'Continuous residence' for 10 year Long Residence ILR

[sd591]

Hello,

I am writing to clarify a particular rule regarding Long Residence (10 year route) application to settle in the UK. I wanted to know about the principle on which 'continuous residence' is assessed. I know that for 'continuous residence' for 10 years, one can leave the UK for 180 days at a time and 540 days in total.

My question is: if someone had gone out of the UK on a valid Tier 2 Dependant visa to seek fresh entry clearance for a new Tier 2 General from the home country, and entered the UK on a fresh Tier 2 General within 180 days, would that be considered as a break in 'continuous residence'? I ask this because in such cases the new Tier 2 General visa overrides the existing Dependant visa. Does the old Dependant visa stand cancelled on the day the decision on the new (successful) Tier 2 is taken by the Home Office? Because there is usually a few days gap after which the applicant is allowed to travel back to the UK on the new Tier 2 ( as one cannot travel more than 15 days before the start date that is mentioned on the new COS). Will one be considered without a visa for those interim few days and will that interrupt the 'Continuous residence'?

I would look forward to your guidance on this.

[CR001]

if someone had gone out of the UK on a valid Tier 2 Dependant visa to seek fresh entry clearance for a new Tier 2 General from the home country, and entered the UK on a fresh Tier 2 General within 180 days, would that be considered as a break in 'continuous residence'?

No.

I ask this because in such cases the new Tier 2 General visa overrides the existing Dependant visa. Does the old Dependant visa stand cancelled on the day the decision on the new (successful) Tier 2 is taken by the Home Office?

Yes.

Because there is usually a few days gap after which the applicant is allowed to travel back to the UK on the new Tier 2 ( as one cannot travel more than 15 days before the start date that is mentioned on the new COS). Will one be considered without a visa for those interim few days and will that interrupt the 'Continuous residence'?

No.

There is no requirement to have a valid visa when outside the UK for the whole 180 days.

The requirement is ONLY that they left with a valid visa and returned to the UK on another visa or the same visa even, within 180 days from the date of UK departure.

[sd591]

Thank you very much CR001. This is very helpful.