Exotic: ILR with exempt vignette

[TheBlade]

Hello,

I am currently working for an international (intergovernmental) organisation based in the UK, was issued an exempt vignette for the duration of my contract. I pay national insurance but not income tax. The question is: am I allowed to apply for ILR after 5 years working and living in the UK?

Would appreciate any insight, thanks.

[zimba]

No. You can only apply for ILR under 'long residence' which requires at least 10 years of lawful continuous residence in the UK.

[secret.simon]

I am not entirely sure that you would qualify even under the 10 year route.

Your vignette effectively states that you do not have leave because you are exempt from meeting the requirements of the Immigration Act 1971.

The 10 year route requires you to reside in the UK for 10 years with valid leave, at the very least on each arrival and departure from the UK.

Long residence in the United Kingdom
276A. For the purposes of paragraphs 276B to 276D and 276ADE(1).
(a) “continuous residence” means residence in the United Kingdom for an unbroken period, and for these purposes a period shall not be considered to have been broken where an applicant is absent from the United Kingdom for a period of 6 months or less at any one time, provided that the applicant in question has existing limited leave to enter or remain upon their departure and return, but shall be considered to have been broken if the applicant:

As you do not have leave to remain in the UK under the Immigration Act 1971, I do not think that you can apply for ILR even after 10 years.

An application may be possible under the 20 year Long Residence rule, that allows all residence in the UK to be taken into account, but that only leads to a grant of further leave to remain, which would culminate after 10 further years into ILR.

As an aside, for other members of these forums, EEA citizens in the UK before 2000 were in the same situation. They were exempt from having to meet the requirements of the Immigration Rules, but at the time, there was no automatic PR or even PR that could be applied for. However, EEA citizens in the UK who did meet the requirements of ILR at the time could petition the Home Office, who invariably gave them ILR on demand.

That is unlikely to fly in these times of the political focus on immigration. And in any case, it was not ILR by the rules, but at the discretion of the Home Office.

Further Reading
Get an exempt vignette

Guidance - Exempt (EXM)

Government Publications - Exempt vignette