Hi everyone,
I would really appreciate your advice on my situation. I have lived legally in the UK since Dec 2006, and have been on a Tier 1 (General) visa since Mar 2009. I should be eligible for ILR in Mar 2014, except that I will have spent over 300 days outside the UK, accrued through taking normal holidays and a few business trips abroad (no single period for longer than 90 days).
I am also engaged to a UK citizen. We see the UK as our permanent home, but we have wanted to temporarily move abroad for several years now before we have kids. Ideally I would like to secure my ILR before we move, but I am beginning to doubt if that will be possible.
Should I:
(1) Apply for a Tier 1 (General) extension in Mar 2014, and then apply for ILR once I have 5 years continuous residence with fewer than 180 days spent outside the UK. (Unfortunately the majority of days spent outside the UK were in 2010-2011, meaning it would take several years to get below the 180 day threshold.)
(2) Take a risk and apply for ILR in Mar 2014 even with the 300+ days absence (although this will almost surely get rejected..?)
(3) Move abroad and just apply for FLR(M) when we eventually move back to the UK as a married couple, and start my whole 5-year ILR qualifying period all over again.
I am scared about option #3, as I see the UK as my permanent home and if anything were to happen to my finance (god forbid) while we lived abroad, I would lose the right to ever return here.
I would really appreciate any help and/or useful links as I am very stressed about this. Many thanks in advance.
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