ILR post 6 years Discretionary Leave (13 days missing)

[Ellie_M]

Hi all, hope you will be able to help.

My husband was granted his first Discretionary Leave on 20th June 2010 (won appeal on refusal).
We applied for extension 3 years later and his second Leave was granted on 7th June 2013 (postal application was processed with Olympic speed, in less than 2 weeks!).

Now the issue is his current Leave expires on 6th June making it 13 days short (!) to the full 6 years on DL..
What do we do? Can we apply for ILR assuming it should be ok since 13 days are well within 28 days allowed for making ILR application or will we be refused and send to extend his DL for a further...13 days??

1st DL: 20 June 2010 - 19th June 2013
2nd DL: 7 June 2013 - 6th June 2016

I really don't understand why his 2nd DL wasn't granted starting from 20th June but here we go..

Many thanks!
Ellie

[Casa]

No problem. You can submit the application 28 days from the expiry date.

[Ellie_M]

Hello Casa, thank you for your reply. Did you come across similar cases? The issue is I called HO and was told the latter, ie to apply for FLR (O) as an extension to DL, even for 13 days.. The adviser didn't sound too confident hence I am trying to understand our options..

Assuming we can apply for ILR 28 days before qualifying day the whole situation doesn't make much sense to me..

Would be great if anyone had similar experience, either successful application from DL to ILR made within 28 days before qualifying day or not full 6 calendar years completed..

Alternatively, is there a contact email within UKBA I can use to send my enquiry? I can not find it on their website. Would really help to receive their response in writing..

[Casa]

All I can say is that the HO 'help line' are notorious for giving incorrect advice on even the simplest of immigration issues, and take no responsibility for doing so. See this article https://www.freemovement.org.uk/immigra ... pectation/

I quite understand if you want further confirmation from others on the forum, but I'm still confident that with the right to apply 28 days before the expiry date, there'll be no need for a 13 day extension.

[vinny]

Agree.

The SET(O) guidance notes is also consistent with Casa's answer.

Please do not apply more than 28 days before completing the qualifying period. If you apply earlier than that, your application may be refused. If that happens, we will not refund the fee and you will have to pay again when reapplying.

[Ellie_M]

vinny thank you for your links very useful.

I guess we will book a day service and hope we can achieve more by having face to face conversation. We will take SET (O) guidance of 28 days as a base...They should not have overlapped his 1st 3 year visa by these 13 days but started next 3 years form the day the first one expired... can't be seen as our fault I'd thought.

Thanks to you both again!