The Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act (BCIA) 2009

[The8thMonth]

Hello,

I was hoping to get some views on this new legislation and the route to ILR/ Permanent residency. I'm not really sure where I stand in regards to my personal situation and would like any views on this.

My situation is:

I entered the UK on a tier 2 work visa in October 2005
I married in June 2010
I switched to a spouse of UK citizen visa in August 2010

The reason I did not wait until October 2010 and get ILR was that I received a job offer from a different company and wanted to take this up. Therefore, I switched visas in order to be able to do this sooner than would otherwise be possible.

My questions are:

(1) Do I now need to wait another 2 years on my spouse visa to apply for ILR? Or does the time that I spent on the tier 2 work visa (4 years 10 months) taken into account?

(2) If I need to wait another 2 years, then I will be caught under this new legislation. Under this new probationary citizenship, I would have to wait another 3 years before I may settle permanently (the new ILR).

Is this really correct? That depending on the route one takes, some people would have to wait 7 years (ie. 5 years under work permit for probationary citizenship, then another 3 years to get permanent residency).

It really seems crazy that I would have to be in the UK for 10 years before I am allowed to have permanent residency given current immigration rules.


Can anyone shed some light on this? Or am I in a situation where I will never get residency here? My husband and I don't intend on staying in the UK another 5 years, as we want to work abroad, but I'm sure we will eventually come back. However, in the event of his death (God forbid!) I would want to be able to return to this country to raise any children and have the right to do so.

I'm a US citizen who has resided out of the USA for more than a decade, and have made my home in Europe.

Any thoughts appreciated,

Thanks!

Auggie

[MPH80]

Unfortunately, the fact you've switched means you have reset the clock with regards the ILR I believe.

The requirements for ILR as a spouse state:

(i) (a) the applicant was admitted to the United Kingdom for a period not exceeding 27 months or given an extension of stay for a period of 2 years in accordance with paragraphs 281 to 286 of these Rules and has completed a period of 2 years as the spouse or civil partner of a person present and settled in the United Kingdom;

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/polic ... _partners/

Which means you must have spent 2 years here in the visa category of spouse (or unmarried partner, then spouse) to qualify.

So I wondered if you could look at applying just using SET(O) to catch you into another category - but the tier 2 route has closed because ...

(b) The applicant must have spent a continuous period of 5 years Lawfully in the UK, of which the most recent period must have been spent with leave as a Tier 2 Migrant,

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/polic ... es/part6a/

So you'd have had to have left yourself as a Tier 2 migrant to qualify.

It is not clear what is really going on with the proposed ILR changes and we may see a change in direction from the new government.

[The8thMonth]

Thanks, MPH80.

I did think that my ILR time started over. It would have been nice of my immigration lawyer to have had advised me on this matter, but he didn't.

I'll have to wait for more information on the new propsed ILR changes.