Private Life Settlement

[ederson231]

Private Life Settlement guidance states the following:

A person applying for settlement on the private life route who was initially granted
permission under either Appendix Private Life or paragraph 276ADE in Part 7 may
no longer be in the young person age bracket (for example, they may be 25 or over)
at the date of application. The applicant will be eligible to apply for settlement if they
were initially granted as a person who was 18 or over but under 25 years old and
met the half of life test when first granted permission to stay on the private life route

Does this mean if an applicant is over 25 but was initially granted leave to remain as 18-25 half-life test private life, they would be eligible to apply for ilr as a young adult or as an adult.

Applicant overstayed from 2013-2016, would this affect their eligibility for ILR.

Any ideas much appreciated

[zimba]

Correct. A young adult who got a visa under the private life route can settle after 5 years if they meet the half-life test.

[ederson231]

Thanks Zimba

But i wanted to know based on the wording of the above guidance and/or the relevant Immigration Rules, would it be possible for him to apply for settlement under the Young Adult route given that he met the requirements for settlement under that route at 24 (half his life in the UK, Held private life visa for over a year etc) but he is now 25 years old and as such not in the 18-24 category.

Is he eligible under the young adult category or can he only apply under the adult category which requires 10 years legal residence and he has a gap of a year breaking his continuous residence in 2016

Thank you in advance

[zimba]

If they met the 'half life' test when they were initially granted leave under the private life route, then they can apply for ILR after 5 years. The long residence route is not possible if their continuous residence is broken.

Under Appendix Private Life rules, a young adult (arrived when between 18-24 years old) must meet the 'half life' test in order to qualify for ILR.

PL 4.1. Where the applicant is aged 18 or over and aged under 25 at the date of application and arrived in the UK before the age of 18, the applicant must have spent at least half their life continuously resident in the UK.

PL 14.1. An applicant who has, or last had, permission to stay on the private life route as a child, or young adult who met the half-life test under PL 4.1, must have lived in the UK for a continuous qualifying period of 5 years with permission as set out in PL 14.3 or 14.4.
PL 14.2. An applicant who is aged 18 or over at the date of application and does not meet the requirement in PL 14.1 must have lived in the UK for a continuous qualifying period of 10 years with permission set out in PL 14.3. or 14.4.

Immigration rules, Appendix Private Life: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration ... ivate-life

[ederson231]

in regards to the 10 year private life settlement route, is there any leniency granted if the break in continuous residence happened whilst he was still a minor

arrived in 2011 at age 13 (so does not in fact meet half-life test), first valid leave granted Mar 2013 - Aug 2015 discretionary leave
father forgot to renew visa, applied again Mar 2019 and was granted valid leave in Oct 2019 OUTSIDE immigration rules
applied on time, current visa granted in Feb 2023 on private life 10 year route.

Is there any way to argue that as his continuous residence was broken whilst he was still a minor (and his first valid leave was from 2013 (over 10 years) and current visa is on private life grounds) that he can possibly apply for ILR under private life adult 10 year settlement route

[zimba]

No. They need 10 years of continuous residence as adults:

Children and young people have a choice on the duration of their permission and
can choose to be granted for either 30 or 60 months. Adults granted permission to
stay under the private life rules can settle after 10 years continuous residence and
permission will be granted for 30 months.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... e_life.pdf