UK Tier 1 - Absences related to ILR

[ukimmigrant]

Hello,

I am a s/w consultant. My job requires me to travel frequently abroad.
I had been in UK from Jan 2010.

When I counted my absences I see that in 12 consecutive months based on first day of entry in UK it comes up like (without 90 days continuous absence):
1. 73 in 2010
2. 125 in 2011
3. 238 in 2012

In this case, I am clearly exceeding 180 days. Is this allowed for ILR if I produce official letter from my employer that my trips were for job reason?

But after reading through the rule for calculating consecutive years, I found that it is possible to split the days as follows:
1. April 2010 to April 2011 - 103
2. April 2011 to April 2012 - 161
3. April 2012 to April 2013 - 169

Would it be wise to submit the application in April then?
Looking forward for your replies..

[Manka10]

when to submit your application will depend on when your leave is expiring AND when you become eligible for ILR

[ukimmigrant]

Thanks Manka,

It is clear about submitting. But if the absence is more than 180 days, will they accept if we have letter from the employer? or does this mean that I have broken the continuous period?

Regards..
John..

[Manka10]

Yes, if your employer can explain these absences were related to work then there should not be any issues

[cs95tdg]

But if the absence is more than 180 days, will they accept if we have letter from the employer? or does this mean that I have broken the continuous period?

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... iew=Binary

See page 15:
Absences of more than 180 days in each consecutive 12 month period preceding the date of application (in all categories) will mean the continuous period has been broken. However, consideration may still be given to granting indefinite leave to remain (ILR) outside the rules if evidence is provided to show the excessive absence was due to serious or compelling compassionate reasons.
Evidence, in the form of a letter from the applicant setting out full details of the compelling reason for the absence and supporting documents must be provided.
Absences in excess of 180 days in any 12 month period for employment or economic activity reasons are not considered exceptional.

[Manka10]

Dang...didnt realise they made a drastic change like that after being so generous of allowing 180 days out in a year

[layman]

The change was made since deciding on long absences was left to the discretion of senior case workers. This resulted in disparity in decisions.

Hence the allowance was made quite generous keeping in mind the nature of some jobs(eg. employees in the oil exploration industry, software consultants) but the discretion has been removed(atleast in letter, need to give some time to see if it is being implemented strictly)

[ukimmigrant]

Thanks for your replies.
I found this post: http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/d ... an_180_day

Mr. Ali have made a request to UKBA regarding the same.
the rule is in place from Dec 2012 and till then they allowed discretion in absences if it was for genuine reason.

[cs95tdg]

Yes. There were many absence threshold related changes that came into effect on Dec 13th last year. It's almost a complete revamp, if you had read the rules prior to that. Thanks for posting this particular link, it will be interesting to see how the UKBA respond.