Regarding 10yrs ILR Absence

[alaye208]

Hello All,

Since i had an absence of close to 8 months back in 2007, i have been made aware that a single absence of more than 6 months will disqualify me for 10yrs ILR. I understand this. However, I am now wondering when I will become eligible to apply for ILR. Will i get my ILR approved if I wait for 10yrs + 8 months before making my ILR application instead of 10years?? I find it difficult to believe that UKBA will discount all the years i have spent paying taxes and contributing to GB and ask me to complete another decade in the UK starting from 2007 after i had been absent for 8 months due to work! (this would be 17 total years of waiting) Thinking about this makes me want to stop living

Any opinion regarding this matter will be highly appreciated.

[Wanderer]

Hello All,

Since i had an absence of close to 8 months back in 2007, i have been made aware that a single absence of more than 6 months will disqualify me for 10yrs ILR. I understand this. However, I am now wondering when I will become eligible to apply for ILR. Will i get my ILR approved if I wait for 10yrs + 8 months before making my ILR application instead of 10years?? I find it difficult to believe that UKBA will discount all the years i have spent paying taxes and contributing to GB and ask me to complete another decade in the UK starting from 2007 after i had been absent for 8 months due to work! (this would be 17 total years of waiting) Thinking about this makes me want to stop living

Any opinion regarding this matter will be highly appreciated.

If the absence is due to work and you can prove it that it's not a problem.

[alaye208]

I can prove that my absence was due to work as my employers are willing to write a letter to back me up. However, i feel that the story is a bit complicated.

What do you advise that the employers put in this letter to make my case strong?

[optimist_eternal]

However, I feel that the story is a bit complicated.

Then may be even slightly complicated for members on this forum to advice you on the issue without their truly knowing the full picture, don't you think?

[alaye208]

Alrite,

Here is the story.

I work for a multinational company with offices allover the world. I got the job just before I finished university in 2007 and I was recruited to work in one of the offices based in Gloucestershire. Just before I started working for the company, I was told that in other to be able to fully appreciate my role, I would be required to undertake a posting abroad to gain field experience. If I had not undertaken this field experience, i would otherwise have been working in the Gloucestershire office. I took the opportunity.

As I was working in Asia, I had to get a work permit for the country where I was working. (I am originally African and do not have anybody or relation in Asia) I had no intention of not coming back to the UK. All my addresses, my GP, correspondence was all in the UK and I genuinely was solely in Asia for the purpose of my employers.

I was initially in Asia for 8 months before i was able to return to the UK. After this, I came back into the country regularly with not too many gaps (the whole training period lasted 18 months approximately) I had all my UK visas extended within the UK so I did not have any visa gap (at the time I was on the SEGS/Post Study work visa) I later returned to the UK in 09 and I am now on a Tier 1 general visa. I will complete my 10yrs residence in the UK in a few months. My questions are as follows:

1.) Will my employer letter be sufficient to cover my 8 months absence from the UK
2.) If not, do i just need to stay in the UK for 10yrs + 8 months before I can make an ILR application
Please help!!



Regards,

[geriatrix]

Were you paid in the UK during these 8 months when posted in Asia?

Hello All,
I had applied for my ILR on the Tier-1+WP route = 5 years.
I had one long absence in between of over 3 months for business reasons and several smaller ones for as well - all for business reasons. Personal absences were around 60 days.
For the business absences (all of them), I got refrence letters from my current as well as previous employers, clearly stating that my absence from the UK were for business reasons. I had all other docs as required.
In spite of this, my ILR application has been refused - citing absence.

Any advice on how to deal with this please? Pretty bummed about this
Cheers.

Hi,
Yes the absence was for for around 8 months. I was still employed with the same firm with regular salary.
Can I still challenge this decision or ask them to reconsider even though the home office letter mentions that I dont have right to appeal as I still have leave to remain?

regards

[alaye208]

i was being paid into an offshore account based in jersey and I was not being paid in GBP either

if i cant apply for the ILR after 10 years, will i be able to apply after 10yrs + 8 months?

[Wanderer]

i was being paid into an offshore account based in jersey and I was not being paid in GBP either

if i cant apply for the ILR after 10 years, will i be able to apply after 10yrs + 8 months?

No - the ILR clock will have stopped the moment you left and restarted again at zero the moment you reentered the the UK, so ILR would be in 2019 I'm afraid IF the HO refuse and I think they would be correct in doing so.

From the further information u've given it was your choice to leave the UK in 2007, so I am of the opinion your ILR clock was reset to zero on 2009.

[alaye208]

it was not my choice to leave the uk. That is incorrect. I had to leave because my employers stated that as a pre-req to taking up my employment in gloucestershire, I had to complete the field training abroad.

[geriatrix]

Even if it was employer's choice that you agreed to, the fact of the matter is that you agreed to comply with your employer's choice voluntarily and agree to - not be paid in the UK, not contribute to the UK economy, not live in the UK, apply for a work permit of another country with the view of living and working there! By the same premise, if your employer had wished you might have agreed to stay not for 8 months (as you did) but even 18 months!

The bottomline is that you voluntarily decided to be absent from UK for a period longer than is allowed, and not being paid in the UK or contributing to the UK adds to the problem(s).

Hence the opinion by members here that your application may not be approved .. even if you submit a letter from your employer. And that the ILR clock was reset to 0 (do understand that a work permit of another country is clear giveaway of the applicant's intention to not live and work in the UK).


regards

[Wanderer]

If I had not undertaken this field experience, i would otherwise have been working in the Gloucestershire office. I took the opportunity.

Contradiction.

[alaye208]

In that case then, thank you all for your opinion.

[jammybunn]

if you were out for a period of more than 6 months then its a fail, you should have made the odd trip back to the UK so your 8 month gap wasnt considered as 1 solid period out of the UK. The entry and exit stamps which would be used to confirm this would have supported you.