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Hi

I sent my application on 22nd of October 2011 for ILR under the 10 year rule, do not have any gaps and therefore thought it is a really straight forward case. However, today received a letter from the HO asking to provide original previous passports and photocopies are not accepted. Unfortunately, under the passport law of my country previous passports are retained by the authorities. I have provided the notarised copies of previous passports, and current original one.

Does it mean my application will be refused?

Did you use a covering letter to inform UKBA of the fact that "previous passports are retained by the relevant authorities of your country of citizenship when issuing a new passport"?

The fact that, for applications under long residence, usually the "lawful" stay is most conveniently proved through the relevant vignettes and stamps in the passport(s), it is understandable that UKBA insists on "original" passport(s) rather than notarised copies of passport pages.

Will the "authorities" issue you a letter to confirm that they retain expired passports when issuing new one? That may help, if you can manage to get one issued. Or point UKBA in the right direction where this requirement is clearly and publicly specified.
Irrespective, you may need to prove "lawful stay" through other documentary evidences .. that you may find hard to find / compile for a 10 year period.

sushdmehta wrote:Did you use a covering letter to inform UKBA of the fact that "previous passports are retained by the relevant authorities of your country of citizenship when issuing a new passport"?

The fact that, for applications under long residence, usually the "lawful" stay is most conveniently proved through the relevant vignettes and stamps in the passport(s), it is understandable that UKBA insists on "original" passport(s) rather than notarised copies of passport pages.

Will the "authorities" issue you a letter to confirm that they retain expired passports when issuing new one? That may help, if you can manage to get one issued.
Irrespective, you may need to prove "lawful stay" through other documentary evidences .. that you may find hard to find / compile for a 10 year period.

Thank you for your rapid response.

I did enclose the letter from the embassy for one of the photocopies of the passport, stating that this is a true copy and the original have been returned to the authorities. I also enclosed the covering letter explaining why I did not provide the originals.

Shall i write the letter to them explaining again why i did not provide the originals? Will they take into consideration my school and university records as a proof of "lawful stay"?

Mimi_ar wrote:

sushdmehta wrote:Did you use a covering letter to inform UKBA of the fact that "previous passports are retained by the relevant authorities of your country of citizenship when issuing a new passport"?

The fact that, for applications under long residence, usually the "lawful" stay is most conveniently proved through the relevant vignettes and stamps in the passport(s), it is understandable that UKBA insists on "original" passport(s) rather than notarised copies of passport pages.

Will the "authorities" issue you a letter to confirm that they retain expired passports when issuing new one? That may help, if you can manage to get one issued.
Irrespective, you may need to prove "lawful stay" through other documentary evidences .. that you may find hard to find / compile for a 10 year period.

Thank you for your rapid response.

I did enclose the letter from the embassy for one of the photocopies of the passport, stating that this is a true copy and the original have been returned to the authorities. I also enclosed the covering letter explaining why I did not provide the originals.

Shall i write the letter to them explaining again why i did not provide the originals? Will they take into consideration my school and university records as a proof of "lawful stay"?

1. Well you hav already submitted a letter explaining the issue plus the letter from the embassy so writing a letter again might not work.
2. The guidance is clear on this issue as if you can not provide the previous passports then you shud read the following section and provide the evidence as descrobed in the forms to cover the period for which you are not able to provide a passport.
3. If that is a rule of your embassy that they retain the previous passport then you should contact them and ask them to write to UKBA on your behalf explaining the issue.
4. You can also contact your MP and ask for some help.
5. I think it is not your fault that your emabssy keeps the previous passports and hence causing u problem.

Rather than asking the embassy to write to UKBA on your behalf to explain the fact that old passports are retained, I would recommend that you get the letter issued to you and you send it to UKBA with the additional documentary evidences that will help prove your lawful stay in these 10 years.