ILR questions

[vchalapareddy]

Hi,

I am currently in UK on Tier1 General Visa. Initially i was granted 3 years visa on HSMP. I have applied for visa before 7th Nov 2006 but after April 2006. Later i got an extension for 2 years and my visa now shows Tier1 (General). I have few questions. Could you please clarify.

Question 1:

I have taken HSMP Visa with effect from 01/02/2007 and valid until 01/02/2009 (made application before 7th November). But I have entered UK on 16/03/2007 (one and half month later).

Later I have got extension for two years valid until 01/02/2012, visa stamped as Tier1 (General) . In between I went on a holiday to India for 10 days (20/08/2010 to 30/08/2010).

I was going through UKBA website and found a document (ilr-calculating-continuous pdf document, please see below link) which states that if a person comes to UK before 3 months from the initial start date of the visa, he/she will be eligible for applying for settlement and this will be considered as continuous period of 5 years.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... iew=Binary

Before me applying for Settlement, could you please suggest from the above dates, will I be eligible for applying settlement or do I need to go for another extension. If I am eligible for applying for settlement, can I apply for settlement in January 2012?

Question 2:
Initially i was on HSMP visa for 3 years and later 2 years extension stamped as Tier 1 (General), but no points system was considered when i got extension. When i apply for ILR, will i be applying based on HSMP or Tier1 (general)? Do i need to do anything (i mean consider me as HSMP instead of Tier1 general) when i apply for ILR.

Thank you very much

Regards
Venkat

[geriatrix]

See FAQs for ILR - WP/Tier 1/Tier 2/HSMP holders