ILR - Absences from the UK

[bhiman]

Hi,
A new query regarding ILR. This relates to the absences outside the UK. The guidance for caseworkers is very confusing and also states that it is being updated. The employer (NHS) allows 6 weeks leave every year which adds up to 210 days for 5 years (42X5). Also add study leave if we attend conferences abroad. How will this be seen for ILR applications?
Also are the dates of departure and arrival excluded or included in the absence? We tend to leave on the last working day - late evening flights though we do arrive on the last day of the leave.
Any help appreciated.
Cheers
AB

[try-one]

Bhiman,
The day you leave and the day you arrive are not counted (confirm this on the guidance, I didn't add mine to the calculation).
It is not relevant if your employer allows 6-8-10 weeks leave each year, it is your responsability not to exceed the allocated days as per UK immigration regulations.
Conferences are a different story, if you get a letter from NHS stating that you are required to attend those conferences for work purposes then the case worked can ignore those.
In general:
Read the guidance and understand how many days a year, how many days in five years and how many days in a row you are allowed to pass outside the UK. Then, analyse your travel plans and avoid breaking regulations. Work related trips can be removed from the list by the case worker (you must disclose those trips and support your claim using a letter from your employer)

[vinay shanthi]

school teachers would be getting a lot more annual leave etc during school holidays. so should they be getting a separate limit allowing more time out of the uk for ilr purposes. i think not. there has to be a uniform rule for everyone for clarity purposes, but with some discretion for individual circumstances.

attending international conferences is not a compulsion regarding work. it is done for professional advancement by the person concerned. not exactly a compulsion. using the same excuse people can do fellowships lasting a year outside uk and say work related and expect that to be counted for ILR. a compulsory secondment is different from a self chosen fellowship or conference attendence or foreign trips for leisure or visiting family etc

if what u say is allowed then nhs employees would want for ilr purposes time outside uk = 6w annual leave+ upto 1m study leave + 2w paternity leave or 6m maternity leave +/- discretionary carer leave +/- international fellowships for 1y where employer supports it but does not pay employee etc etc etc. there wont be an end for such wants saying employer gives this leave so should count for ilr as time outside uk. i think not.

[bhiman]

Bhiman,
The day you leave and the day you arrive are not counted (confirm this on the guidance, I didn't add mine to the calculation).
It is not relevant if your employer allows 6-8-10 weeks leave each year, it is your responsability not to exceed the allocated days as per UK immigration regulations.

Dear Try-one and Vinay,
Thanks for your responses. I do appreciate what you are saying about the leave allowed by the employer and there is no end to what is allowed. But on the guidance it does say
'In assessing whether or not an applicant has fulfilled the requirement to have spent 5 years in continuous
residence in the same capacity, short absences abroad, for example for holidays (consistent with annual paid
leave) or business trips (consistent with maintaining employment or self-employment in the United Kingdom),
may be disregarded, provided he has clearly continued to be based here.'
Then they go on to say 'there have been no absences abroad (apart from those described in paragraph 3 above) and authorised
employment or business here has not been broken by any interruptions of more than 3 months or
amounting to more than 6 months in all; or' So to my mind there seems to be a contradiction or am I getting the meaning wrong?
These quotes are from the Annex F
Any fresh thoughts?
Cheers
AB

[try-one]

By extracting specific parts of the guidance and leaving others out, you are just letting yourself beleive that you are allowed more days.
The guidance clearly specifies a fixed number of days; that is the information that you should concentrate on. You can not interpret:

(consistent with annual paid leave)

as an open door to be out of the country for as many days as your employer gives you, it is an incorrect interpretation and you will face serious problems.

Consistent with anual paid leave means that you are employed and took a few days holiday outside the UK, not that you are allowed to spend all your paid leave days outside the UK. You can not apply your own logic and expectations to the regulations and expect a positive outcome.

Case workers will check the specific number of days you spent outside the UK each year, during the 5 years and continuosly. If you break any of the three restrictions you are at the mercy of the case worker and it is up to their discretion to approve or deny the ILR application.

Conclusion: NO, you can not spend all your paid leave outside the UK, this is NOT what

(consistent with annual paid leave)

means.

[vinay shanthi]

hi bhiman

i appreciate what u r saying.

but it is what the case workers do that matters. and what they do is best explained by previous examples of how they have treated time outside the uk. u might find the posts by me in this link useful

u might have already seen this on other forums of which both u & i are members. but just in case u havent , here it is again