Will long business trip affect my chance of getting the ILR?

[kanasyy]

Hello all. I am considering to apply for the ILR after the 10 year long residence route and I would like to seek some advices.

I have been in the UK since 23rd July, 2002 and have been using student/Tier4 visa as my legal stay in the UK to complete my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.

I've passed the life in the UK test and met most other criteria for the application. My main concern is that, during my postgraduate studies I was sent by the university to continental Europe to work on my research project (an integrated part of my degree study), from July 2007 to September 2009 (~2 years). During those 2 years I only visited the UK twice for conferences. So on paper, this long trip clearly exceeded the 540 days (in total), or the 180 days (single trip) criteria that I have to meet to be able to apply for the ILR.

I heard that the Home Office case worker can offer discretion and not include any business trips taken as time spent outside the UK, as long as I keep documentation proving the necessity of my trip as part of my degree programme. I can obtain official letters from the university for such purpose. What I would like to know is that, given my case, am I eligible to apply for the ILR via the 10 year long residence route?

Thanks very much in advance for your reply!

[shahid2000]

Hello all. I am considering to apply for the ILR after the 10 year long residence route and I would like to seek some advices.

I have been in the UK since 23rd July, 2002 and have been using student/Tier4 visa as my legal stay in the UK to complete my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.

I've passed the life in the UK test and met most other criteria for the application. My main concern is that, during my postgraduate studies I was sent by the university to continental Europe to work on my research project (an integrated part of my degree study), from July 2007 to September 2009 (~2 years). During those 2 years I only visited the UK twice for conferences. So on paper, this long trip clearly exceeded the 540 days (in total), or the 180 days (single trip) criteria that I have to meet to be able to apply for the ILR.

I heard that the Home Office case worker can offer discretion and not include any business trips taken as time spent outside the UK, as long as I keep documentation proving the necessity of my trip as part of my degree programme. I can obtain official letters from the university for such purpose. What I would like to know is that, given my case, am I eligible to apply for the ILR via the 10 year long residence route?

Thanks very much in advance for your reply!

May be i am completely wrong here but are you allowed to work under student/Tier 4 visa?
If not then how can these be counted as "business trips"?
I think this is a tricky situation, can someone else please shed some light on this.

[kanasyy]

Hello all. I am considering to apply for the ILR after the 10 year long residence route and I would like to seek some advices.

I have been in the UK since 23rd July, 2002 and have been using student/Tier4 visa as my legal stay in the UK to complete my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.

I've passed the life in the UK test and met most other criteria for the application. My main concern is that, during my postgraduate studies I was sent by the university to continental Europe to work on my research project (an integrated part of my degree study), from July 2007 to September 2009 (~2 years). During those 2 years I only visited the UK twice for conferences. So on paper, this long trip clearly exceeded the 540 days (in total), or the 180 days (single trip) criteria that I have to meet to be able to apply for the ILR.

I heard that the Home Office case worker can offer discretion and not include any business trips taken as time spent outside the UK, as long as I keep documentation proving the necessity of my trip as part of my degree programme. I can obtain official letters from the university for such purpose. What I would like to know is that, given my case, am I eligible to apply for the ILR via the 10 year long residence route?

Thanks very much in advance for your reply!

May be i am completely wrong here but are you allowed to work under student/Tier 4 visa?
If not then how can these be counted as "business trips"?
I think this is a tricky situation, can someone else please shed some light on this.

Hello shahid2000. Thanks a lot for the respond.

Sorry, I should have made it more clear, by saying "working" I wasn't employed by any mean. Instead it was scientific research work that is part of my degree programme, just like a large project module in the university. As such I wasn't paying any tax to the UK, but I have proof that I was receiving scholarship fundings from a UK research council to support my study there.

I guess this kind of study trip is classified the same as business trips, as it is an integral part of the degree programme? What I worry about most is the length of the absence though, it was beyond the 540-day limit.

[shahid2000]

Hello all. I am considering to apply for the ILR after the 10 year long residence route and I would like to seek some advices.

I have been in the UK since 23rd July, 2002 and have been using student/Tier4 visa as my legal stay in the UK to complete my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.

I've passed the life in the UK test and met most other criteria for the application. My main concern is that, during my postgraduate studies I was sent by the university to continental Europe to work on my research project (an integrated part of my degree study), from July 2007 to September 2009 (~2 years). During those 2 years I only visited the UK twice for conferences. So on paper, this long trip clearly exceeded the 540 days (in total), or the 180 days (single trip) criteria that I have to meet to be able to apply for the ILR.

I heard that the Home Office case worker can offer discretion and not include any business trips taken as time spent outside the UK, as long as I keep documentation proving the necessity of my trip as part of my degree programme. I can obtain official letters from the university for such purpose. What I would like to know is that, given my case, am I eligible to apply for the ILR via the 10 year long residence route?

Thanks very much in advance for your reply!

May be i am completely wrong here but are you allowed to work under student/Tier 4 visa?
If not then how can these be counted as "business trips"?
I think this is a tricky situation, can someone else please shed some light on this.

Hello shahid2000. Thanks a lot for the respond.

Sorry, I should have made it more clear, by saying "working" I wasn't employed by any mean. Instead it was scientific research work that is part of my degree programme, just like a large project module in the university. As such I wasn't paying any tax to the UK, but I have proof that I was receiving scholarship fundings from a UK research council to support my study there.

I guess this kind of study trip is classified the same as business trips, as it is an integral part of the degree programme? What I worry about most is the length of the absence though, it was beyond the 540-day limit.

I hope it works out for you mate but based on what half baked knowledge i have about rules i think this will count as a break in continuous period. Unless there is a written rule somwhere which says this type of absence will be counted towards continuous period this wont work, at least i dont know about any such rule. I dont even think that the case worker will be able to apply discretion in this case.

Some senior might be able to give you a definitive answer.