Past Immigration History

[jennai1979]

Dear All,

I am an American planning on applying for a Tier 2 general visa and have a couple of questions relating to the application Part 6.
Question 6.2 asks " Have you travelled to the UK in the last 10 years?

My problem is that I have lost a previous passport that covers 2003-2008 during which I travelled to the UK on multiple occasions.
Question 1: I can piece together most trips through old emails etc. Would it be sufficient to state I lost my passport under "Additional Information" and list dates in UK but put a dislaimer these are approximate dates?

Question 2: I have a clean 15 year immigration history (1999-2014) coming in and out of the UK numerous times including living on a student visa in 1999-2000 and again 2004-2005.

My concern around my most recent visits to the UK in 2013-2014. I entered the UK on October 8th 2013 and left May 1 2014.In between, I left the UK for a 5 day trip to Paris (Nov) and a 5 day trip to Iceland (March). My total duration of stay during this period thus added up to approximately 195 days which puts me 15 days over the suggested 6 months out of 12 months rule of thumb. I got three different entry stamps to cover this period of time, and I did not over stay any of the stamps. Basically, I was on a personal sabbatical after working as a consultant in China, and was using the UK as a base to relax, catch up with friends there, take trips within the UK as well as Europe (e.g. Paris, Iceland) before moving back to the USA.

I certainly was not working and was using my own personal savings to fund my stay in the UK. Do I need to provide details explaining for my protracted stay in the UK during this period? Or because I got entry clearance each time by the immigration officer, and I did not overstay any of my entry stamps, it is sufficient to simply list the visits? I am worried about my 15 days over the 6 month limit as well as them questioning what I did during my longer stay and wondering if I should provide additional information to explain.

Thank you for any advice,

JC