Have I Broken Continuous Residency?

[ThisisA]

Apologies if this is not the norm here. I am new to this forum. The topic is exactly what I was going to ask about, so I figured, I might as well use the same topic to post my query -

Below is my immigration history -

• Entered the UK - 26/01/2007 - As student
• Left the UK - 31/01/2010 - On the day of the visa expiry due to the requirement of another entry clearance according to new rules at that point.
• Applied for Entry Clearance from the home country but took a bit longer than expected due to wrongful rejection on the basis of overstaying. Subsequently, the decision was overturned and Entry Clearance was granted.
• Entered the UK - 05/05/2010
• Tier 1 Entrepreneurship 50K route - 18/01/2014
• Left the UK - 12/04/2014
• Returned - 21/04/2014
• Current Visa valid until - 18/01/2017 - Tier 1 Entrepreneurship 50K route

- Would I be able to apply on the basis of the 10 years residence? - I am guessing the 28 days clause need to be exercised?
- Under Paragraph 276A - “Continuous residence” - would I fall short in the point - a(iii)

- Do i have to fulfil the conditions of my current visa to apply for ILR? < I mean all the rules for the Entrepreneurship Visa extension, as I am technically eligible to extend that Visa as well, at the same time? But I want to go with long residence because I feel that is safer out of the 2 options >

- I was granted the Tier 1 visa on the basis of a contract via agency. I continued to work via the same agency for the initial 2 years until last year when I stopped contracting via the agency and focussed on working as an individual business properly. I have since transferred £50K to the company account and have hired 2 employees and working on various projects and have released them as well but unfortunately have not managed to obtain any contract since October 2015. Therefore, the company seems to be under massive losses at present. Would this have any impact on my application on the basis of 10 years long residence?

- Finally, do I actually need to submit company details or updated accounts if I am applying on the basis of 10 years long residence?

Thanks in advance guys.

Any help will be very much appreciated.

[noajthan]

To avoid confusion & jumbled responses, I have moved your question to its own thread (this one).

[ThisisA]

To avoid confusion & jumbled responses, I have moved your question to its own thread (this one).

Thank you, much appreciated.

[ThisisA]

Hi Guys,

Please I would really appreciate if any of the experienced forum members can help me with my query.

Thanks

[ThisisA]

I hope someone will be able to help me.

[ThisisA]

Hi,

Isn't there anybody on this forum who can clarify my doubts?

Apologies, this is something I wanted to know before speaking to a lawyer so I know that people are not trying to mug me off.

Thanks

[yhm75]

When you left uk last day of your visa it's mean
You have a visa when left
I assume you applied with in 28 days
Refuse and decion overturned

In my knowledge if you left uk when u have visa and applied with in 28 days and get visa your continue resedence is not broken

[yhm75]

Time spent outside the UK
Continuous residence is not considered broken if the applicant:

 had existing leave to enter or remain when they left and when they returned – this can include leave gained at port when returning to the UK as a non visa national, see related link: Information for non-visa nationals
 departed the UK after the expiry of their leave to remain, but applied for fresh entry clearance within 28 days of that previous leave expiring
If the applicant had existing leave to enter or remain when they left and returned to the UK, the existing leave does not have to be in the same category on departure and return. For example, an applicant can leave the UK as a Tier 4 (General) student and return with leave as a spouse of a settled person. Continuous residence is not broken as the applicant had valid leave both when they left and returned to the UK.

[ThisisA]

Thank you very much for that info. I had read that guidelines from an old documentation and thought it may have changed. Thanks once again for confirming.

