does these will be considered as a gap for 5 years of ILR?

[flyingbeen]

Dear members ,
My first time been here on September 2003 with student visa, on January 2007 applying for HSMP and got approved letter at the end of this month, then back to home country got entrance clearings on the date of 15/03/2007 and back to UK on 18/03/2007 to start full time permenate job , the first 2 years visa expired on 14/3/2009 then on 25/2/2009 applying for extension by post, got the extension stamped from 21/3/2009 to 20/3/2012.

My questions are,
1, first visa expired on 14/3/2009 and the extention starts from 21/3/2009, theree is a 7 days gap , does this gap will be considered as a broken of continued 5 years ?
2, what's the earliest date to make an appointment at PEO by phone or online booking ? I know there is a maximum 28 days before the current visa expire, so I will book PEO after 22/2/2012, should I make an appointment how many weeks before 22/2/2012?
Thanks advance.

[Lucapooka]

It's not a gap. Leave can't be back-dated and is issued at the time it is processed and approved so it was never going to be issued with a new start date coinciding with the finish date of your previous leave if the date of the approval was later than that. However, your previous leave continued to be valid during the application period and beyond the expiry.

[flyingbeen]

Thanks, Lucapooka.

Does anybody know how many weeks before the date of 22/2/2012 can I book an appointment? pls

[geriatrix]

6 weeks

[flyingbeen]

Thanks Moderator - sushdmehta.