Got Extension!!!

[DeepThroat]

But guys should they not publish this information of 5 years for ILR in the public domain.

Cheers,

[hsmphopeful]

These are only plans, not current law. And therefore our thoughts here are just thoughts. We will have to wait and see

[DeepThroat]

The seriousness of the tone meant otherwise cheers

[John]

It has been clearly announced by the Government, as part of its five year plan, that "four years before applying for ILR" will become "five years before applying for ILR".

However, think about it, the last thing IND want is the need to deal with lots of one-year extensions to visas already issued. Accordingly I would be amazed if they went down that route.

At the moment we have .... one year .... three years .... ILR. I suspect at at a certain point in time, sometime in the next year(?) .... that will become ... one year .. four years .... ILR. That is, anyone already holding a three-year extension visa, before the provision is changed, will still be allowed to apply for ILR at or near its expiry ..... and only those granted their extension visa after the change will get a four-year one.

There is a precedent for thinking this is want they will do. Prior to 1st April 2003 spouse visas used to be of one-year duration. Those issued on or after 1st April 2003 are of two-years duration. So as at 1st April 2003 there were lots of one-year spouse visa holders, eligible to apply for ILR at or near the end of that one-year period. Were they affected by the change to two years? No, not affected at all. They were still allowed to apply for their ILR at or near the end of the one year period.

In the same way I expect the holders of three-year extension visas to still be able to apply for their ILR at or near the end of that three year period, and only those actually granted four year extensions being forced to wait a further year.

This of course is not guaranteed but is entirely logical IMHO.

[indian_in_uk]

What impact will be on candidates who were earlier on WP and then they shifted to HSMP? Any Ideas?
E.g. I was on work permit for two years and nine months continuosly without any break and I recently got HSMP stamped on my passport.

[hsmphopeful]

I just hope you are right John

[tgs]

At worse we will have to wait an extra year.

The point made that you will have to apply for 1 year and then ILR will be restrain on IND resources, unless they going to charge a lot of money for such applications to recover the costs.

I think the reason for the letter change is to be political correct. I don't it will do the Labour party any good if the media publish a story "Imigrants promised ILR"

[John]

TGS, of course you may well be right but as regards "unless they going to charge a lot of money for such applications to recover the costs", that supposes that they have the human resources etc to do the extra work, which I would doubt. Indeed a one year gap in dealing with ILRs could enable them to catch up with all sorts of other matters.

So even if they might make money for all those one-year extensions, I still suspect that such a thought will not be their conclusion.