ILR with no evidence for 90+ days absence & <2yr coha

[m2k2]

Hi guys,

This is my first post on the forum, though I have visited here often, and have been helped a lot by the responses and comments posted here.

I recently got my ILR and BRP, and would like to share my story.

I had arrived in UK in 2007 on WP. I had switched to Tier 1 in 2008. Though I had completed 5 yrs in 2012, there was a glitch in my case. During the beginning of 2010, I had a single absence of over 3 months (117 days), when my father was ill. A part of this leave was compassionate leave extended by my employer and for remaining part I was working from home in India. for certain reasons, the HR of my company had not been informed of this, and there was no official record available with my employer of this. The total number of absences in 5 years was also about 250. As per previous rules (180 days total and 90 days single absence), I was unsure if I would be accepted for ILR and hence had not applied.
I heard about change in rules in Feb, and booked my Life in UK test for 16th March, and I planned to apply in early April. However, the rules changed again on 14th March requiring employer documentation for every leave even for Tier 1 (which was an issue for me). Hence I got all documentation in place within a week. I booked my appointment on 21st March, and got the appointment for 26th March in Croydon.

I had got a letter from my manager about the 117 days leave period, but I was aware that it could be disputed as it was not quite the official letter. I had also written a letter mentioning my Dad's illness along with his medical certificate. But after reading Deepa and Sohel's responses, I decided not to provide any of this [\u]as it may complicate matters. On the form, I just mentioned 'Paid Leave + Working from remote location'. I also did not answer Q D2, and left it blank (again as per advice given by Deepa to others here). On a spreadsheet, I had provided the total number of days absent in the last five 12 months period, and had mentioned clearly that there was none exceeding 180. I had also mentioned clearly that I had no absence for the period when I was on WP.
I had another issue with proving cohabitation for my wife, as we did not have any document going back full 2 years. All documents started from 19 months back, when we had moved to our new flat. But we had decided to take all available docs in the last 19 mths for my wife, and for full 24 months for me.

On 26th, our appointment was at 8:45 PM. We reached Croydon PEO at 8:05AM. Went through security, registered for a ticket, made the payment by 8:20AM. our case was registered by 8:40AM. We were called for biometric at about 9:30AM. As soon as the biometric got over at about 10AM, we were called by the caseworker. We provided following docs:
-passports, BRPs, prev work permit document
- payslips for last 12 months
- bank statements for last 12 mths
- a spreadsheet with earnings, and a spreadsheet with absences
- letter from prev employer (who sponsored WP) with start and end dates
- reference letter from current employer
- The case worker asked if i had P60s, which I provided for full 5 years.
- regarding cohab, I provided all I had. She was overwhelmed and she decided to keep a couple of my bank statements, one of my wife's bank statements, one joint council tax bill and one letter from current letting agent. (there was no document which was older than 19 mths!)

She asked me about the long absence and if I had a letter from employer, and I asked her back if that is really needed, given that it was only 117 days and I haven't had more than 180 days of absence in any 12 month period. She said she may have to come back to it and may call me for further information.

An hour later at 11 AM, she called me, returned me the docs and said that the ILR has been approved. No questions asked on the leave or wife's cohab documents. It was all done in less than 3 hours!

Two days later, today the Biometric permit has arrived!


From my experience, I would say the following to other applicants:
Absences over 90 days and Q D2
absences over 90 days are not an issue and you can leave D2 blank. If you are in Tier 1, I would advise you to. if you can then do try to apply by 5th April

Regarding appointment
I had heard about people saying about difficulty getting appointment, but I didn't encounter any. I tried at 10PM in the night, and got one straightaway. (In fact there had been one available at some place in UK, every time I had logged in, at whichever time of the day - morning, afternoon, evening-, between 19th March and 21st March). So don't get scared by this.

Proving cohabitation
This is not an issue as long as the main applicant case is strong, and you look a genuine couple and have some form of evidence to substantiate.


A big thanks to all of you for sharing your experiences and advice! You guys are doing a big favour to not only those who asked the questions, but also several others like me!

[pegakrishna]

Thanks m2k2 for sharing your experience.

I'm also in similar situation like WP , switch to Tier 1.


Can you share the format which you were used to submit to UKBA

" letter from prev employer (who sponsored WP) with start and end dates"

Thanks in Advance

[m2k2]

The following are the contents of the letter. It is a standard employer reference letter that my previous employer provided. I had requested this from my employer, along with my P45 at the time of quitting job 4 years back. Also, please note that I did not have any absence in the last 5 years starting from date of application, whcih overlapped with WP period.

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<employer letterhead with address>


To Whom It May Concern:

3rd September 2008

Dear Sirs

Request for Reference : XXXX XXXX

I refer to your recent letter regarding the above named associate's employment with <employer>.

It is <employer>'s policy to confine references to factual information only; therefore, I can confirm that the above named associate was employed from 9th September 2006 to 1st September 2008 as an Associate, XXXXX.

We are pleased to provide this reference. The information it contains is, to the best of our knowledge, accurate and is given to you on the understanding that this is done without legal responsibility on part of <employer> or the author in respect of the subject of it and the recipient of it.

Yours sincerely


<HR team name of employer>

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