LS Legal News Bulletin
Important changes to counting continuous residence in ILR applications
Tuesday 16th January 2018
On 11 January 2018 the Home Office made a significant change to the way they calculate absences and continuous residence in Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) applications. These new measures will affect applicants in a number of categories of the Points Based System, including Tier 1 (Investor), Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) and Tier 2 (General).
Previous position of the Home Office was to allow the applicants to be absent from the UK for a period of 180 days or less in any of the five consecutive twelve-month periods preceding the date of the application for ILR. For example, if an application was made on 5 December 2017, the absences were counted separately for each of the five consecutive years from 6 December of the previous year to 5 December of the next year and until the date of the application.
From 11 January 2018 the wording of this rule has changed and the maximum 180-day limit will apply to any rolling 12-month period during the qualifying period for ILR. In practical terms, it means that a caseworker can now pick and choose any random 12-months period of the year to count absences. All applicants are now advised to review each 12-month period from each entry into the UK they have made and if they have exceeded 180 days absence in any 12-month period, a strong case will need to be prepared to explain the excess absences.
Exceptions
The current Home Office's position is that this requirement will be applied on a retrospective basis, unless one of the two exceptions apply. The exceptions include:
• if an applicant provides a letter setting out reasons why they believe changes to how the 180 days are counted will cause them exceptionally harsh consequences (such as refusing ILR); or
• there are serious or compelling reasons for absences of more than 180 days, such as the serious illness of the applicant or a close relative, a conflict or a natural disaster.
In cases where the applicant does not meet a newly-introduced requirement, a robustly prepared case explaining the reasons for any excess absences will nonetheless be considered by the Home Office. It is very important to seek professional legal advice in preparing representations.
How we can help
LS Legal Solicitors are experienced in assisting clients with their ILR applications and preparing strong representations to the Home Office, including when the specific requirements may not have been met. We have dealt with the most complicated ILR cases and our success rate with ILR applications in 2017 was 100%. Please contact our firm on 020 81 44 55 88, via email on info@LSLegaLUK.com or use the contact box to discuss your matter or make an appointment.
