ILR from student visa 10 year policy

[K4]

Hey everyone

I am new here so hopefully I put my question in the right place and someone will answer my question

I came to UK as a student in 2004 got 4 years visa from Pakistan after i got one year extension. i left UK in october 2009 and came back in march 2010 with a fresh student visa from Pakistan. I made two 1 month visits to Pakistan in 2006.

i want to know:
1) Is there any chance to go under the 10 year rule which i will complete in 2014?
2) If yes what i have to do?
3) Do I have o produce all certificates since 2004 as i don't have all of them?
4) I have 9 points on my licence all speeding first ones i got in 2010 and last ones 2012?
5) Can i go back to Pakistan for a visit?
6) Who should I choose to be my solicitor?


thanks in advance

[ouflak1]

Hey everyone

I am new here so hopefully I put my question in the right place and someone will answer my question

I came to UK as a student in 2004 got 4 years visa from Pakistan after i got one year extension. i left UK in october 2009 and came back in march 2010 with a fresh student visa from Pakistan. I made two 1 month visits to Pakistan in 2006.

i want to know:
1) Is there any chance to go under the 10 year rule which i will complete in 2014?
2) If yes what i have to do?
3) Do I have o produce all certificates since 2004 as i don't have all of them?
4) I have 9 points on my licence all speeding first ones i got in 2010 and last ones 2012?
5) Can i go back to Pakistan for a visit?
6) Who should I choose to be my solicitor?


thanks in advance

1) I'll just chime in a bit although I'm admittedly not very familiar with the absence period allowed for 10yr applications. If the any-one-time absence period allowed is 180 days (looks like it is) then, depending on the exact dates you left and returned, you should be ok.

2) Apply using form Set(LR).

3) If those certificates are necessary to provide evidence that you were present in the UK for the qualifying period, then yes. Otherwise no. For 10 yr ILR, it doesn't matter what your status was as long it was all composed of legal stay. You don't have meet salary requirement, show student progress, be married to a citizen/permanent resident, etc.... You just have to have been in the UK legally in some capacity for the entire qualifying period.

4) Report the speeding tickets on the application. Should be ok if they are just speeding tickets.

5) If you currently have a valid visa that allows you legal stay in UK, and where you can leave and return (and your visa/conditions for having the visa are still valid on return), then yes you can leave the country during the application period.

Can't help you with 6. Your application would seem straightforward from your description though.

[TheGreenTea]

From
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas ... t%28LR%29/
and
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitec ... iew=Binary

Beware of the following:

Continuous residence is considered to be broken if the applicant has:

been absent from the UK for a period of more than 180 days at any one time, or is absent from the UK for a shorter period but does not have valid leave to enter the UK on their return, or valid leave to remain on their departure from the UK

spent a total of 540 days outside the UK throughout the whole 10 year period.

Time spent outside the UK
Continuous residence is not considered broken if the applicant:
is absent from the UK for 180 days or less at any one time, and

had existing leave to enter or remain when they left and when they returned – this can include leave gained at port when returning to the UK as a non visa national

I suggest you calculate the days you have been absent from the UK and this will tell you whether you can go back home before you apply.


What certificates are you talking about?

If you don't have criminal record - you are fine.

Why do you need a solicitor? Your application sounds straight forward. Are you willing to pay extra £1000-1500?

[K4]

Hey guys thanks for getting back I left UK on 29 October 2009 I had visa till 31 October 2009 and came back on 22 march 2010 with new visa. Other than that I visited Pakistan in June 2006 and December 2006 for one month and also I forgot to mention I went to Paris in 2005 for 5 days. I had a valid leave to remain at that time. Also just just remembered once in 2009 my visa for France was rejected due to in complete docs and 2009 again when I applied from Pakistan for UK student visa it got refused due to in complete docs again.

The certificates I am on about are the study certificates to prove I was in the country do you need them?? Or the stamps on your passport proves it.

