ILR success - but how?

[ahumphries4]

2 months ago, my friend was granted ILR, but I'm wondering how based on the circumstances below.

My friend married a UK resident and gained a 2 year spouse visa. However, they arrived into the UK 7 weeks after the date of issue due to personal circumstances.

Their 2 year visa was due to expire, so they took legal advice as to what they should do, since they arrived 7 weeks after visa issue and would not fulfil 2 year criteria if applying for ILR before their visa expired.

To cut a long story short, my friend applied for ILR a month before the entry stamp in the UK 2 years earlier, i.e. they 'overstayed' 6 weeks after the visa expiry. Their legal advice said that they should not waste £400 on a FLR(M) extension to cover the 2 years and just to apply for ILR one month before they had spent 2 years here.

So, I'm just wondering how their postal ILR application was successful? They sent about 40 supporting documents. In cases like these, is it acceptable if the applicant has overstayed just a few weeks? My friend's partner was really worried that they would be deported back to their country to re-apply for a spouse visa! I guess they were lucky!

[SYH]

Lucky them,
I think you have the answer how
They provided supporting documents and used a solicitor
Ask them for further details
I dont think other people would recommend that this is the way to go

[John]

ahumphries4, this couple need to be aware that it is not all good news! The fact that no application was made prior to the expiry of the 2-year spouse visa means that no Naturalisation application can be made until 3 years after the date that the ILR was granted.

I am interested ... did the Solicitor who gave the visa advice also mention this little problem that the advice was going to cause?

[ahumphries4]

The immigraton solicitor in their case said that if they applied for IlR under 2 months after their spouse visa expiry, the HO would still grant the ILR as they provided an excellent range of supporting documents above the number required - wage slips, joint bank details, letters of support from various organisations and my friend's several ESOL & citizenship certificates. It was only if they overstayed for several months after the visa expiry would the HO refuse the ILR.

Since the ILR fees were signifcantly hiked this April to £750 by post and £950 in person, they did at least save the £395 fee of applying for an FLR(M) to cover the 7 weeks from visa expiry to having stayed in the UK for 2 years. Their ILR postal application took 6 weeks in total.

Could you clarify you point about the potential problem with applying for naturalisation? In this case, does it mean that they would now have to wait a few extra months before being able to apply in 3 years time after the date of ILR issue?

Of course, the action they took is not recommended to others as it was very risky, since the HO does not take overstayers lightly.

[Docterror]

Could you clarify you point about the potential problem with applying for naturalisation? In this case, does it mean that they would now have to wait a few extra months before being able to apply in 3 years time after the date of ILR issue?

ahumphries4, what John means is that to get naturalised, the person in question must have had 3 years of continuous legal residence prior to the application to be eligible. The overstaying technically broke that and now there might be a further 3 year wait on the ILR before being eligible again.

[John]

ahumphries4, Docterror is right, and the delay is not "a few extra months", the delay is about a couple of years.

BIA have a discretion to overlook the illegal period, but given that it was quite deliberate, why would they?

[ahumphries4]

What does the process of naturlisation mean? Now they have the ILR granted, is the next step towards applying for Briitsh cotizenship, i.e. British passport?

It wasn't a deliberate 'overstay' - they just acted on the advice given to them by a prestigoius law firm in the City. Now that my friend has ILR, would they now possibly have to wait 3 years from ILR issue before being eligable to apply for naturalisation?

[SYH]

What does the process of naturlisation mean? Now they have the ILR granted, is the next step towards applying for Briitsh cotizenship, i.e. British passport?

It wasn't a deliberate 'overstay' - they just acted on the advice given to them by a prestigoius law firm in the City. Now that my friend has ILR, would they now possibly have to wait 3 years from ILR issue before being eligable to apply for naturalisation?

It is a deliberate overstay, just because they did based on legal advice doesn't mean it was deliberatel
an overstay that is not deliberate is when you are in a coma and you wake up after you visa has expired.

[jes2jes]

What does the process of naturlisation mean? Now they have the ILR granted, is the next step towards applying for Briitsh cotizenship, i.e. British passport?

It wasn't a deliberate 'overstay' - they just acted on the advice given to them by a prestigoius law firm in the City. Now that my friend has ILR, would they now possibly have to wait 3 years from ILR issue before being eligable to apply for naturalisation?

It is a deliberate overstay, just because they did based on legal advice doesn't mean it was deliberatel
an overstay that is not deliberate is when you are in a coma and you wake up after you visa has expired.

Where did you get this notion from or you have written your own IDI on UK IR?

[SYH]

What does the process of naturlisation mean? Now they have the ILR granted, is the next step towards applying for Briitsh cotizenship, i.e. British passport?

It wasn't a deliberate 'overstay' - they just acted on the advice given to them by a prestigoius law firm in the City. Now that my friend has ILR, would they now possibly have to wait 3 years from ILR issue before being eligable to apply for naturalisation?

It is a deliberate overstay, just because they did based on legal advice doesn't mean it was deliberatel
an overstay that is not deliberate is when you are in a coma and you wake up after you visa has expired.

Where did you get this notion from or you have written your own IDI on UK IR?

What are you talking about.?
I am discussing what is deliberate and what is not deliberate
Following legal advice is deliberate
if you can't help yourself, then it is not, pretty straightforward
I dont see whY ihave to substantiate such a statement

[John]

they just acted on the advice given to them by a prestigoius law firm in the City

Then I think that the prestigious law firm needs to be asked for their comment on this matter.

[ahumphries4]

It is one of the top law firms in the City who did charge a considerable sum for advice. When I heard what they had to say, I was surprised since applying for ILR on SET(M) after the visa had expired was risky without getting an FLR(M) extension to cover the 2 year period.

Anyway, they've got the ILR they wanted. I've read posts on here about people who got ILR after overstaying a few weeks. IF the documentation sent is good, I guess the caseworker is happy to provide the ILR stamp.

With regards to naturalisation, they have been told they can apply for that in a year's time.

[IMMIGRATION LAWYER]

The Home Office has a discretion to grant leave outside the rules (LOTR), hence the LOTR was probably requested and with proper documents the application succeeded.

Additionally, a discretion was probably requetsed on compassionate grounds (marriage subsisting etc).

There used to be grace period of up to 14 days in the past, too.

[SYH]

The Home Office has a discretion to grant leave outside the rules (LOTR), hence the LOTR was probably requested and with proper documents the application succeeded.

Additionally, a discretion was probably requetsed on compassionate grounds (marriage subsisting etc).

There used to be grace period of up to 14 days in the past, too.

Grace period of 14 days to renew expired visas, you mean?

[IMMIGRATION LAWYER]

Yes, but with the very compassionate situation (a client was taken as a hostage; or was in a coma; or his pasport was locked inteh room of a person you died).

It has now disappered from the immigration rules and I was not able to find any trace of that document.