Returning Residents | UK Residency| Settlement | Living in the UK
The UK Returning Resident Visa is also known as indefinite leave to remain (ILR) application and this is a process for the indefinite leave to remain to be re-instated, following a period of absence. Usually, less than 2 years absence will not revoke your ILR, as long as you intend to relocate and settle. However those with more than 2 years of absence will need to satisfy further requirements.
If you travel to the UK without being issued a returning residency visa, you may be allowed entry, depending on your personal circumstances. However you can be refused at the border and granted temporary leave, with a possible right to appeal against the decision. If there are no right to appeal generated or a right to do an administrative review, you will have the opportunity to challenge the decision through other legal remedies.
Taking advice on the UK Resident Visa
This provision allows someone who was a resident in the United Kingdom and who have left the UK and wants to come and live here permanently. A resident is someone who has been given permission to stay in the United Kingdom without time limit.
Those who have been absent less than 2 years, will have their application considered under paragraph 18 of the immigration rules. You will need to demonstrate that there is full intention to come and settle in the UK. Reasons of your absence may be asked but this does not need to be documented. There are still a risk of refusal depending on your periods of residency in the UK, previous immigration stay or if you have a criminal or civil conviction.
You don’t need a visa if you have your original documentation confirming your settled status and you’ve been away for less than 2 years. You may still need to apply for a visa if you’ve been asked to confirm you can travel to the UK, for example by the airline you’re travelling with. UK returning resident who wishes to return to the UK must plan to return to live in the UK permanently, have been settled in the UK before you last left and not have been given public funds to help you leave the UK.
Now moving to those who have been absent for more than 2 years from the UK, you will automatically lose your indefinite leave to remain stay and this is set out under Article 13 of the Immigration (Leave to Enter and Remain) Order 2000 (LTERO). Nonetheless, you can apply to have your indefinite leave to remain reinstated but this would depend on your circumstances. If this is refused, you may have a right to appeal against the decision.
Some of the grounds you will need to raise as part of your immigration application are as follows:
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Your strong family ties to the UK, including partner, children however this is not limited depending on your ties to the UK. Article 8 ECHR protects your right to family and private life, however Home Office has a right to interfere with that right if this is proportionate.
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You may have property ties or business ties to the UK, which may be considered by the Home Office.
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You may have lived in the UK majority of your life and can provide evidences to confirm this.
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Your current circumstances and why you’ve lived outside the UK. Evidences will be required.
You won’t lose your indefinite leave to remain after 2 years outside the UK if your spouse or partner is a member of the UK armed forces and you’ve joined them on an overseas posting. You also won’t lose it if your spouse or partner is a British citizen or settled in the UK and one of the following:
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A permanent member of the Diplomatic Service.
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A UK-based British Council employee who works outside the UK.
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A Department for International Development (DFID) employee.
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A Home Office employee.
How to apply for the UK Resident Visa
The visa application is applied online; this is whether you are in the UK or outside of the UK. Once you have completed your UK Resident Visa, you will be able to pay for the visa fees and book the visa appointment. As part of the submission, you will need to submit your legal representation and also the evidences to support your UK Resident application.
The decision on a settlement based application can take around 3 months however you can apply for a fast track service and pay the additional costs at the time of applying for your UK Resident Visa.
Refusal of your UK Resident Visa
Where you do not meet the requirements of paragraph 19 of the Immigration Rules, the Home Office can refuse your visa, however depending on what grounds you have raised, you may have an appeal rights under human rights grounds or right to complete an administrative review.
The decision letter will outline in detail the grounds of refusal. For example, if forged documents were used as supporting evidence for your immigration application in this category, the Home Office will refuse the application on both general grounds 320(7A): deception and failure to supply required documents for the specific category.
Taking legal advice on the UK Resident Visa
At ICS Legal, we will advise you on the correct process of applying under UK Resident Visa and support you throughout the visa application process.
You can speak to one of our UK Immigration Lawyers on the UK Resident Visa requirements by sending us an email on info@icslegal.com or you can call us on 0207 237 3388. We also have a free visa assessment form that you can complete.
Related FAQ's
Our speciality lies in the field of Immigration, Nationality and EU Law, so it means we always are dealing with this side of the law. We are able to support you in making a correct decision, avoid delays on your case, save money and time, not forgetting the stress of any doubts with your application.
There are many routes available to come to the UK, extend or switch, some of them do not allow extension or even switching. Knowing what is right can be a difficult task and this is why we are here. Simple task of not using the prescribed forms can mean your application is invalid, which means if you have no valid stay, you would have to return back and there is no appeal rights.
Our initial consultations are a chargeable service. We initially discuss the requirements of the application to ensure you meet the requirements and have the documentation required at hand for the submission. It gives you an opportunity to meet us and ask questions.
Each case will be checked thoroughly, everything will be cross referenced so guidelines are met and we will also add our legal document which would outline the Immigration Rules and how the client has satisfied the rules. We use documents that are used by Home Office case workers, so we know exactly what they would look for in your case.
The most important fact is that law constantly changes, policy guidelines and requirements are always changing, so it is best that you always use specialised services to support you. We never compromise our services, our fees remain very competitive but our expertise is at the very highest standard.
We place our clients first, so when you sign the customer care letter and we go through your case file, and we believe that the case would not be successful, we will terminate the agreement and return your documents. We will also provide alternative solutions with no added costs. We also have a cancellation period should you feel you want to withdraw your file.
Please note that all cases cannot be guaranteed as circumstances depends and whether you met guidelines, however the Home Office caseworker can still refuse cases on the balance of probabilities and other factors. Our job would be to prepare your case in the best possible way.
1) You contact us through e-mail or phone.
2) We take some basic information, we ask some relevant questions to understand the type of query and what type of support is required.
3) Your case then gets passed to a case worker.
4) Case Worker would contact you to set up an initial meeting.
5) You attend a consultation, an action plan is drawn up and we find out whether ICS Legal can support your case. A report would be sent where there is a requirement to outline what was discussed and what to do next.
6) You authorise us to be your legal representative by signing our customer care letter.
7) We will then start to request documents and information about your case this will build up your case pack.
8) We will then write our legal report and use Home Office caseworker’s documents to ensure everything has been checked and all requirement have been met.
9) Where possible we will go through every aspect of your case before case submission.
10) We will continue to update you throughout the case life cycle .