The PSW visa expired in December 2013 and my employer applied for the Tier 2 (General). In January 2015, I was sent to work back in Nigeria for the same company whilst my wife and kid stayed back in the UK. Though I was supposed to spend about 7 months on the aforesaid project. I ended up spending over a year in total though I came back periodically to spend time with my family. I returned to the UK in August 2016 and stayed without any absence. My tier 2 was extended in December 2016. See snapshot of absences below:
06/01/15 - 24/04/2015
- short assignment -1st trip
- short assignment - 2nd trip
- close relative diagnosed of cancer (end of June)
- I had to source for funds to fly her to and maintain her in India
- close relative returned to Nigeria and passed on two days later (01/11/16)
- close relative buried after a month (11/12/16)
- I had a knee injury (08/12/16)
- my brother was abducted (just for few hours)
- Psychotherapy
- my company decided to close-down operations in Nigeria and designated me to wind-down
I want to now apply for ILR bordering compelling circumstances and my company is willing to back me as much as they can.
My main area of worry are:
- when I was sent to Nigeria, my salary and tax was not paid in the UK.
- Also my wife paid council tax as a single parent whilst I was away
- is it worth going for the super-priority option? Please note that my wife has now stayed on the tier 2 (general) dependent for more than 5 years with only 35 days absences.