Old passport with ILR stamp left at home when returning to UK

[Propitious]

Hi People,

Hope you can help and give guidance.

I'm a 62yr old US citizen, have lived in the UK since 1961 and was granted ILR when very young, maybe 12yrs old. Last ILR stamp, in an old passport, is dated Jan 1987. I'm an very infrequent traveller and am married to a UK passport holder who was born in the UK. Since 1961 I may have been out of the UK for a grand total of 12 weeks or so, usually in one week segments when holidaying in Europe. Overall, I have decades of continuous residency here in the UK.

Stupidly forgot to carry my old passport (with the ILR stamp) on a one week trip to Europe and landed in Manchester Airport yesterday. The IO, after much head-scratching and referring to others, stamped my passport 'Leave to enter for/until SIX MONTHS. No work or recourse to public funds.' Which I now know is a visitor's visa. I had no idea of the implication of this when at the border and only found out after a bit of online research I got home today.

Keen to stay in the UK, of course. I've been here all my life. Have spoken on the phone to a random IO 9or similar) at Mcr Airport who said 'an adjudication was made at the time at the port of entry on the evidence available'. They say it's a Home Office matter now. Also been in touch with UK Visas & Immigration on the phone but they send you round in a loop ending back with the same dept....again.

Am I totally stuffed, or do I still have some options? Can the IO's 'visitor' stamp be revoked...somehow?

Is there any mileage in applying for a Biometric Residence Permit? (Can I do that now as a 'visitor' with a 6 month visitor visa stamp?)

Extremely grateful for any help.

[ouflak1]

Hi People,

Hope you can help and give guidance.

I'm a 62yr old US citizen, have lived in the UK since 1961 and was granted ILR when very young, maybe 12yrs old. Last ILR stamp, in an old passport, is dated Jan 1987. I'm an very infrequent traveller and am married to a UK passport holder who was born in the UK. Since 1961 I may have been out of the UK for a grand total of 12 weeks or so, usually in one week segments when holidaying in Europe. Overall, I have decades of continuous residency here in the UK.

Stupidly forgot to carry my old passport (with the ILR stamp) on a one week trip to Europe and landed in Manchester Airport yesterday. The IO, after much head-scratching and referring to others, stamped my passport 'Leave to enter for/until SIX MONTHS. No work or recourse to public funds.' Which I now know is a visitor's visa. I had no idea of the implication of this when at the border and only found out after a bit of online research I got home today.

Keen to stay in the UK, of course. I've been here all my life. Have spoken on the phone to a random IO 9or similar) at Mcr Airport who said 'an adjudication was made at the time at the port of entry on the evidence available'. They say it's a Home Office matter now. Also been in touch with UK Visas & Immigration on the phone but they send you round in a loop ending back with the same dept....again.

Am I totally stuffed, or do I still have some options? Can the IO's 'visitor' stamp be revoked...somehow?

Is there any mileage in applying for a Biometric Residence Permit? (Can I do that now as a 'visitor' with a 6 month visitor visa stamp?)

Extremely grateful for any help.

Would you be willing to apply for citizenship?

[Propitious]

Many thanks for your reply.

Citizenship: Yes, I would be prepared to apply & pay for it...as a last resort. But my understanding is that I can't apply for citizenship because I have a 'time-limited' UK visitor stamp in my American passport. (Although it's entirely possible I've misinterpreted the citizenship requirements. Let me know if I have!)

[zimba]

Your ILR status is untouched. I suggest to either apply for citizenship or a BRP/NTL as soon as possible. You can ignore the stamp as far as I can see

[Propitious]

Your ILR status is untouched. I suggest to either apply for citizenship or a BRP/NTL as soon as possible. You can ignore the stamp as far as I can see

Thank you for the advice. Much appreciated.

I will in the first instance apply for a BRP/NTL (tomorrow!) and see what happens. If they do issue me with the BRP I guess the proof of the pudding will be when I leave/re-enter the UK and see what the landing port IO makes of it. I'm hoping that they'll interpret my recent visitor stamp as erroneous.

