to the UK with a valid permission (on the same or another route), provided they do not exceed the absence limit in CR 2.1., CR 2.2. or CR 2.2A.;

CR 4.3. Where CR 4.1(d)(i) to (iv) applies, any period of time where the applicant did not have permission will be disregarded when calculating the continuous residence period in CR 6.1.

History:
1) Stayed in UK 14/Mar/2015 to 14/Apr/2015 - ICT Dependent.
2) Went to India and stayed 166 days and processed new Visa as visa expired.
3) Stayed in UK 27/Sep/2015 to 18/Sep/2016 - ICT Short Term.
4) Went to India and stayed 144 days and processed new visa as visa expired.
5) Stayed in UK 10/Jan/2017 to 08/Jan/2019 - ICT Long Term.
6) Went to India and stayed 165 days and processed new visa as visa expired.
7) Stayed in UK 22/Jun/2019 to 20/Nov/2021 - ICT Dependent
8 ) Switched to Skilled Worker from 21/Nov/2021 till date

[zimba]

Lawful residence not being broken is NOT the same as having had 10 years of lawful residence when counting the 10 years

Only one of the items under CR4.1(d) applies. Those are all separated by 'or' as you can see, so (iv) does not apply only (iii) applies when applying under the long residence. You really need to pay attention. Also, any time spent without valid leave is excluded under long residence so you need to subtract time spent without leave, even when the lawful continuous residence is not broken.

[inuk007]

Thanks @zimba, I think many had similar confusion and understood in the wrong way. I saw many similar posts and thought would be eligible.

Example -https://www.immigrationboards.com/viewt ... 07&start=0

Also, the explanation from Vinny I did interpret in wrong way:

https://www.immigrationboards.com/viewt ... 8#p2167284

So in my case, I should start 10 years from March 2015, but have to subtract all the period in India without visa, then wait further until I spend those gaps in UK, I.e another 100 days. It’s getting complicated.

[inuk007]

Hi Zimba, In continuation to my last post, is it not contradicting with the below one ?

https://www.immigrationboards.com/viewt ... 8#p2164984

https://www.immigrationboards.com/viewt ... 07&start=0

In the both above posts, it appears that the period without visa in their home country is considered for continuous residence as well as 10 years qualifying period to apply visa from first entry + 10 years (not excluding the period without visa outside UK).

Could someone please help me to understand? I.e for 10 years route if a person leaves UK with valid visa and comes back to UK with another valid visa within 180 days, any period in that gap without UK permit while outside UK (eg 100 days) should be excluded from 10 year lawful residence though continuous residence is not broken? And should further wait for that gap period (100 days) to satisfy 10 years lawful residence? Or the gap period (100 days) is considered for 10 year lawful residence and not to worry.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[zimba]

I was referring to lawful presence in the UK, so time spent in the UK without leave (even if disregarded) does not count. For example, time spent under paragraph 39E or COVID-19 exceptional assurance will not count. However time spent outside the UK as per the rules under the long residence does not break continuous residence but they still count as absence, so you do not need to worry about the 100 days.

Applications from outside the UK
In limited circumstances where a person had permission before leaving the UK and made a successful application from outside of the UK, it will not break the period of continuous residence.

Applications for permission that were made outside the UK on or after 24 November 2016 will not break the period continuous residence if:

•the applicant had permission when they left the UK and made a successful application for entry clearance before that permission expired
•the applicant had permission when they left the UK and made a successful application for entry clearance within 14 days of that permission expiring except for applicants applying under Appendix Long Residence
•under Appendix Long Residence, where the applicant had permission when they left the UK, and returned to the UK with valid permission in the same or another route, provided the applicant was not absent for more than 184 days where the absence started before 11 April 2024, or 180 days for absences which started on or after 11 April 2024, continuous residence is not broken

[inuk007]

Thank you, so to make it clear, based on my history below and text marked in yellow, I can apply for ILR on 28 days before 14/Mar/2025. Gap of 100 days will not be disregarded in my case for Lawful Residence and Continuous residence of 10 years. This also means CR4.3 is not applicable for me:
CR 4.3. Where CR 4.1(d)(i) to (iv) applies, any period of time where the applicant did not have permission will be disregarded when calculating the continuous residence period in CR 6.1.

History:
1) Stayed in UK 14/Mar/2015 to 14/Apr/2015 - ICT Dependent.
2) Went to India and stayed 166 days and processed new Visa as visa expired.
3) Stayed in UK 27/Sep/2015 to 18/Sep/2016 - ICT Short Term.
4) Went to India and stayed 144 days and processed new visa as visa expired. In this time in India, I didn’t have visa for 100 days. I applied for new visa after 100 days and travelled to UK.
5) Stayed in UK 10/Jan/2017 to 08/Jan/2019 - ICT Long Term.
6) Went to India and stayed 165 days and processed new visa as visa expired.
7) Stayed in UK 22/Jun/2019 to 20/Nov/2021 - ICT Dependent
8 ) Switched to Skilled Worker from 21/Nov/2021 till date.

Total absence from March 2014 is < 540 days and no absence is > 180 days.

Please correct me if I’m wrong.