Private life in the UK allowed...is it possible to switch to ILR in the future?

[Stayyoung530]

I just came back from my PSC appointment today, and applied for Set LR under 10 years lawful residence. I wasn't granted it because I had 554 days out of the UK in the past ten years. But they gave me the offer of limited leave of 30 months on the basis of Private life in the UK, as I am aged between 18 and 25 and have spent more than half my life here in the UK, I have actually been here 16 years. They told me I have 10 working days to accept this offer and pay the immigration health surcharge. My current Tier 4 visa expires in November.

My question is, once I accept this 30 months leave, am I allowed to apply for ILR once I am under the 540 days threshold and have 10 years lawful residence? I am being told different things, the lady at the PSC said no, once I had the 30 months leave that was it, my solicitor is saying that I can take up this offer and apply for extensions until 10 years has passed, and then I can apply for ILR. Is this true?? I also called an expensive lawyer firm in Mayfair, and he said it will be possible to apply for ILR once I accept this leave and then have lawful 10 years residence with absences under 540 days.
Any advice or information about this would be much appreciated, I didn't even know about this Private life leave until today.

[CR001]

What is your full UK immigration history if you have been here for 16 years??

[Stayyoung530]

Tier 4 all this time, came to the UK as a dependent of my mother for 2 years, was granted Tier 4 and went to boarding school for 8 years with extensions, went to a music college and did Bachelors for 4 years, and also Masters for 2. I am still doing more year of study with a full scholarship from my institution. So, if I accept this Private Life 30 month leave, will I be able to apply for ILR? I was only 14 days over, I can make the threshold very soon. People have been refused ILR and then successfully applied the second time right?

[sheraz786]

Hi All,
I am on same boat hearing stories that I will have to complete 10 years on private life route. I completed my 10 years last month with different immigration categories like Student, Psw & Tier1 ent. My current leave is FLR FP I am not sure it will count towards ILR or not. Can some one from GURUS of this forum please reply and confirm whether FLR FP will count towards long residence
Many thanks