Skilled worker visa expires 2 days before ILR eligibility period

[RosiePosey123]

Hi guys. First time poster, very grateful for the help I’ve already received from this website.

My problem is as above. I have gone ahead and requested a CoS from my employer to do a visa extension so I don’t unlawfully stay in the U.K. for those 2 days. I would really really like to recoup the extension application fee though because the ILR cost is shocking. What can I do?

(A) send the ILR application and then vary it. I will have to pay both upfront but will get a refund on the original. However the problem is that the date of the new application is changed to the date of the original application so will I therefore be guilty of applying for my ILR too early?

(B) send the ILR application as a new one and not vary it. After it’s submitted, I withdraw the visa extension application. Since it will be withdrawn before my biometrics appointment, I can get a refund on it. This sounds too good to be true so I wanted to see if anyone had any experience with it?

I will make sure I apply for the visa extension before my current visa is up so I’m covered under something called section 3(C) and my stay remains lawful. But is it still so if I haven’t done my biometrics appointment and submitted my documentation? I just want to make triple sure before running accidentally afoul of the Home Office.

I spoke to a lawyer on one of those websites (JustAnswer) who advised I go with option B. I would just really like to know if someone has actually done this in real life and succeeded.

Also don’t be like me and use ChatGPT, it has gotten literally all the details wrong.

[CR001]

Helpful if you post the initial visa start date and expiry date