Missed out on 10 year route. Please help.

[johnjkjk]

Hello there,

I would really appreciate some guidance as to the options available to me for the shortest path to ILR. Briefly, I'm a relic of British empire- born in a former colony to mixed parents, brought up as an Englishman in a bubble world within the expatriate community including going to a British-only private school and spent a few months every year with my family in the UK (as a visitor). I'm not not eligible to claim British Citizenship through my family, most of whom are British including my elder siblings (luckily enough they were born in the UK when Citizenship was still a birth right).

I have no links with the country of my citizenship- whether cultural or lingual and do not know anyone here. Leaving school with top A levels, I decided to try and work hard and honestly to claim my rightful place in British society, initially studying and then working, with some success- given the lack of opportunities available to immigrants. I was however made redundant from my Tier 2 job, with just 2 years to go on the 10 year route, there not being enough time to find a new sponsor, and being too stressed to consider all my options with possible curtailment looming- I left to maintain a clean immigration record. I also had to abandon a PhD halfway due to the redundancy.

With the Tier 2 cooling off period, I couldn't secure a new visa and I decided to consider being exiled to a diseased third world country as an opportunity to do humanitarian work as that is my spiritual obligation. Whilst I would gladly serve out my life doing good work- not much humanitarian work can be done whilst being chased out of villages by angry bloodthirsty mobs- as apparently I'm of a disliked minority.

What options are available to me to return to the UK and what would be the shortest past to ILR? I'm considering returning to the UK as a postgraduate student but that will only get me through the door, there's no longer any PSW and I have rather bitter experiences of working under Tier 2, to risk being in a position of bonded labour once again.

Reading through current regulations, I can identify the following:
1. Private life under section 276ADE 1(vi) of the immigration rules, which covers those with less than 20 years of continuous residency where there would be "very significant obstacles to the applicant’s integration into the country to which he would have to go if required to leave the UK", including cultural and lingual, although the caseworker guidance is decidedly cut-throat and this category is reserved for the most exceptional cases. The leave is also granted as four blocks of 2.5 years and leads to another a tedious 10 year path.
2. An application for LTR outside of the immigration rules by pleading my case, leading to ILR in 5 or perhaps 10 years depending on what kind of leave is granted (I'm guessing- I don't know how it actually works), although from my understanding, this too is only considered in the most exceptional of cases and has been tightened up even further still with recent changes to the law.
3. Student (1 year), Tier 2 (assuming that a find a sponsor) and then try and fight tooth and nail for the previous break in continuous residency to be disregarded- either by establishing that I never should have been put in a position to leave, or by challenging the unfair 'cooling of period' that prevented my timely return. For the former, I believe I was unfairly dismissed, but employment tribunals are prohibitively expensive. There's an outside chance that I may be able to challenge the validity of the 'Tier 2 cooling off period' as it is being arbitrarily applied to break continuous residency of Tier 2 (general) migrants, whereas I believe it was originally intended to prevent ICT migrants to switch into the general category to claim ILR, and that genuine migrants that have passed the RLMT but been made involuntarily redundant should be entitled to either a reprieve from the 'cooling off period' and/or a longer curtailment period to find a new sponsor as forcefully disrupting the residency of someone on a valid immigration path seems unduly harsh. In Ireland for example, work permit holders made redundant are given 6 months to find a new sponsor and are exempt from RLMT. The rationale being that If I demonstrate that I was unfairly forced to break my continuous residency in spite of being employable, then I can have some claim to the 8 years accumulated previously. IMHO- not possible without significant legal backing.
4. Some other way?

I've spoken to immigration lawyers, they're clueless- From experience, I have found that I can gain far more information from reading the rules myself and by consulting experienced practitioners like yourselves. They were only interested in egging me on into unethical and illegal routes, which I would never consider, and the more 'reputable' lawyers would bankrupt me.

I don't know how long I can survive in this godforsaken place. Any help please? Feel free to PM for more info.

[Obie]

When did you leave the UK. Has it been more than 6 months? did you have a valid entry clearance when you left?

If you left under 6 months, and can secure a Postgraduate student visa, and enter the UK, you may be able to add you previous residence towards ILR.

[johnjkjk]

Hello Obie, thanks for taking the time to reply.

It's been more than 6 months, continuous residency has been broken.

I should have made it clearer in my post: I left with the UK on valid LTR after approx. 8 years of continuous residency, last in the Tier 2 Category, after I was made redundant. For various reasons it's been more than 6 months so my continuous residency has been broken. That's why I'm gutted at missing out on the the 10 year route. I need suggestions as to the shortest routes available to me, for ILR. I've listed the options that I can think of- not a very pretty list.