However, I have another question, seeing I am on Tier 1 Entrepreneurship visa right now, while applying for ILR on the basis of 10 years residence, do I have to submit company details and accounts? As explained in the original post -

- Do i have to fulfil the conditions of my current visa to apply for ILR? < I mean all the rules for the Entrepreneurship Visa extension, as I am technically eligible to extend that Visa as well, at the same time? But I want to go with long residence because I feel that is safer out of the 2 options >

- I was granted the Tier 1 visa on the basis of a contract via agency. I continued to work via the same agency for the initial 2 years until last year when I stopped contracting via the agency and focussed on working as an individual business properly. I have since transferred £50K to the company account and have hired 2 employees and working on various projects and have released them as well but unfortunately have not managed to obtain any contract since October 2015. Therefore, the company seems to be under massive losses at present. Would this have any impact on my application on the basis of 10 years long residence?

- Finally, do I actually need to submit company details or updated accounts if I am applying on the basis of 10 years long residence?

[ThisisA]

Hi,

I would really like some help with this, if anybody know any more details please respond.

Thanks.

[Longbattle]

Hi
No you dont need to submit any of your business documents. Because for 10 years route you just need to submit
Your bachelors or masters degree original.
2 photographs
Valid passport
Life in the uk test.
Application forms
Apart for above documents dont need to submit any case to make your case simple n life too.
Thanks

[ThisisA]

Thank you for the response mate. However, I have read on this forum multiple times that they ask for more documentation later regarding the business and also call people in for interview related to the progress of it. I don't mind answering about my business because it is legit and I am working on it. But that just increases the waiting time for the decision.

Does anybody else have any other suggestions or opinion about it?

[ThisisA]

Hi,

Still waiting to see if anybody had any other opinion. And help will be really appreciated.

Thanks.

[ThisisA]

Time spent outside the UK
Continuous residence is not considered broken if the applicant:

 had existing leave to enter or remain when they left and when they returned – this can include leave gained at port when returning to the UK as a non visa national, see related link: Information for non-visa nationals
 departed the UK after the expiry of their leave to remain, but applied for fresh entry clearance within 28 days of that previous leave expiring
If the applicant had existing leave to enter or remain when they left and returned to the UK, the existing leave does not have to be in the same category on departure and return. For example, an applicant can leave the UK as a Tier 4 (General) student and return with leave as a spouse of a settled person. Continuous residence is not broken as the applicant had valid leave both when they left and returned to the UK.

Thank you for the valuable info about the "within 28 days" out of country application. I have gone over some old email exchanges with the VFS office at my home country and it turns out that the first appointment they provided me was on the 29th day. As I see it, without appointment there wasn't any other method of application and I did not really have a choice in such scenario.

More over that was exactly the time when Home Office made it mandatory to have a CAS reference number rather than just a visa letter from the University. So it took me longer to get in touch with the university and get a CAS reference number sent over. Therefore, it looks like I have a valid argument here to stand on. Don't know if the experts feel the same. What are your opinion?

[ThisisA]

Not sure why I don't see the option to edit my posts anymore but I wanted to add this extra bit of info to the previous post.

I left the UK on the 31/01/2010 - the day of the visa expiry, at this point I had the visa letter provided by the university.
The first appointment offered by VFS was on the 22/02/2010, which was the same day when UKBA enforced the requirement of CAS number instead of the visa letter. VFS did not accept the application on that day because I didn't have the CAS number with me. Then I had to get in touch with the university to obtain the CAS number and again had to wait for the next appointment from VFS which was eventually turned out to be on the 11/03/2010 when finally the application got accepted.

Now, I am not sure if the 28 days include weekends as well, because then I will be way out but could still possibly have a chance to state my situation, but if it is only the weekdays then as well my application was accepted on the 29th day.

Any suggestions will be really helpful.

[CR001]

Now, I am not sure if the 28 days include weekends as well, because then I will be way out but could still possibly have a chance to state my situation, but if it is only the weekdays then as well my application was accepted on the 29th day.

It is 28 consecutive days NOT 28 'weekdays'.

[ThisisA]

Thank you very much for clarifying this. In that case it looks like the only reason I can come up with was the new rules enforcement on the very day of my appointment. Do you think it will have any weight?

