Post
by valsad » Sat May 03, 2008 4:27 pm
Hi,
You should be in the UK withing 28 days of your EC. The reason being, to qualify for Indefinite leave to remain (2 years for marriage etc, 5 years for WP,HSMP) you have to complete 2 or 5 years (depending on what visa you got) in UK and that period starts from date you entered UK for the first time and not the date of your EC.
Its best to enter UK within 20 to 25 days of your EC to avoid any further extension of your stay to qualify for Indefinite Leave to Remain(ILR).
Once you are in UK and are about to apply for ILR, you can apply upto 28 days before completing the qualifying period, which started from the date you entered UK for the first time. But you should to so before your visa expires.
So in short, if you come after 28 days of your EC, you will have to apply for extension first and then complete qualifying period and apply for ILR which is waste of money.