Hi everyone,
I am one of the many people who found this website when desperately seeking information about applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain on the basis of a Work Permit held for 5 years Set(0). I hope my experience will give some clarity to people confused about how days are calculated. I have read a lot about this in the past, but the information is not consistent.
As many people are aware, there is a requirement that you are not outside the UK for more than "six months" in total and not more than "three months" at any one time. The way that we all understand this to be interpreted is no more than 90 days in one trip or 180 days in total.
This leads to the question "How is 180 days calculated?" (especially for those of us who love living in Europe for all the quick trips you can take!). I took 22 trips outside the UK during the 5 years I was employed on a work permit in the UK. Most of these trips were short holidays, but two were for business. The way the border agency calculates entry and exit days makes a huge difference in the total calculation, which in my case is +/- 44 days depending on how you count things.
For instance how many days is an absence between
July 11 - July 13.
Simple math (13 - 11) = 2
Excluding travel days = 1
Including travel days (11th, 12th, 13th) = 3
The Croydon PEO case worker for my application on April 9th 2010 applied the "simple math" calculation. He carefully wrote on the forms the number of days on each line of the Set(0) form and the second page which I provided. To help him with his calculation (and demonstrate that I had checked) I handed him a spreadsheet with my calculations (excluding travel days). He looked at it and said "Oh I see, you have forgotten to count the day out. We include the day out in the calculation". When doing his calculation I noticed that he did not write a number down beside the dates where I listed the reason as a "business trip". I had included a signed letter from my employer verifying the business trips which he previously examined.
In my particular case it actually didn't matter (I passed the 180 day test regardless of the way you count the days), but I cancelled a holiday and haven't left the UK for 6 months out of fear about the calculation. I'm glad that I didn't leave because it could have easily caused a problem!
In summary, my advice is to apply the "simple math" calculation to your days out of the country and get letters confirming all business trips. If you exceed 180 days doing simple math I recommend getting extra strong documentation and be prepared to make a polite case for your particular method of counting days.
A few additional points that may be of interest to people
- The ILR letter strangely states "returning the enclosed passport endorsed with an extension of stay in the United Kingdom". The ILR itself states it is a "Residence Permit"
- I had a printout of the appointment confirmation but was asked to show a Booking Ref # when I got to the first desks. Luckily this had been sent to me in a text message earlier because I thought the printout of the appointment confirmation webpage was sufficient. The officer let me turn on my mobile phone briefly to write down the number in pen on the letter.
- Keep all receipts etc. handed to you. They check them several times.
- I had 3 payslips and 4 years of P60s. They didn't ask any questions about this
- I provided 6 months of banks statements for 3 accounts. They only examined the current account.
- I had a 3pm appointment and was a little concerned that they would run out of time and not be able to see me. There are signs saying that you will be seen on the day if you have paid etc. I wouldn't worry about having a late vs early appointment.
I hope this helps. Good luck everyone, and thanks for all the information.
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