Applying for ILR with T1 General

[ladam]

I've been living in UK for around 17 years now. Couldn't apply for ILR because as a student I overstayed twice and I was away too much. Think I was over 100 days within the 10 years. Spoke to a solicitor and they said there is no chance and that the quickest would be to do it through T1 Gen after working for 5 years. The problem is where I come from, we need to serve military service before we are 30 years old and they won't issue a new passport unless I complete my service. I could stay in UK with my T1 General visa but would they need a valid passport to apply for ILR?

I read on the UK Border website that you can still apply for British Citizenship as they will give some discretion if you're service a military service abroad so you can go over the time limit. But it doesn't say that for ILR.