Help! ILR under 10yr rule

[archies]

I am a doctor working in UK. I entered this country in July 1996 and have been lawfully resident in UK continuously. I want to apply for indefinite leave to remain under the 10 year rule through postal application. My wife and two children (aged 16 yrs & 12 yrs now) entered this country in September 1996 and have been resident continuously as well. Can I make an application now including my spouse and children as dependants or would I have to wait till September to include them. Also would I have to apply for each person seperately or can they be included in the same form paying a single fee. Thanks for any advice

[John]

Co-incidentally, just before reading your posting I was reading the webpage for the Liverpool PEO (and no doubt the webpages for the other PEOs contain similar information). Anyway, if you go to the Liverpool PEO webpage, just before half-way down that page is a section that reads :-

Please Note:
If you are applying for indefinite leave to remain in the long residence category (ie a continuous stay of 10 years or more in the UK), please note that you may not include any dependants (ie spouse, partner or child under 18 ) in your application. The reason for this is that dependants are not covered in the long residence category of the Immigration Rules.

If they are applying in the long residence category in their own right, each must apply (and pay) separately on Form SET(O).

If none of your dependants qualifies to apply in the long residence category, they may apply as follows:

* For leave to remain on Form FLR(M) as the spouse or partner of a person present and settled in the UK, with any children under 18 being included as dependants.
* For indefinite leave to remain on Form SET(F) as the child(ren) of a parent present and settled in the UK if you are the only parent and/or have had sole responsibility for their upbringing. If there is more than one child, each must apply (and pay) separately.

Given that your three family members did not arrive until September 1996, the earliest date of application should be 28 days before the 10th anniversary of their arrival date ... so probably some date in August 2006.

And given that dependants cannot be entered on a form SET(O), each of the four of you will need your own SET(O) form. Hey, this is going to be expensive! Either £2000 in person at a PEO, or £1340 by post. Ouch!

[JAJ]

And given that dependants cannot be entered on a form SET(O), each of the four of you will need your own SET(O) form. Hey, this is going to be expensive! Either £2000 in person at a PEO, or £1340 by post. Ouch!

Expensive maybe, but OP should consider himself lucky there's such a facility to get ILR - in other countries (eg Australia, Canada, New Zealand, U.S.) there isn't!

[aboudi]

are you sure that you can apply 28 days before the 10 years are completed? i was under the impression that in the 10 year rule you have to actually complete the 10 years before you apply for ILR....

[John]

are you sure that you can apply 28 days before the 10 years are completed?

Yes, totally, for two reasons. Firstly the form SET(O) says so, and secondly members of this board have reported success applying within the last 28 days before the completion of the 10 years period.

[aboudi]

thanks for clarifying John, thats one less month i got to wait for...