Post
by cdraina » Sun Dec 30, 2007 7:56 am
Naveeen,
Earlier (2006 and earlier) the HSMP EC+Visa rule was to give 1+3 years and after total stay of 4 years an applicant was eligible for ILR. After the changes in HSMP rules from last few months of 2006 the ILR eligibility became atleast 5 years and hence the 2+3 years visa rule.
Now most of the applicants do not make it to the UK on the very first day of their Visa period. So almost all of them apply for a second FLR (after 4 or 5 years). After staying in UK for a just a few months on the second FLR they become eligible for ILR. So this 1+3+3 or 2+3+3 format is apparantly economically as well as procedurally in-efficient for the applicant. So going forward (2008 first quarter onwards) it has been proposed that the visa format will be 3+3 years.
Guys please correct me if my understanding of this is wrong.
Cheers!
CD