Ahooi

This post is purely for all those antipodians out there who’s in the same boat as I was till yesterday! I’ve been trying to get my ILR (Indefinate Leave to Remain) visa from the UK Home Office for quite some time.

I understand that you are only permitted a limited amount of days absent from the UK. So much so that I got turned down once before and so has some of my friends, on the basis that we had too many holidays over 5 years. The funny thing is every time I phoned the Home Office to get a difinitive answer on the actual total number of days permitted, I never got the same answer. Answers varied from 90 days to 220 days.

I finally got my ILR yesterday and I thought I’d ask the lady to explain how she calculated my days. According to her the rule changes in July 2008 allows for 225 days absent from the UK over a 5 year period. This now EXCLUDES weekends and bankholidays! This ALSO excludes days you worked abroad, providing you have proof that these days were for work purposes.

UPDATE AUGUST 2009

See my latest post for the changes and stuff if you want to apply for citizenship.

PS. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KEEP A COPY OF ALL THESE DATES HANDY FOR THE NEXT STEP ONE YEAR LATER!! ALSO DON’T LET THEM TAKE YOUR CERTIFICATE FOR PASSING THE LIFE IN THE UK TEST - YOU WILL NEED THIS WHEN APPLYING FOR CITIZENSHIP - SEE LATER POSTS

I hope this helps someone out there! If you get it wrong it will cost you £950 every time! Ask me I know…..

DAYS OUTSIDE THE UK ILR - SOUTH AFRICANS - UK VISA