Am i eligible for ILR

[ovoxo]

Hello,I have lived in the Uk for 4 years when i was a child. We moved back to our home country and it has been more than 6 years. I will be going to the Uk for my undergraduate studies this year. If i spend a few years there will i be eligible for ILR? if not, is there another way i can get it? Thank you

[Wanderer]

Hello,I have lived in the Uk for 4 years when i was a child. We moved back to our home country and it has been more than 6 years. I will be going to the Uk for my undergraduate studies this year. If i spend a few years there will i be eligible for ILR? if not, is there another way i can get it? Thank you

Afraid not. You'd start from scratch, 10 years for ILR or 5 if you can get a T2 work visa after your studies. Bear in mind too that the days of the perennial student getting ILR are gone, there are caps now.

[ovoxo]

Hello,I have lived in the Uk for 4 years when i was a child. We moved back to our home country and it has been more than 6 years. I will be going to the Uk for my undergraduate studies this year. If i spend a few years there will i be eligible for ILR? if not, is there another way i can get it? Thank you

Afraid not. You'd start from scratch, 10 years for ILR or 5 if you can get a T2 work visa after your studies. Bear in mind too that the days of the perennial student getting ILR are gone, there are caps now.

How do you stay in the Uk for 10 years without a T2 visa? i see a lot of people with no english skills that go to the Uk and work in fish n chips shop only to come back with at least an ILR, which frankly boggles my mind. What visa do they go on?

[CR001]

How do you stay in the Uk for 10 years without a T2 visa? i see a lot of people with no english skills that go to the Uk and work in fish n chips shop only to come back with at least an ILR, which frankly boggles my mind. What visa do they go on?

There are numerous routes migrants can use.

Up until about a year or so ago, you could be on a student visa for 10 years. This is no longer possible as there is now a cap on the amount of time you can spend on this visa.

There are other visa, like Tier 2 ICT that don't lead to ILR anymore but migrants might switch to dependent status if their spouse got a Tier 2 G. This seems to be a common trend on the forum, migrants switching between main visa holder and dependent, particularly in the visa categories that do not themselves qualify for ILR based on years.

Then of course a lot of people here as you describe, have entered the UK as 'visitors' and just never left so are basically illegal and have virtually no chance to regularise their stay. Up until July 2012, you could apply for ILR even if you had been in the UK illegally for 14 years. This has been removed now.

Of course there are others who were dependents of their parents and got ILR.

Then there are those (and many abused this route which is why it was closed), who came on Tier 1 General where no specific skill was required but they could work for anyone or be self employed.

Many people also marry EU citizens to gain the right to stay, but with Brexit, that route will rapidly close and there now appears not to be enough time to even gain PR under the EU route.

Tier 2 General leads to ILR after 5 years, as does a Spouse Settlement visa.

In your circumstances, your only option would be Student visa for your studies and then find a sponsor on Tier 2 General or look into Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur routes.

[ovoxo]

How do you stay in the Uk for 10 years without a T2 visa? i see a lot of people with no english skills that go to the Uk and work in fish n chips shop only to come back with at least an ILR, which frankly boggles my mind. What visa do they go on?

There are numerous routes migrants can use.

Up until about a year or so ago, you could be on a student visa for 10 years. This is no longer possible as there is now a cap on the amount of time you can spend on this visa.

There are other visa, like Tier 2 ICT that don't lead to ILR anymore but migrants might switch to dependent status if their spouse got a Tier 2 G. This seems to be a common trend on the forum, migrants switching between main visa holder and dependent, particularly in the visa categories that do not themselves qualify for ILR based on years.

Then of course a lot of people here as you describe, have entered the UK as 'visitors' and just never left so are basically illegal and have virtually no chance to regularise their stay. Up until July 2012, you could apply for ILR even if you had been in the UK illegally for 14 years. This has been removed now.

Of course there are others who were dependents of their parents and got ILR.

Then there are those (and many abused this route which is why it was closed), who came on Tier 1 General where no specific skill was required but they could work for anyone or be self employed.

Many people also marry EU citizens to gain the right to stay, but with Brexit, that route will rapidly close and there now appears not to be enough time to even gain PR under the EU route.

Tier 2 General leads to ILR after 5 years, as does a Spouse Settlement visa.

In your circumstances, your only option would be Student visa for your studies and then find a sponsor on Tier 2 General or look into Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur routes.

A few more questions popped up in my mind. Given that i only get 3 4 months to find a job after i graduate can i extend my visa somehow in order to find a job? And can a british citizen who is a family member i.e an elder cousin sponsor me? Thank you for the advice.

[CR001]

A few more questions popped up in my mind. Given that i only get 3 4 months to find a job after i graduate can i extend my visa somehow in order to find a job? No, you won't be able to extend your student visa.

And can a british citizen who is a family member i.e an elder cousin sponsor me? No, not possible under the UK immigration rules.

[secret.simon]

a british citizen who is a family member i.e an elder cousin

The definition of family member for UK immigration purposes is much narrower than elsewhere in the world. It is typically just spouse and children (i.e. the nuclear family). People in a relationship akin to marriage for atleast two years can also apply, but the proof threshold is correspondingly high.

But any relationship further afield is not counted for the purposes of immigration. The UK does not do chain immigration. Thus a British citizen can't sponsor his own brother or sister or parents, let alone cousins. Browse these forums to see the anguish caused by the strictness of the rules that makes it practically impossible to sponsor non-EEA parents, let alone other relatives.

So, no, your British cousin cannot sponsor you.

You could look at the spousal route, but even then, there are pretty specific earnings requirements that the British spouse needs to meet. And if the spousal relationship were to end within five years, there is still the prospect of no ILR.

i see a lot of people with no english skills that go to the Uk and work in fish n chips shop only to come back with at least an ILR, which frankly boggles my mind. What visa do they go on?

Probably the reason why the Immigration Rules have been tightened considerably over the past five years. Many routes and/or options that were available have shut down or been made much tougher in the past five years. Most routes (even spousal) now require a minimum standard of spoken English to be met.

There is always the possibility of entering the UK under EU law if you qualify, but that route will terminate when Brexit occurs.