10 year residency but gap more than 180 days

[UKDEEART]

Hi

We hope to receive guidance on our situation.

My husband and I entered the UK on 03/07/2011 on Tier 2 ICT visa and dependent visa respectively; post 4.5 years I switched to Tier 4 general Student visa and my husband switched to a PBS dependent visa. Both our last visas expired on 09/02/2017 and before expiry we left UK on 08/02/2017; as we could not extend our visa. Whilst in India I have actively made applications to pursue my PhD and have received an unconditional offer, however I can travel only 1 month before my course start date (approx 25th Sept). Hence the earlier I can travel is most likely 25th Aug '17. This would mean that we would have more than a 180 day gap between our last visa and the next entry (we need to enter before 8th Aug 2017 to be within the 180 days).
Since we want to eventually apply for the 10 year route to residency, this gap will impact our application. I have all the emails to prove that I was actively pursuing my PhD application during this period and the only reason for the gap is bec the course start date is 25h Sep 2017. Will this eventually help towards my residency application? Like many others, we have spent a lot of a time, energy and finances towards this and want to make sure we are taking the step in the right direction.

Your help and guidance will be most appreciated

Thank You

Kind Regards
UKDEEART

[secret.simon]

The excess of 180 days is a hard target and can be ignored only if an earlier return was prevented through unavoidable circumstances (which I believe means something on the an Icelandic volcano eruption or an air traffic controllers strike, etc). Even then, the guidance (Page 10) suggests that the appropriate grant would be a grant of Leave Outside The Rules, not ILR.

What circumstances prevent you from returning earlier? Assuming that your visas have been renewed, can you fly to the UK before the 8th and then return to your country of origin to deal with the circumstance?

[UKDEEART]

Thank you for your response and the guidance note link that you sent.

Yes the 180 days rule is crucial and we would prefer not to breach it, however, the PhD course that I have received the offer for does not start before 25th Sept and as per tier 4 guidance we can only enter UK 1 month prior to course start date i.e. no before 25th Aug. However we exited UK on 08/02/17 and our 180 days would end on 08/08/17 and we cant travel before 25th Aug since the visa category does not permit us to travel earlier. I wonder if they would consider this as a reasonable reason as to why we didn't enter UK earlier?

If we enter UK on a standard visitor visa before the end of my 180 days and then return back to my home country and then reenter UK on the tier 4 student visa , will the standard visitor visa count towards my 10 year route? Will I then cover up for the 180 day clause?

Thank you ever so much
UKDEEART

[physicskate]

Thank you for your response and the guidance note link that you sent.

If we enter UK on a standard visitor visa before the end of my 180 days and then return back to my home country and then reenter UK on the tier 4 student visa , will the standard visitor visa count towards my 10 year route? Will I then cover up for the 180 day clause?

Thank you ever so much
UKDEEART

Visitor visa does count towards 10 year long residency. I believe this is the best course of action for you as your situation would break the 180 day gap and not for an extra-ordinary reason. I do not think (in the current immigration climate) that an IO would overlook such an absence when applying for ILR as it was your choice to start the programme when you did and also that you did not extend your previous visa.

Your difficulty might be getting the visitor visa as you have just had a period of long settlement, thus presumably your ties to your home country might appear weak.

Good luck.

[UKDEEART]

Thank you for your response and the guidance note link that you sent.

If we enter UK on a standard visitor visa before the end of my 180 days and then return back to my home country and then reenter UK on the tier 4 student visa , will the standard visitor visa count towards my 10 year route? Will I then cover up for the 180 day clause?

Thank you ever so much
UKDEEART

Visitor visa does count towards 10 year long residency. I believe this is the best course of action for you as your situation would break the 180 day gap and not for an extra-ordinary reason. I do not think (in the current immigration climate) that an IO would overlook such an absence when applying for ILR as it was your choice to start the programme when you did and also that you did not extend your previous visa.

Your difficulty might be getting the visitor visa as you have just had a period of long settlement, thus presumably your ties to your home country might appear weak.

Good luck.

Thank you for your response. Happy to know that the visitor visa counts towards the 180 days period.
Yes I agree with the visitor visa difficulty and now we are just hoping we can make that happen. fingers crossed

Thank you once again