A complicated Tier 2 / Tier 1 case .. Please Advise

[sidz15]

Hi

I plan to apply for my ILR in April 2013 but I am not sure whether I should as my case may seem complicated on the face of it ... Any advise will be appreciated and I thank you for your time.

I first landed in the UK on 26 April 2008 .. on a Work Permit valid from 28 March 2008 through to 28 January 2010 no major absences but short trips with Europe .. but then due to an issue with my employer I left the country on 11 May 2009.

I ended up suing my employer at a UK Tribunal and was afraid that they might have cancelled my Work Permit and thus procured a visit visa for the case Hearing and re entered the UK on 10 September 2009. I attended the Hearing in the UK which was scheduled for the first week of October and then departed the Country on 21 October 2009.

At the Hearing I had learnt that my employer had infact cancelled my work permit but I still do not know the specific date on which I employer had cancelled the permit. Thus I went ahead and acquired my Tier 1 (General) Migrant visa while I was in India .. Valid from 28 October 2009 to 28 October 2009. I entered the UK on this visa on 21 December 2009.

After that no major absences other than short trips around Europe and maybe a month trip to India in 2011.

However in 2012, I seeked short term employment in Dubai for a period of 3 months and was away from the country between 20 January 2012 and 5 May 2012 i.e. when I re-entered the UK. The reason i took up this employment in Dubai is because my father was unwell and I needed to be closer to home if required in case of any emergencies.

Had to make trips up n down to the Dubai to complete the assignment at the end of May and end of June / Start of July. But none of them were longer than 3 weeks.

I finally made in back to the UK for good on the 11 July 2012 and applied for Tier 1 Extension on 5 October 2012 as my visa was about to expire on 28 October 2012.

I attended my Biometrics on 2 Nov 2010

Due to the delays in processing, I only received by Biometrics Residence Permit at the end of January issued as of 20 Jan 2012.

With Regards to the Tribunal Hearing, I won the case and the judgement clearly implies that my employer cancelling my work permit was a wrong doing on their part and was frowned upon by the court for not even informing me about the same and I was awarded compensation for the same.

Now here is the scenario, I am currently in India for a short vacation and plan to go back in march and apply for the ILR in early April taking 5 years from the date I entered the UK being 26 April 2008.

Questions:

1. Is the continuous period breached because of my employer cancelling my work permit ?

2. Do they consider 180 days continuous absence or a total of 180 days in one calender year ?

( I can provide evidence of compelling circumstances being the court issue in 2009 and my fathers health in 2012 as the reasons for absence)

3. OR will the continuous period only be considered from 21 Dec 2012, the date I entered the UK on the Tier 1 (General) Migrant Visa ?

4. Does the Gap for the extension of the Tier 1 visa matter or is it considered as a folly of the Home Office due to their delays in processing ?

(During this period I was in the UK itself 28 October 2012 onwards, wherein my visa expired but I had already made the application for extension)


If anyone has any other questions please do not hesitate to ask and I will be glad to reply.

Thank you so much for reading and look forward to your responses.

Cheers

Sid

[sidz15]

Furthermore I have been self employed in the UK since January 2012 and have been paying Class 2 NI since.

Also Since being in the UK, I have paid all my taxes as a UK Resident.

[cs95tdg]

The first step I'd suggest is for you to make a SAR.

IMHO your continuous residence for ILR would have been broken when your former WP employer cancelled your WP. I presume that they submitted a NPEE?

Note however I do not know what bearing the subsequent court ruling that was in your favour would have on your application.

If speaking in general terms, not taking into account the court ruling, your ILR residence would now begin on your Tier 1 General EC date (28 Oct 2009).

[sidz15]

SAR ??

Will the Home Office consider a court ruling or say that its between me and the employer ... I ve written an email to my employer to rectify the error they made and try to explain the same to the Home Office.

Since I was not aware and nor was the court during the trial that this would have a bearing on my residency ... my ex employer which is a big Indian Bank can be held responsible for negligence and irresponsible management in my case, I believe.

Kindly advise

[sidz15]

no idea what an NPEE is ?

[sidz15]

Thank you for your previous reply.. forgot to thank you initially.

Also if I coax my ex employer do you think they can speak to the home office and make changes as required ?

Warm Regards

Sid

[cs95tdg]

SAR = Subject Access Request, It will give you all the data the UKBA/Home Office hold on you, so would be a good starting point to understand your complete immigration history, including cancellation of your WP. See http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/navig ... onal-data/ for further information. I understand the SLA is usually 40 days for this, so I would make the SAR asap.

NPEE = Notification of Premature End of Employment. An employer can submit a NPEE to the HomeOffice/UKBA when they want to end a company sponsored WP Holders LTR before its original expiry date.

As for your other questions about the court ruling, I'm afraid I'm not qualified to comment on what effect that would have on your WP cancellation & continuous residence. If you need advice on that you will probably need to engage the services of a solicitor or immigration consultant.