Changing from ILE to ILR

[Eamon]

Two unrelated questions:

1) How does one update from ILE to ILR? Write to the Home Office? My wife recently had some trouble at a Hong Kong check-in desk because they thought her ILE visa had expired.

2) A Chinese couple who are here on work visas have one child born here, with another on the way. They would like to know if their children will qualify for UK citizenship.

Thanks in advance for any help.

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[sakura]

Two unrelated questions:

1) How does one update from ILE to ILR? Write to the Home Office? My wife recently had some trouble at a Hong Kong check-in desk because they thought her ILE visa had expired.

2) A Chinese couple who are here on work visas have one child born here, with another on the way. They would like to know if their children will qualify for UK citizenship.

Thanks in advance for any help.

.

Their kids will become British citizens once one of their parents obtains ILR. How long have they been in the UK? Once one parent obtains ILR, the children can be registered as British citizens. The question was asked before here: http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=19029 so read to find out more about the process. Note that if the parents leave the UK before they obtain ILR, neither child is or can be a British citizen just because they were born here.

[Christophe]

1) How does one update from ILE to ILR? Write to the Home Office? My wife recently had some trouble at a Hong Kong check-in desk because they thought her ILE visa had expired.

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ILE (indefinite leave to enter) is given to people outside the UK. ILR (indefinite leave to remain) is given to people either at the point of entry to the UK or if their immigration status changes to indefinite leave while they are in the UK.

An ILE visa/entry clearance is normally has, I think, a six-month validity from the date of issue. This means that the holder can use it for six months to make his or her first entry to the UK. On arrival in the UK, the holder is de facto given leave to remain in the UK for an indefinite period and the ILE visa itself becomes effectively irrelevant.

So the short answer to your question is that you don't do anything to change from ILE to ILR - it happened when your wife arrived in the UK (I am assuming that she did in fact make her first entry to the UK during the validity of the ILE visa and that she does indeed have leave to remain in the UK indefinitely). The important thing for the check-in people to understand and look for is the entry stamp(s), not the ILE visa.

It is surprising that the problem that you describe arose in Hong Kong, where check-in staff must see a lot of holders of UK ILR. If necessary you can ask to see the staff member's supervisor, although that really shouldn't have to be the case. If all else fails, I don't know if your wife can get the Home Office to write a letter confirming her immigration status - someone else might know the answer to that one(?).

[Eamon]

Thanks for your replies, sakura and Christophe.
And apologies for not replying sooner - I have been having connection problems.

Although an ILE (once used) is equivalent to an ILR and implies no problems when entering the UK, for practical purposes an ILR (having no expiry date) is preferable when travelling abroad. So, is it possible to obtain an ILR document (visa), given that one possesses an ILE? If so, how should one go about it?

.

[vinny]

See also Making an application:

Transferring your existing immigration status into a new passport.

If you want to transfer indefinite or limited leave to enter or remain in the UK to a new passport or travel document, you will need to use Form NTLTOC.

[muza]

My wife recently had the same problem with check-in staff thinking that the validity date on the ILE visa meant that the visa had expired. How did you get around this? Did you manage to get a letter from the HO or change to a ILR visa? Pls let me know.

Thanks for your help & happy new year

[SYH]

My wife recently had the same problem with check-in staff thinking that the validity date on the ILE visa meant that the visa had expired. How did you get around this? Did you manage to get a letter from the HO or change to a ILR visa? Pls let me know.

Thanks for your help & happy new year

Yes they might get it wrong and you have to explain it to them. and then tell them to look it up somehow or go to a supervisor who might know better.
If you think about it, then why is it indefinite if it expires. The expiration has to do with when it has to be used by, in this case enter. Once you enter by the date, it is indefinite leave to enter. if it was strict limited entry visa, then it would not be called indefinite.
You have to get some balls in dealing with people.

[ismangil]

You have to get some balls in dealing with people.

How true.

However I can sympathize it is very hard for us immigrants when dealing with "the Authority", especially where with the stroke of a stamp/pen/data entry they can deport us!

[SYH]

You have to get some balls in dealing with people.

How true.

However I can sympathize it is very hard for us immigrants when dealing with "the Authority", especially where with the stroke of a stamp/pen/data entry they can deport us!

Check in people aren't the authority, though they act like they are. You make those people call IO which they do when the try to get exceptions so they even know it is cut and dry

[John]

My wife recently had the same problem with check-in staff thinking that the validity date on the ILE visa meant that the visa had expired.

Back in 2003, before my wife got her BC, and British passport, she had ILR in her Thai passport. At the end of a package tour holiday to Lanzarote, checking-in to fly back to Birmingham, we had real problems. Why? Because the ILR visa had no expiry date!

Thankfully there were people from the tour company helping with check-in problems, who explained to the ill-trained check-in girl that the ILR visa remained valid forever!

[Christophe]

The situation of ILE and ILR is well described on this page from the BIA website. Perhaps people affected ought to print the relevant bit out and take it with them when they check in to flights - it doesn't prove anything, of course, but it might give an ill-informed check-in clerk pause to think at least.

The context is transfer of indefinite status to a new passport, but it's relevant nevertheless:


[quote]...If you have been granted indefinite leave to enter the UK from overseas, your passport or other document would have been endorsed with a visa bearing the words “indefinite leave to enterâ€

[muza]

I sent a letter to Central Inquires Boarders & Immigration Agency requesting a letter clarifying that my wife's ILE visa is still valid (for our friends @ check-in). Any idea on how long they take to reply? shall i email them too? Do they reply?