ILR granted in 2004. No stamp in passport. Legal to travel?

[Intrepid V]

I have been living in the U.K. since 1997 (when I was a child, and my parents moved here from abroad to claim asylum). In 2004, when I was 17 years of age, I (and my parents) were granted Indefinite Leave to Remain, due to a certain government amnesty. I was notified of this by a Home Office letter stating that I have been granted ILR, along with a separate letter stating my newly acquired National Insurance number. I had no correspondence from Home Office since. At the moment, I am postgrad student.

I have kept my ILR notification letter Home Office letter (stamped by them) from 2004 till this day. I have never put an ILR stamp in my passport, and I never applied for a BRP. My passport is valid and up to date otherwise. When I travel abroad, I always show the ILR letter at the immigration border. I also take bank statements, medical letters, etc with me as evidence of me residing in the UK.

The last time (two weeks ago) I was returning from abroad, I got held at the immigration border for half hour; the immigration officer went off somewhere to check my papers, and was not very happy that I don't have any stamps / BRP. This has never happened to me before, and left a rather unpleasant feeling. Previously, some immigration officers did mention I should put a stamp in the passport, others did not say anything at all.

I have called a solicitor recently. He has assured me that my IRL letter is sufficient for travel abroad, and that the Home Office has my reference details anyway, so BRP / ILR stamps in passport are redundant. He also said something along the lines "people working at the immigration border are not paid enough to be fully knowledgeable about the law".

The problem is that I am travelling again next week, and then in August. I intend to apply for naturalisation as British Citizen in 2 months' time, and it seems that getting a BRP at the moment is redundant.

So my question is:

1. Is it completely within my rights to continue travelling with my country's valid passport and IRL letter?

2. I will also complete my citizenship application form along with my referees' signatures prior to travel, and take that with me as further proof that I am intending to apply for naturalisation soon. Would that act as further "support" to convince the immigration officer at the border?

3. Is there anything else I could do "update" my IRL letter (given that it was dated 2004?) For example, get an official representative of Home office to restamp it?

Thank you very much.

[ohara]

No problem using your ILR letter. UKVI (and its predecessors) were much more sporadic back in those days, and there didn't seem to be a generally accepted system of doing things like there is now. It was possible to be stamped with ILR at the airport for free if you were spending a lot of time in the UK. Nowadays it's an application which has many prerequisite requirements and costs £1875!

The information about your ILR will be stored somewhere on the Home Office computer system so not to worry. There is no ILR stamp or vignette any more, it's issued as a biometric card but there is no requirement for you to obtain one.

Unfortunately you may get hassle at the airport here and there, but after your last encounter it's likely they will have added information on their system to say that your ILR proof is in the form of a letter, and hopefully it won't happen again in the future.

In direct answer to your questions:

1) Yes absolutely fine.
2) No need, and British citizenship is under different rules and laws to UK immigration / ILR etc anyway.
3) You may be able to 'upgrade' to a BRP. You will be required to submit fingerprints, photograph and signature electronically at a post office and it costs £19.20. If you intend to naturalise soon it is probably pointless anyway, as you will lose the BRP once you become a British citizen.

[vinny]

Of course, they weren't happy. Without embarkation stamps in your passports, they cannot easily determine that you haven't been absent for over two years and cease being a Returning Resident.

As long as you can continue to satisfy them that you are a Returning Resident, then you should be okay. You don't need any visa under 18A.

[Intrepid V]

Thanks!