Student Visa - ILR

[drewchad]

Hi,

Someone has told me that after a certain length of time in the UK on a student visa one can apply for ILR. Is this possible & under what circumstances.

[John]

Ordinarily time in the UK on a student visa does not count towards getting ILR.

However it does count under 10-year and 14-year applications .... Long Residence.

[Chess]

Ordinarily time in the UK on a student visa does not count towards getting ILR.

However it does count under 10-year and 14-year applications .... Long Residence.

Dont forget these concessions may be scrapped as a result of the new immiogration revamp!!!

[drewchad]

Could someone be on a student visa for 10/14 years then apply for long residence?

[drewchad]

Is there any info on this on the home office website? What form would be used for this type of application?

[HHH99]

the form is set o i believe. Chess dude is it really getting scrapped because I know a lot of people including myself who are kind of waiting on it.

[Chess]

the form is set o i believe. Chess dude is it really getting scrapped because I know a lot of people including myself who are kind of waiting on it.

I cant tell whether it will be scrapped - but the new points system has no allowance for the 10/14 year rule and the Ancestry Visa allowance...

time will tell...

[John]

Drewchad, the following IND webpage will assist :-

The Long Residence Concession

That is a chapter out of the instructions that IND gives to its staff.

I cant tell whether it will be scrapped - but the new points system has no allowance for the 10/14 year rule and the Ancestry Visa allowance...

But it makes no attempt to. The points system is merely about employment-based immigration .... economic migration. The document you refer to also makes no reference to family immigration .. fiance(e), spouse, unmarried partner or child settlement ... but those will continue in a non-points based way.

[ppron747]

I cant tell whether it will be scrapped - but the new points system has no allowance for the 10/14 year rule and the Ancestry Visa allowance...

But it makes no attempt to. The points system is merely about employment-based immigration .... economic migration. The document you refer to also makes no reference to family immigration .. fiance(e), spouse, unmarried partner or child settlement ... but those will continue in a non-points based way.

I'm glad this came up! I'm normally quite good at reading, but until your post, John, I'd completely overlooked the opening paragraph of the consultation document - and I'm fairly sure from looking at conversations both here and elsewhere that I'm not the only one....

The purpose of this consultation exercise is to seek early input on the way forward for a new single pointsbased system for managed migration, i.e. routes to work, train or study in the UK. It does not cover asylum or refugees.

There is one oddity, though; it defines the limits of the exercise, but for some reason it only specifies a couple of the things that it doesn't seek to cover.

I know that the list of things that it doesn't cover is potentially endless, but it would have avoided a lot of speculation if they'd been a bit more comprehensive when listing the omissions...

[penanglad]

I think it would be totally contrary to public policy for the 10-year and (particularly) the 14-year concession to be scrapped. There must be some route for normalising the immigration status of illegal long residents, and it makes sense that if there is a route for regularising illegals, then there ought to be an easier route for legals.

[Chess]

There must be some route for normalising the immigration status of illegal long residents, .

This has never been Government policy

[Smit]

Under EU law, a member state cannot remove someone who has been staying for 10 years or more in that state. Home Office policy has been to grant ILR to such people instead of simply not removing them.

[ppron747]

There must be some route for normalising the immigration status of illegal long residents, .

This has never been Government policy

Yes it has. Following is from the Immigration Directorates' Instructions on the Long Residence Concession - Chapter 18. I assume that "Home Office practice" can be taken as being government policy...

On 14 October 1969, the United Kingdom ratified the European Convention on Establishment, Article 3(3) which provides that nationals of any contracting party who have been lawfully residing for more than 10 years in the territory of another party may only be expelled for reasons of national security or for particularly serious reasons relating to public order, public health or morality. Home Office practice has been to extend this provision in three respects:

• to include all foreign nationals;
  to grant indefinite leave rather than simply refrain from removing such a person; and
  to allow those who have been here illegally to benefit.

[Chess]

Ppron,

as you clearly stated a 'practise' is not tantamount to 'policy'

I dont know if you recall; there was a period (about 3 years ago) when a 65 year old Grand mother was threatened with deportation to the USA when he had lived in the UK for nearly 40 yrs.

Incidentally one of his sons had served in Iraq.

Only a last minute minesterial intervention stopped the Grand Ma from being deported..

If you think long term 'illegal' residence normalisation is Govt Policy then they would have seriously advertised it as many of the 0.5 to 1.0m 'overstayers' in the Uk would have benefited...

[ppron747]

Ppron,
as you clearly stated a 'practise' is not tantamount to 'policy'

Not clearly enough, evidently.

What I actually said was "I assume that "Home Office practice" can be taken as being government policy..." and I continue to hold the view that something that appears in the instruction manual of a government department, headed by a Secretary of State, can be taken as being in accordance with the wishes (ie the policy) of the government.

I dont know if you recall; there was a period (about 3 years ago) when a 65 year old Grand mother was threatened with deportation to the USA when he had lived in the UK for nearly 40 yrs.

Incidentally one of his sons had served in Iraq.

Only a last minute minesterial intervention stopped the Grand Ma from being deported..

I do indeed remember seeing press reports of this case - which is not, of course, the same as knowing the facts of it...

One of the problems with cases like this is that we only ever hear the complainant's side of the story. Because of client confidentiality, government departments almost never give their side of it. I personally don't believe that this woman was ever anywhere near being deported. IIRC, the problem came to light when she applied for a British passport, when she wasn't British. There was a lot of fuss because some insensitive immigration official told her that technically she was an illegal immigrant, and then, as you have said, a minister intervened and sorted it out. Then silence reigned.

I'm not sure why it is relevant, tbh

If you think long term 'illegal' residence normalisation is Govt Policy then they would have seriously advertised it as many of the 0.5 to 1.0m 'overstayers' in the Uk would have benefited...

I think that the IDI extract I quoted speaks for itself. The fact that a number of the chapters and annexes in both the Immigration and Nationality Directorates instructions are marked "not disclosed" are in themselves evidence that it is entirely possible for a government to have policies that they choose not to publicise - or publish at all.

Stepping back from the issue a little, I have to say that, from the government's perspective, I can see their point in not advertising the concessions widely. It is one thing to tell 10 and 11 year residents that they can sort themselves out, but how do you do this without also telling the 8 and 9 year overstayers that they only have to keep their heads down for another XX months? I don't know the answer...