[ThisisA]

Hello again guys,

Having read the 28 days clause posted on this topic, I was a bit concerned and have been reading around a bit and this is what I found on the latest guidance.
--------------------------
Breaks in continuous residence

Events that break continuous residence
Continuous residence is considered to be broken if the applicant has:
• been absent from the UK for a period of more than 6 months at any one time
• spent a total of 18 months outside the UK throughout the whole 10 year period
• left the UK before 31 October 2016 with no valid leave to remain on their
departure from the UK, and failed to apply for entry clearance within 28 days of their previous leave expiring (even if they returned to the UK within 6 months)
------------------------------
- In my case when I left the UK, I did have valid visa on that particular day, so not a overstayer.


--------------------------
Time spent outside the UK
Continuous residence is not considered broken if the applicant:
• is absent from the UK for 6 months or less at any one time
• had existing leave to enter or remain when they left and when they returned –
this can include leave gained at port when returning to the UK as a non-visa
national
• departed the UK before 6 October 2016, but after the expiry of their leave to remain, and applied for fresh entry clearance within 28 days of that previous leave expiring, and returned to the UK within 6 months
--------------------------

- Again in this situation I was outside the UK back in 2010 and I left the UK while having valid visa, albeit I did not manage to put in a fresh application from the home country within 28 days due to the new requirements enforcement from the home office on the very day I had the appointment for submission of a fresh application.

--------------------------
Examples of continuous residence

Example 2
An applicant:
• enters the UK on 1 September 2004 with entry clearance as a student which is valid until 31 October 2005
• leaves the UK on 25 October 2005, before their previous leave expired
• re-enters the UK with valid entry clearance as a student on 5 January 2006
The person had valid leave on the date of their departure and on the date of their return to the UK, and the time spent outside the UK was less than 6 months. Continuous residence has been maintained, even though the person entered the UK with a fresh grant of leave.

--------------------------

- I completely satisfy this example because I had valid student visa on the day I left, and I returned within 6 months with a Entry Clearance.

Please can someone confirm if my interpretation of the specific rules and examples are correct?

Thank you very much in advance.

[CR001]

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... ce-v14.pdf

[ThisisA]

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... ce-v14.pdf

Thank you for the prompt response. That is the document I obtained the details from. It would be really helpful if you could confirm if my interpretation is correct.

[ThisisA]

Hello experts.

Apologies for pushing here a bit, please could I request for a review of my concerns and an opinion based on my interpretation of the new rules?

Thank you very much in advance.

[noajthan]

Hello experts.

Apologies for pushing here a bit, please could I request for a review of my concerns and an opinion based on my interpretation of the new rules?

Thank you very much in advance.

Somebody may be along soon once they have got back from B&Q or are done with washing the car and/or painting their spare bedroom.
Stand by.

[ThisisA]

Thank you very much. Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best.

[ThisisA]

Looks like nobody has an answer to my doubts.

[Abc499]

I left the UK on the 31/01/2010 - the day of the visa expiry, at this point I had the visa letter provided by the university.
The first appointment offered by VFS was on the 22/02/2010, which was the same day when UKBA enforced the requirement of CAS number instead of the visa letter. VFS did not accept the application on that day because I didn't have the CAS number with me. Then I had to get in touch with the university to obtain the CAS number and again had to wait for the next appointment from VFS which was eventually turned out to be on the 11/03/2010 when finally the application got accepted.

Now, I am not sure if the 28 days include weekends as well, because then I will be way out but could still possibly have a chance to state my situation, but if it is only the weekdays then as well my application was accepted on the 29th day.

Any suggestions will be really helpful.

there is nothing to do with 28 days rules on your case here as you left UK with valid visa (within 28 days of visa expiry, new application requirement only if you overstay before you leave UK) and back within 6 months.

However, I see on your first post that they refuseed your visa wrongly and for overstaying! then it will be good to mention this clearly in your application (visa was xxx to xxxx, left uk on xxx, leaving prove, on xxx visa refused because of overstaying but actually you did not)