I want to know if time spent in the UK on a tourist visa is counted toward the residential qualifying period. I arrived in the UK Nov 30 2007 on a 6 month tourist visa. We bought a house, car etc and got settled. I returned to Australia May 2008 to finalise affairs and secure Indefinate Leave to Rem...

Does anyone know if you can use a professional person (e.g. lawyer)resident outside the UK as a referee, or must the person reside in the UK? ps In my case the person is a Commonwealth citizen, I don't know if this makes a difference.