Long term residence ILR, seeking advice

[i2937246]

Good evening:

As the title suggest i am in the process of applying for ILR through the 10 year residence route. I entered UK on a student visa since 2001, where i started secondary school here. However, because i left home to study abroad at a young age, it's inevitable that I had to make regular trips back to my home country, where all my families are. All these short break happened during school holiday, so they wouldn't have been over 6 month, thus no problem there. However, I have calculated on average i left UK for 3 month per year during my years in high school, (1 month during xmas break, and 2 month during summer break) thus i might have exceeded the 18 month spent oversea limit...

My question is, has anyone here sucessfully applied for ILR through the long term residence scheme who is under similar circumstances as me? I have spoken to a few immigration lawyer, and they said it's at the discretion of the home office, and there might be compassionate circumstances.. any advice on the matter would be greatly appriciated.

Many thanks