Working outside UK on HSMP

[sherlypk]

Dear All ,

I need your suggestion. I am on HSMP visa and I arrived here in March 2006. I recently joined a company and after working one month they now want me to go to their offshore office outside UK for 2 months.

I will be getting salary on my UK bank account etc. But my concerns are how will this effect me when I will apply for ILR after few years.

As far as my understanding about the old rule is you are allowed to be out of UK for around 6 months in total.

I already came to UK after 20 days from EC, now if I will go for 2 months then I will only have 3 moths and few days left in total count.

Since the new rules in place we now have to spent 5 years to apply for ILR but does the new rule say anything about the amount of time you can spent outside UK.

Please provide your suggestions in this regard.

Regards,

SherlyPK

[sherlypk]

Senior Member, please reply. I am desparetly waiting for your comments.

[MWazir]

Your ILR clock will start ticking from the date you enter UK, not from the start date of your visa. Therefore the first 20 days that you delayed in coming will not be taken into consideration.

If you have spend more time outside UK that the maximum that is allowed (for example 6 months) then you will have to wait until the total time spend comes below 6 months. You might also want to check if there is any allowance for business travels as is the case with you.

[sherlypk]

Thanks for your reply.

What I understand is that if I stayed my time out of UK for morethan 6 months than I cann't file ILR.

Since the FLR will be stamped for 4 years and I have to apply for ILR after that and if I stayed more of my time out of UK then ILR will be rejected.

Please clarify things are still confusing.

[MWazir]

Since the FLR will be stamped for 4 years and I have to apply for ILR after that and if I stayed more of my time out of UK then ILR will be rejected.

This still needs to be clarified and as people havent yet spend 5 years on HSMP, we dont know how the cases will be treated. In your case, you fear that you would not have spent enough time in the UK. In many other cases, people come to the UK 3-4 months after their EC, get an extension at the end of the year. At the end of their visa extension, they still havent spend enough time to qualify for ILR. What happens then? We will have to wait and watch. As some one suggested, the HO might give another extension that will allow you to complete your period of stay to qualfy for ILR.

[jillsjack]

I think the Home Office guidelines say the ILR Time is calculated based on the date of issue of the Visa and not the actual date of entry and if you come in the country later than the date of entry then that is considered as an absence.

[olisun]

I think the Home Office guidelines say the ILR Time is calculated based on the date of issue of the Visa and not the actual date of entry and if you come in the country later than the date of entry then that is considered as an absence.

that's not true.....

[jillsjack]

The Home Office Website publishes the Guidance Rule and following is an extract from that

Indefinite leave to remain as a highly skilled migrant

135G. Indefinite leave to remain may be granted, on application, to a person currently with leave as a highly skilled migrant, provided that he:

(i) has had a continuous period of at least 4 years' leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom in this capacity or has had a continuous period of at least 4 years' leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom which includes periods of leave to enter or remain granted under paragraphs 128 - 319 of these Rules; and

(ii) for the period of leave as a highly skilled migrant, has met the requirements of paragraph 135A (i)-(iii); and

(iii) for any period of leave not in this capacity, has not had recourse to public funds; and

(iv) is lawfully economically active in the United Kingdom in employment, self-employment or a combination of both.

If you read it carefully it says:

has had a continuous period of at least 4 years' leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom in this capacity

And I think the "Leave" here means the date your Visa starts. There may be actual times of absence in these four years when one was not in UK and visa does not require you to be physically inside UK all this time but absence should not go beyond a certain limit. Also please note that while you are not in UK physically your "Leave to Enter" still remains valid.

Also Earlier Titas wrote

Dear All.......... I got my extension for 3 years which is from the date of my initial stamp. I wrote to HO about the 4 years issue. They have replied me in writing that as per immigratin rules 135G (i). I'll be able to submit my application for ILR after 4 years of EC issuing date.

You can see the whole topic at http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... ght=#39284

[olisun]

Has anybody obtained ILR with less than 4 yrs from the date of entry into the UK?

I mean for e.g the person was issued a WP visa starting from 1st Jan 2001, entered UK on 1st April 2001 and got ILR in December 2004 ?????

[olisun]

If you read it carefully it says:

has had a continuous period of at least 4 years' leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom in this capacity

And I think the "Leave" here means the date your Visa starts. There may be actual times of absence in these four years when one was not in UK and visa does not require you to be physically inside UK all this time but absence should not go beyond a certain limit. Also please note that while you are not in UK physically your "Leave to Enter" still remains valid.

Btw the visa remains valid ONLY if you get it activated by entering the UK within a certain period of time from the date the visa was issued

Dear All.......... I got my extension for 3 years which is from the date of my initial stamp. I wrote to HO about the 4 years issue. They have replied me in writing that as per immigratin rules 135G (i). I'll be able to submit my application for ILR after 4 years of EC issuing date.

You can see the whole topic at http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewto ... ght=#39284

I am still waiting for somebody to post over here if he /she managed to get ILR by spending less than 4 yrs in the UK from the date of the first entry into the UK.