Business Trip Affecting ILR

[lezzfrancis]

Hi,

I am on Tier-1 here in the UK and will be going to South Africa for 6 monhts on a business trip. Is this going to affect when I apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain? I tried searching the topics but could not find anything conclusive.

[Lucku4]

Think you'll just have to come back to the UK say when you have a chunk of consecutive days off! (e.g 4days)

[lezzfrancis]

Before I run out 90 days?

[geriatrix]

Will you be paid in the UK while working in SA?

regards

[lezzfrancis]

Yes. I'll be paying NI and taxes as well.

[geriatrix]

Being paid in the UK helps. Short trip to UK before a single continuous absence reaches 90 days limit should help. Make sure you arrange for a letter from employer certifying absence from UK as work related (template).

regards

[lezzfrancis]

Thank you. But that means a trip to UK before 90 days are over is mandatory?

[geriatrix]

In assessing whether or not an applicant has fulfilled the requirement to have spent five years in continuous residence in the UK, short absences abroad, for example for holidays (consistent with annual paid leave) or business trips (consistent with maintaining employment or self-employment in the United Kingdom), may be disregarded, provided the applicant has clearly continued to be based here.

Discretion in cases where continuous residence has been broken
In addition, time spent here may exceptionally be aggregated, and continuity not insisted upon, in cases where:
• there have been no absences abroad (apart from those described in the paragraph above) and authorised employment or business here has not been broken by any interruptions of more than three months or amounting to more than six months in total;
or
• there have been longer absences abroad, provided the absences were for compelling grounds either of a compassionate nature or for reasons related to the applicant's employment or business in the United Kingdom. None of the absences abroad should be of more than three months duration, and they must not amount to more than six months in total for the whole five year period.

IMHO, when caseworker discretion is expected to come into play to decide on an immigration application it is better to be cautious than confident.

regards