ILR - waiting time

kasia · Post by **kasia** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 8:41 pm

Hi everyone,
The question is about my fiance who is from Afghanistan. He has been in UK for four years on the ELR which ended on february 2005, then he applied for ILR. He has been waiting for it for one year already. Does anyone know how long it will take to get his visa and is there any way to speed up the process. We are really worring about the long wait. Thank you in advance.

Post by **John** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 10:25 pm

He has been in UK for four years on the ELR which ended on february 2005

The first thing to say is that technically it is not correct to day that the ELR ended in February 2005. I am assuming that the ILR application was made before the stated expiry date of the ELR. If that was the case then legislation known as Section 3C comes into play. That is, because the application was not dealt with before the stated expiry date that old visa is "treated as continuing". That is, at this moment in time, the ELR is still in force.

Secondly, other postings on this Board indicate that applications like that made by your fiancé do take a long time to deal with.

What might be done? Have you made contact with your MP? If not you might think about doing that, to see if the MP can get the process speeded up a bit.

kasia · Post by **kasia** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 11:10 pm

Hi John, thank you for quick answer, i'm sorry i wasn't very clear. Yes, he applied before the ELR ended, he send his document in January.

Post by **John** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 7:14 am

he applied before the ELR ended

OK, but you need to appreciate that the ELR has not ended! For the reason I stated before. The ELR is "treated as continuing", that is, he is not an overstayer.

The Section 3C protection lasts at least until they decide the application for ILR, and if for some reason it is rejected, until the time for appealing against that rejection has expired.

I repeat, if you have not yet made contact with your MP then you should do that.

kasia · Post by **kasia** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 11:10 am

Thanks John,
we will try to contact our MP

kasia · Post by **kasia** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 3:41 pm

Hello,
Just wanted to say that my fiance received his passport with ILR two days ago without contacting our MP

Post by **John** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 10:36 pm

Kasia, many congratulations! Glad it all worked out in the end!

Have a great wedding, whenever you plan that to happen!

Does your fiancé plan to apply for naturalisation? If so he is eligible to apply for that, on his facts, as soon as he has held the ILR for one year, or as soon as he is married to you, a British Citizen ... whichever is the earlier.

But in either case, he needs to pass the Citizenship Test, or complete a combined ESOL/Citizenship course.

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ILR - waiting time

ILR - waiting time