Citizenship. Definitely an option, more so since the IRS has become active in chasing down overseas US citizens...although I doubt very much they'd be interested in my paltry income!

Feeling more positive already but input from any others experienced in these matters still welcome!

[Propitious]

An update to bring closure to this thread.

Applied for a BRP in early February 2018 and received all my documents (passports) back followed by my BRP in early June 2018. BRP states, 'Settled' status and 'No Time Limit'.

The end of 17 weeks of uncertainty and torment.

Post script to this is that my application was assessed under the 'Windrush Policy' (Home Office wording in the letter that accompanied my BRP card.) and they refunded my application fee.

[Superdeviant]

I’m reading this with great interest, I’m in an almost identical position. Was born in the USA then settled and bought up in the UK by my British mother.

Indefinite leave to enter wet stamps started to appear in my expired passports around 1979 and the most recent one is stamped in 2009.

I have no other paperwork other than these crucial stamps. I also know there is no record of my ILE stamps at the home office from back then as my application for my Son’s UK passport submitted by me as a “settled” parent was rejected last week by HMPO (despite me sending my expired passports with ILE in), reason given there is no record of me on the system.

I have worked for the same employer since 1985 (NI and tax can be traced back 33 years), well before that last 2009 ILE stamp was placed in the expired passport and have had no lengthy absences.

I’ve now gone to Windrush as the won’t ask for original documents, I’m led to believe these black ink stamps are vital to hold on to?

I constantly worry for my and my family’s future should they not be able to help me.

What do others feel about this.

[Ffmuni]

Albeit I was an EU citizen (naturalised in Sept18) I entered the UK pre FOM rights etc and had an ILR stamp in my passport from the mid 1970's.

I applied to the UKVI in 2016 and was refused citizenship, after intially thinking the HO were right in their refusal I decided to research some more and then re-apply and challenge their original decision.

I asked my MP to write to the Home Office and ask at what stage and under what law/regulations my ILR would have ceased to be valid. My MP had a response from the MP's Management Team at the Home Office saying I should apply under the Windrush Scheme.

After completing a draft of the Windrush Forms I contacted The Windrush Help Desk, who were very good and even called back to confirm that providing I met the usual conditions the ILR was still valid. I therefore decided to apply direct for UK citizenship and not bother with a new BRP.

I applied for and received my UK citizenship last month after supplying the same documents and additionally the correspondence from my MP and the Windrush Team. The Windrush Helpdesk are a good point of contact because they are people who can access your files and give advice, as opposed to the UKVI call centre which is essentially an outsourced call handling centre. The Windrush Scheme is also without cost (not for Citizenship for non commonwealth citizens) and they did when I looked at it also have access to 'premium' appointments, again with no charge.

You refer to having ILE stamps in your passports, was this ever with any conditions or did you have Indefinite Leave to Remain? I'm not sure what the difference is but have looked online without success for a definitive answer. You are right those stamps are very important from a time when the Home Office may have no records.

In any case I am sure you have a strong case and that your son's rejection is wrong and the fact the Home Office do not have a record of you is not a valid legal reason for not accepting your settled status. The Home Office's abysmal record keeping is not a reason to deny your legal and moral grounds to be here in the UK.

These are just my thoughts after treading a similar albeit not exactly the same path, hopefully some real experts will be along soon!

[secret.simon]

You refer to having ILE stamps in your passports, was this ever with any conditions or did you have Indefinite Leave to Remain?

ILE is the same as ILR, but issued outside the UK.

ILR = Indefinite Leave to Remain (within the UK). Any Leave to Remain, whether limited or indefinite, is only issued within the UK.
ILE = Indefinite Leave to Enter (the UK from outside). It is generally issued to children residing abroad whose parents have acquired ILR in the UK.

The Home Office's abysmal record keeping is not a reason to deny your legal and moral grounds to be here in the UK.

The Home Office has rules on how long records are kept. Anything longer than that is likely to be destroyed. Also, as the other thread linked above mentions, anything prior to 1998 is unlikely to be accessible. It is generally regarded as your responsibly to maintain proof of your right to reside in the UK.

I’m led to believe these black ink stamps are vital to hold on to?

Absolutely vital.