ILR 10 years route application questions

[Shahno]

Hi All,

My husband is filling his ILR 10 years route application and he is stuck in the following question:

"Are you part of any social groups or do you have other cultural ties in your country of birth, nationality or any other country where you have lived for more than 5 years?"

Now my husband is not part of any social groups or cultural ties back in his home country in India. But on the online application when he chose "NO" it requires him to explain why not he is not part of any social group or cultural ties?

He has answered the question regarding family which he obviously is in a regular contact and we mentioned 2 of his friends which he is occasionally in touch with them.

What could be the answer to this question?

I would really appreciate your input.

Thank you very much!

[zimba]

That question is not important

[Shahno]

Thank you Zimba for your reply. There's also another question if you can help. It says

"Do you have any other reasons for wanting to stay in the UK?"

Then it gives this explanation:
"For example, include any information you wish to be considered about the welfare or best interests of any children who will be affected by the decision or medical evidence such as evidence of serious ill health."

We don't have any medical condition, but our daughter is born here and she goes to school here. My husband has his permanent job in the NHS as well and we have established our social life here. Does he need to answer this question? and if yes what evidence can he provide to support this?

Your help is really appreciated!

Thank you so much

[zimba]

These questions are not important. You can answer them as you wish and there is no need to send evidence

[Shahno]

Hi everyone,

First of all I just want to thank everyone for their advice and help. This forum has been very beneficial to us. I can't thank you all enough.

I would love to share my husband's ILR 10 years success as it might help anyone who's in the same boat.

A quick brief on his background:

- He came to the UK on a student visa for his masters degree. It was valid from 06/10/2008 till 31/01/2010. He arrived to the UK on 10/10/2008.
- He extended his student visa to finalise his dissertation and submitted his application before his visa end date and it was extended until December 2010.
- Applied for his Post study work visa and it was valid from January 2011 till January 2013- I came to the UK as a PSW dependent in April 2012.
- In November 2012, we applied for Tier 2 general with him as the main applicant, which was valid from January 2013 until January 2016.
- In 2015, he changed employer and we applied for an extension which was valid from July 2015 until June 2018.
- Due to having 78 days gap to complete the 10 years, we had to apply for an extension to complete our 6 years. We applied in March 2018 and it was valid from April 2018 until January 2019.

It wasn't easy at all to book an appointment for the premium service for the 10 yrs ILR in particular. We had few friends who applied for the ILR 5 years route through tier 2 general and they managed to get appointments easily. We started looking in July this year to book the appointment and we kept an eye on the dates until we reached the time where we could get appointments within his qualifying period which was any date after the 12th September 2018(28 days before completing 10 years).

It took us roughly 4-6 weeks to manage and get one. We nearly gave up trying to book, and we were so close to send the application by post but one night we decided to try one last time at 12:00 am sharp and this is when we managed to book an appointment on 19/10/2018 at 8:40 am at Sheffield.

We arrived at 8:15 am, went through security checks similar to the ones at airports, then the security staff asked us to go the counter. The staff were nice and helpful. The guy at the counter went through the application checklist and asked husband to submit his application, passports, photos and the supporting documents with copies.

He gave him a ticket and asked us to take a seat in the waiting area and wait to get called for the Biometrics . After about 15 minutes they called his ticket number and they took it.

We waited for around 1 hour until they called his ticket and he went to a different counter where the lady handed him the decision letter with the GOOD news of all time and they told him he should wait for the BRP to arrive within 7- 10 working days.

Also, my husband has a PCN (Penalty Charge Notice) because he drove in a bus lane and it was issued in November 2015. However we didn't receive it as we moved houses and he forgot to change the address on his licence. We received a notice of enforcement in November 2016 as a result of not paying on time. My husband paid it full on the same day we received it and we had the payment confirmation.

He also declared this PCN issue when we were extending our Tier 2 general in March this year. My advice for anyone in a similar situation is to declare it yourself.

We have a 4 and a half years daughter who is born in the UK. Obviously she is not included in his application.

The documents he submitted were: (Originals+photocopies)

- Cover letter (explaining two points. A) that our daughter is not included simply because we will register her as a British born child according to section 1(3) of the nationality act. B) explaining the PCN issue)
- Application ( He used paper form as the Online one was awful tbh!)
- 2 passport sized photos with his name written on the back
- Current Passport
- Previous Passport
- Life in the UK test
- His master's degree as a proof of English Language
- PCN proof of payment

As for myself, I applied for FLR (M)- Spouse visa on the same day and my appointment was at 10:30, and it was approved. It took us roughly 3 hours in total to get decisions for both of our cases.

I hope this will help anyone in a similar situation. Please feel free to ask any questions.

All the best

[zimba]

Congratulations. I also have to stress again that PCNs/FPNs have no effect on ILR and do NOT need to be declared unless you failed to pay them which led to a court conviction or failed to challenge them at the court.

[Shahno]

Hi Zimba,
Thank you so much! we have included it as I mentioned it was a notice of enforcement that we received not the PCN itself.. we received the notice of enforcement late that's why we thought include it just to be on the safe side

[ILR-LR-19]

Hi everyone,

First of all I just want to thank everyone for their advice and help. This forum has been very beneficial to us. I can't thank you all enough.

