Can I settle in London after 10 years living in the UK?
As top London immigration solicitors we are often asked the question, “can I settle in London after 10 years of living in the UK?”. That is a question about whether, if a person has been in the UK on a series of Immigration visas, there is ever a time that they can regularise their position and settle in the UK. Once their Immigration position is secured then they have the choice of settling long term wherever they want, whether it is in Wandsworth or Wimbledon or even outside of London.
How can OTS Solicitors help?
If you ask OTS Solicitors to sort out your Immigration status then you will be in safe hands. OTS Solicitors are specialist in Immigration law matters and recommended for Immigration law in the law directory, The Legal 500. OTS Solicitors have Law Society accredited solicitors status as trusted specialists in Immigration law.
For advice on applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain or to challenge the refusal of an application for Indefinite Leave to Remain please call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 to arrange an appointment to speak to one of our experienced London immigration solicitors.
Indefinite Leave to Remain
The best London immigration solicitors advise that if a person has been living legally in the UK for ten years or more then they can make an application to the Home Office for Indefinite Leave to Remain.
Confusingly you may also hear “Indefinite Leave to Remain” referred to as:
• permanent residence;
• Settlement;
• Long Residence.
What Indefinite Leave to Remain is not is:
• naturalisation;
• British Citizenship;
• Settled Status under the EU Settlement Scheme.
If you secure Indefinite Leave to Remain, you are not a British citizen and you do not have Settled Status. If you do want to become British, you can apply for naturalisation to become a British citizen. That is a separate application. The top London immigration solicitors advise that you will retain your original nationality or citizenship if you obtain Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK. What Indefinite Leave to Remain gives you is permission to stay in the UK without a visa time limit or significant Immigration control.
Applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain after ten years residence
A person who has been residing legally in the UK for ten years can apply to the Home Office for Indefinite Leave to Remain.
In order to qualify for Indefinite Leave to Remain an applicant has to have been “continuously resident” for ten years in the UK. The applicant can have been in the UK for those ten years on different types of Immigration visa or on a combination of different Immigration visas and categories.
The meaning of continuous residence and Indefinite Leave to Remain
For the purposes of an Indefinite Leave to Remain application, “continuous residence” means residence in the UK for a continuous or “unbroken period”.
Many applicants think that they are ruled out of applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain because of taking a family holiday abroad to Majorca or going to visit family in the Philippines. However, the best London immigration solicitors will tell you that for the purposes of an Indefinite Leave to Remain application there is some Home Office leeway in the definition of “continuous” or unbroken residence.
The Immigration Rules say that for the purposes of an application for Indefinite Leave to Remain, a period of continuous residence is not classed as broken provided that:
• The applicant is absent from the UK for six months or less at any one time; and
• The applicant has a visa granting limited leave to enter or remain upon their departure from the UK and return to the UK (in other words they are “lawful”).
Continuous residence is not quite as simple as the six-month rule. The best London immigration solicitors say that an applicant will not meet the continuous residence criteria if, for example:
• The applicant has spent more than 540 days in total outside the UK throughout the ten-year period of lawful residence in the UK. There are some exceptions but the top London immigration solicitors recommend that advice is taken before long trips out of the UK to check the future potential impact on an application for Indefinite Leave to Remain; or
• If the applicant has been convicted of a criminal offence and received a prison sentence; or
• Over the ten-year period, the applicant left the UK intending not to return (for example, a plan to return to live and work in the applicant’s home country. If the plans did not work out, resulting in the applicant returning to the UK within six months, this would be classed as breaching continuous residence as the applicant had no intention to return to the UK when he or she left the country).
Indefinite Leave to Remain application requirements
The best London immigration solicitors advise that in addition to complying with the rules on continuous residence an applicant for Indefinite Leave to Remain also has to:
• Pass the Life in the UK test;
• Pass the English language skills test.
Does an applicant for Indefinite Leave to Remain have to wait ten years?
When a top London Immigration solicitor tells an applicant for Indefinite Leave to Remain that they have to have ten years of lawful continuous residence before being able to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain, some rightly question the advice. That is because they will know or have heard of friends or acquaintances that have secured Indefinite Leave to Remain after only being in the UK for a period of five years.
The difference in whether you can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain after five or ten years in the UK comes down to the type of visa you entered the UK on and whether you have held a series of visas over your period of stay in the UK.
As a result of:
• The confusion over whether you have to live in the UK for five or ten years before applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain; and
• The complexity of the Immigration Rules on lawful residence and continuous residence,
the best London immigration solicitors always recommend that early legal advice be taken early so that you know you are on the right path to securing Indefinite Leave to Remain.
How can OTS Solicitors help?
OTS Solicitors are specialist firm of London based solicitors recommended for Immigration law in the law directory, The Legal 500. OTS Solicitors have Law Society accredited solicitors status as trusted specialists in Immigration law.