10-year Long Residence ILR Earliest Application Date

Let's settle this once and for all,

Can the qualifying period for the Long Residence ILR start from the date of issuance of the first visa or does it have to be the date of entry? Please site your source of information and let us know if you're a lawyer working in this field.

The Home Office mentions this case specifically in their "calculating continuous residence period" guidance but not in their "Long Residence" guidance.

Also, some law firms have pages on Long Residence which imply that the date of first visa issuance can be used: [LINK removed by the moderator]

First of all, the "calculating continuous residence period" guidance does NOT cover the long residence route. This is very clearly explained in that guide.

For the long residence, paragraph 267A of the rules defines “continuous residence” as residence in the United Kingdom for an unbroken period. This means you must enter the UK for your continuous and lawful residence to start and then any absence from the UK of less than 6 months should not affect you:

(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

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration ... categories

If a law firm made a claim, maybe you should contact them and question them to justify their claims