Post
by John » Wed Apr 13, 2005 2:08 pm
It has been clearly announced by the Government, as part of its five year plan, that "four years before applying for ILR" will become "five years before applying for ILR".
However, think about it, the last thing IND want is the need to deal with lots of one-year extensions to visas already issued. Accordingly I would be amazed if they went down that route.
At the moment we have .... one year .... three years .... ILR. I suspect at at a certain point in time, sometime in the next year(?) .... that will become ... one year .. four years .... ILR. That is, anyone already holding a three-year extension visa, before the provision is changed, will still be allowed to apply for ILR at or near its expiry ..... and only those granted their extension visa after the change will get a four-year one.
There is a precedent for thinking this is want they will do. Prior to 1st April 2003 spouse visas used to be of one-year duration. Those issued on or after 1st April 2003 are of two-years duration. So as at 1st April 2003 there were lots of one-year spouse visa holders, eligible to apply for ILR at or near the end of that one-year period. Were they affected by the change to two years? No, not affected at all. They were still allowed to apply for their ILR at or near the end of the one year period.
In the same way I expect the holders of three-year extension visas to still be able to apply for their ILR at or near the end of that three year period, and only those actually granted four year extensions being forced to wait a further year.
This of course is not guaranteed but is entirely logical IMHO.
John