Settlement and avoiding 2nd Extension

[zain_mustapha]

Hi,
I have received a 3 yr valid Tier 1 visa starting from 11th Jan 2011. I am trying to get transferred through my existing employer to our UK office but my local subsidiary can not release me before July 2011.

To get my clock ticking i understand i need to visit UK within 28 days from 11th Jan '11 so i'll incur that cost and come back after a few days. I have two specific queries:

A. Would i have to make a short visit again before July since one of the conditions for avoiding 2nd extension in light of settlement at 5 yrs is one can not be away from UK for a continuous period of 90 days?

B. The other condition for residency is that within 5 yrs one can stay outside the UK for 180 days (6 months). If i make the casual trip in Jan and then move in July then would the 5 months of non-presence mean that i just have 1 month of permissible outside stay in the remaining 4.5 yrs?

I'd appreciate detailed answers since that would decide whether i relax now or decide to burn my boats here and look for a job in UK from Jan 2011.

Zain

[mulderpf]

This is just my opinion. What you intend on doing can work, but it's very risky.

Just from how it will work etc, I suggest that you move now rather than later. It's very difficult to plan 5 years in advance and you don't know what might happen - planning to only leave a country which is not your home country for only a single month in 5 years will be very difficult to achieve.

There are always things that happen where you need to go back home or even where you might need to go to another country. By leaving yourself with only a month to play with, you are leaving yourself at risk. Think of all the possible reasons you might need to go back to your home country for two weeks or more at a time. By leaving only 5 months later, you are effectively only allowing yourself limited amounts of time to leave over the next few years (if you take a two week holiday in year 1 and another two week holiday in year 2, you have nothing left for another three years). You just don't know what might happen.

This is just my opinion and I think you should go sooner rather than later.