ILR Question Surrounding Vignette During COVID

[iSolaced]

Have a bit of a tricky situation and could use some advice. I'm Canadian who came to the UK on a YMV in April 2018. It's where I've resided since.

In March 2020 I transitioned to a Tier 2 visa. I left the UK to Canada and the day after my visa appointment was complete, both countries began to shut down because of the pandemic. What was supposed to be a 2-week trip ended up me getting stuck in Canada for 5 months. I still paid rent in the UK and stayed at a friends house in Canada.

My Tier 2 visa was approved on March 28th, 2020, yet because of the stay-at-home orders and a lack of flights, the vignette on my visa expired. It wasn't possible to re-issue a vignette at the stage as government offices were closed, so after waiting from March to July I spoke to my work lawyers and decided to fly back to the UK as I couldn't stay where I was in Canada anymore. My lawyers prepared me a comfort letter, told me to make sure not to use the eGates, and that I must speak to Border official once I landed. I landed and went straight to Border Control. After some questioning, a Supervisor came over and allowed me entry - there was no stamp on my passport.

Following that, there were no issues. I collected my BRP (which has issue date as June 2020), and proceeded as normal. Since then I've transitioned to a Skilled Worker visa at another company.

My issue at the moment is I've started to apply for ILR under the 5-year route. The lawyers through work seem not to be satisfied with there not being a stamp on my vignette and are worried it would constitute a high refusal rate if they assume I had entered as a visitor. They recommended to delay the application until at least August (since I had gone on a work trip in September 2020 and was in possession of my BRP).

I know with us coming up to COVID ILR applications all this is new right now, but I'm wondering if anyone faced a similar issue of not having a vignette stamped but needing to return to the UK during the pandemic? Or its affect on ILR? They've advised us not to proceed right now as could constitute a rejection but keen to know if anyones faced anything similar?

[zimba]

The lawyer is talking out of their backside. The argument that a non-visa national (with existing UK leave) can somehow inadvertently be admitted to the UK as a visitor and overwrite their existing status is nonsensical. Even the advice to not use eGates is nonsensical. The act of going through the UK border administratively confirms your right to be in the UK as per your existing leave. Being given an entry stamp or not isn't relevant at all.

We had a similar discussion before here: https://www.immigrationboards.com/viewt ... 3#p2158371