About Solicitor I was thinking they know the whole crack they can do all the leg work if needed and one more thing is it good to go to the window for it or should I lodge an application via post and wait.

Last but not the least are there any changes happening in the rules for it I have heard different stories I have applied for a extension on a course which will be till August 2015.

Thanks again guys for the response much appreciated

[ouflak1]

Hey guys thanks for getting back I left UK on 29 October 2009 I had visa till 31 October 2009 and came back on 22 march 2010 with new visa.

By my reckoning, that single period is less than 180 days (144).

Other than that I visited Pakistan in June 2006 and December 2006 for one month and also I forgot to mention I went to Paris in 2005 for 5 days. I had a valid leave to remain at that time. Also just just remembered once in 2009 my visa for France was rejected due to in complete docs and 2009 again when I applied from Pakistan for UK student visa it got refused due to in complete docs again.

Just make sure you report the visa refusals on the application (if it asks). Otherwise, those other dates outside of the UK are inconsequential.

The certificates I am on about are the study certificates to prove I was in the country do you need them?? Or the stamps on your passport proves it.

For this type of application, any evidence of your presence in the UK is probably good evidence to include.

About Solicitor I was thinking they know the whole crack they can do all the leg work if needed and one more thing is it good to go to the window for it or should I lodge an application via post and wait.

I don't want to knock the use of solicitor. If you feel a greater peace of mind using one, then by all means it is worth it. Just make sure they are qualified and registered with the appropriate UK accrediting bodies as experts in this field. But they won't be able to give any better a 'window' than is stated on the UKBA website or that others here could estimate (I believe there is a sticky thread for timelines on this sub-forum). And you're still going to have to gather together all of that evidence, which is the real legwork (unless you invite the lawyer into your home to start doing a physical document search )

Last but not the least are there any changes happening in the rules for it? I have heard different stories. I have applied for a extension on a course which will be till August 2015.

There are always changes in the rules. They cannot be predicted. Sometimes those changes are (unfairly IMO) retroactive. We get some advance warning on many of those changes, but not always. The overwhelming consensus of established posters here is if there is a choice between ILR and any 'temporary' visa, assuming you would qualify for both without any complications, ALWAYS go for ILR. There are a few dissenting voices on that stance, but their reasoning is unsound in my opinion. If you can get ILR, and it looks like you can in a fairly straightforward fashion, get it.

[TheGreenTea]

1. You are only required to send passports (previous and current) and any old UK visas. If you had a biometric card, which was taken by UKBA because they issued you a new one, I suggest attaching a copy of those (or at least acknowledgement letter from UKBA). They will have your reference numbers on their system.
Also Life in the UK test.
Application form (payment)
Passport photos

Your case sounds straight forward and hence I don't think you need to send anything else. But do check the application form what you need to submit

2. To make UKBA life easier - create a spreadsheet (there is a template on the forum somewhere) with columns for:
- visas (validity dates), showing that you have been for 10 years in the UK
- days outside the uk and reason why you went (just simple "holiday/ family visit" will suffice). with a total of days absent
- indicate which passport pages should UKBA look for entry/exit stamps

This is optional by the way, but it is just good practice

3. From what I see your continuous stay was not broken and you can apply via post for a 10 year route settlement. There is no PEO option for 10 year route settlement at the moment.

4. Lawyers will not do any leg work for you.
They will check your application and advise on the docs you need to submit. And then post your application.

That's pretty much it.
They are only useful if :
- your case is not straight forward
- you got rejected and you have no idea how to proceed with appeal procedure etc
- if you need to prove somewhere that your docs are with UKBA (and UKBA acknowledgement letter is not enough) lawyers will of course confirm this. They can also certify copies of your passport/visa before you send them off, so at least you will have some proof of your legitimate stay here.

[K4]

Thank you very much guys still got over a year left will keep an eye on the forum as its very helpful. Everything sounds straight forward unless there aren't any changes in the rules

thanks again