I would love to share my husband's ILR 10 years success as it might help anyone who's in the same boat.

A quick brief on his background:

- He came to the UK on a student visa for his masters degree. It was valid from 06/10/2008 till 31/01/2010. He arrived to the UK on 10/10/2008.
- He extended his student visa to finalise his dissertation and submitted his application before his visa end date and it was extended until December 2010.
- Applied for his Post study work visa and it was valid from January 2011 till January 2013- I came to the UK as a PSW dependent in April 2012.
- In November 2012, we applied for Tier 2 general with him as the main applicant, which was valid from January 2013 until January 2016.
- In 2015, he changed employer and we applied for an extension which was valid from July 2015 until June 2018.
- Due to having 78 days gap to complete the 10 years, we had to apply for an extension to complete our 6 years. We applied in March 2018 and it was valid from April 2018 until January 2019.

It wasn't easy at all to book an appointment for the premium service for the 10 yrs ILR in particular. We had few friends who applied for the ILR 5 years route through tier 2 general and they managed to get appointments easily. We started looking in July this year to book the appointment and we kept an eye on the dates until we reached the time where we could get appointments within his qualifying period which was any date after the 12th September 2018(28 days before completing 10 years).

It took us roughly 4-6 weeks to manage and get one. We nearly gave up trying to book, and we were so close to send the application by post but one night we decided to try one last time at 12:00 am sharp and this is when we managed to book an appointment on 19/10/2018 at 8:40 am at Sheffield.

We arrived at 8:15 am, went through security checks similar to the ones at airports, then the security staff asked us to go the counter. The staff were nice and helpful. The guy at the counter went through the application checklist and asked husband to submit his application, passports, photos and the supporting documents with copies.

He gave him a ticket and asked us to take a seat in the waiting area and wait to get called for the Biometrics . After about 15 minutes they called his ticket number and they took it.

We waited for around 1 hour until they called his ticket and he went to a different counter where the lady handed him the decision letter with the GOOD news of all time and they told him he should wait for the BRP to arrive within 7- 10 working days.

Also, my husband has a PCN (Penalty Charge Notice) because he drove in a bus lane and it was issued in November 2015. However we didn't receive it as we moved houses and he forgot to change the address on his licence. We received a notice of enforcement in November 2016 as a result of not paying on time. My husband paid it full on the same day we received it and we had the payment confirmation.

He also declared this PCN issue when we were extending our Tier 2 general in March this year. My advice for anyone in a similar situation is to declare it yourself.

We have a 4 and a half years daughter who is born in the UK. Obviously she is not included in his application.

The documents he submitted were: (Originals+photocopies)

- Cover letter (explaining two points. A) that our daughter is not included simply because we will register her as a British born child according to section 1(3) of the nationality act. B) explaining the PCN issue)
- Application ( He used paper form as the Online one was awful tbh!)
- 2 passport sized photos with his name written on the back
- Current Passport
- Previous Passport
- Life in the UK test
- His master's degree as a proof of English Language
- PCN proof of payment

As for myself, I applied for FLR (M)- Spouse visa on the same day and my appointment was at 10:30, and it was approved. It took us roughly 3 hours in total to get decisions for both of our cases.

I hope this will help anyone in a similar situation. Please feel free to ask any questions.

All the best

Hi Shalmo,

I am in the process of filling out my ILR-LR application form, congratulation on getting your ILR, can you kindly let me know what you filled the following section of the application form:

1 - "Are you part of any social groups or do you have other cultural ties in your country of birth, nationality or any other country where you have lived for more than 5 years?"

2 - Do you have any friends in your country of birth,
nationality or any other country where you have
lived for more than 5 years?

3- Do you have any family in your country of birth, Yes
nationality or any other country where you have
lived for more than 5 years?

I will appreciate your quick response, thank you in advance

[ILR-LR-19]

Hi Shalmo,

I am in the process of filling out my ILR-LR application form, congratulation on getting your ILR, can you kindly let me know what you filled the following section of the application form:

1 - "Are you part of any social groups or do you have other cultural ties in your country of birth, nationality or any other country where you have lived for more than 5 years?"

2 - Do you have any friends in your country of birth,
nationality or any other country where you have
lived for more than 5 years?

3- Do you have any family in your country of birth, Yes
nationality or any other country where you have
lived for more than 5 years?

I will appreciate your quick response, thank you in advance

[ILR-LR-19]

3- Do you have any family in your country of birth, Yes
nationality or any other country where you have
lived for more than 5 years?

I will appreciate your quick response, thank you in advance

[Shahno]

Hi,

Sorry for the late reply,
1. You could say " yes, country of birth and upbringing and where my family and extended family lives"
2.If Yes, then you could say that you have friends back home that you still in touch with
3. If Yes, then mention that you have your immediate and extended family and you are in touch with them and that you visit them whenever you go for a visit to your home country.

Note that when my husband applied we used paper form which had different questions than the online one.

All the best..