ILR 180 Days Rule - Maternity Leave Query

[ranga_12345]

Hi All,

I hold a Tier 1 General visa and due for ILR in Aug 2012. I am in UK 2006 and have been out of the country for 140 days till date. ( All of them are paid leave). I am currently on maternity leave and planning to go to my home town for a period of 60 days.

This will make number of days outside UK to 200 days at the time of applying ILR.(more than 180 days).

Could you please let me know if this will impact my ILR application ?

1. As all my earlier travel(140 days) out of UK is for vocation (paid leave) , would that also be counted under 180 days rules? As these are paid leave will I get exemption ?

2. Will I get any exemption for maternity leave ?

I have gone through several links in the forum and have got mixed responses. I would really appreciate if someone can answer the above question and highlight any risk .

Thanks,
R

Regards,
R

[xyz123]

As you are asking if tehre is "any risk" there is no guarantee that you will get ILR with over 180 absences (this is not to scare you but its a fact).

Caseworker have the descretion to ignore absences over 180 days but it is not a rule, so it is down to caseworker to use his/her descretion. all you can do is provide evidance.

Search this forum for maternity word and u will find some earlier posts where people have been refused ILR (equally you will find posts where ILR has been granted). Problem with maternity leave is that in UKBA's view one has no need to go out of UK as NHS is more than capable of providing service.

so to answer your question there is no guaratnee of ILR as soon as one goes over 180 days absences. Only you can decide what chances you want to take.

[prisat]

One quick question...

what iam trying to understand is how come decision between two people differ based on the same scenario (180 days consideration) and two different applications ?