UK Visas and British Citizenship

You may have heard “Applying for a Settlement visa” or “Apply to settle in the UK”, or Priority fast-track service being offered for a “Settlement” category. What does it all mean?  If you are outside the UK, the term “Settlement visa”  does not refer to a permanent visa. It refers to a category that will lead to Settlement (permanent residency) in the UK, eventually, usually after 5 years. Examples: spouse or partner of a UK citizen. Visas like Skilled Worker are considered “temporary”, even the they also lead to Settlement after 5 years. Just how it works. So, if you are applying for an entry visa as a Partner and wish to choose the Priority service, you need to choose "Priority -  Settlement". If you are inside the UK, the term “Settlement” refers to Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR). It is a permanent residency status, hence the word “Settlement”. In fact, the most recent sections of the UK Immigration Rules do not even refer to ILR anymore, instead they say ‘Settlemen...

With all Biometric Residence Permits (BRP) expiring on 31.12.2024, what’s next? It doesn’t mean your actual status expires on that date. From 2025 all UK visas will be eVisas. It will be an electronic status from the Government system instead of physical cards or stamps.  If your BRP expires on 31.12.2024:  For now, you can share a code as usual, you can travel with the current BRP. The Home Office will contact you during 2024 and ask to create a UKVI account. This is a new-generation account, not what we used during your application. If you have already been contacted by the Home Office, please follow the instructions on it. Otherwise, please keep waiting for now. Understandably, the Home Office is doing this in stages, not everyone at the same time. You also subscribe for HO updates  here. If your current status is already “online”:  This would be under EU Settlement Scheme, for some Skilled Workers, Students, BNO and Graduate visa holders, but not for all. It’s wh...

Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) is supposed to represent permanent residency in the UK. However, it is not as permanent as it sounds. If you have ILR in the form of a settled status under EU Settlement Scheme, you can leave the UK for maximum 5 years without losing it. For Swiss citizens it is 4 years. For everyone else, ILR can be lost if you leave the UK for more than 2 years. The only truly permanent solution is British Citizenship! Then you can leave for as long as you wish.  Dual nationality: If you are concerned about dual nationality, the UK allows multiple  nationalities, so you need to check with the other country in question. You will lose your ILR status when you become British. What happens when all BRPs expire in 31.12.2024?  UK visas will be moving online from 2025, without physical cards or stamps. The process is being done gradually during 2024, it does not mean your status, limited or indefinite, expires on that date. You can read more her...

  The term of “continuous residence” mainly applies to applications for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in the UK. The last hurdle before qualifying doe British Citizenship. The qualifying period for ILR is 5 years in most cases. Can also be 10 years, such as for partners in the 10-year route or for ILR based on 10 years of Long Residence on various visas. In all cases, the residence must be “continuous”.  It usually means having one visa after another. If there is a gap, it has to be an acceptable gap! Such as you applied for a visa on time (before the old visa expired) and waited for your new visa while on Section 3C leave in the UK. This would maintain the continuity.    Consider a different example: applying on time, being refused a visa and re-applying within 14 days, as allowed by the Rules. This wouldn’t be counted as part of 5 or 10 years, but it would not break the continuous residence. Instead, you could count around it, such as needing 5 years and 14 days...

O ne of our most popular posts of all times:  child born in the UK, does he/she get British Citizenship?  Do they need Indefinite Leave?  A child born in the UK is not automatically British since the law was changed in 1983. Instead, their status is based on the parents’ status: – If a parent is British, a child is British by birth.  – If a parent has settled status (Indefinite Leave), a child is British by birth.  – If a parent is not settled but settles later, after the child’s birth, then a child can be registered as British. – A child born in the UK can also be registered as British after living for the first 10 years if his/her life here. Can apply for ILR after 7 years of living in the UK, even without a legal status.  If your child is British by birth, or can be registered as British,  they don’t need Indefinite Leave to Remain, so you don’t have to pay an expensive Government fee.  Even if you (the parent) have to apply for ILR yourse...

This post is about a popular category of applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) after living in the UK for 10 years. It is a settlement category, called Long Residence. It is often used by people who come to the UK as students (especially child students), then remain for work and eventually, qualify for ILR sooner in 10 years than waiting for 5 years as a worker or partner.    Main points:   1. Most visa categories can be counted (“combined”), but there is a limited number of exclusions, such as Visitor visas.    2. Can only be legal residency, either on a valid visa or waiting for a visa after applying on-time. Waiting can be inside or outside the UK, subject to applying on time (in U.K.) or coming back to the UK within 180 days. Also, while waiting for in-country appeal of a refused application that had been submitted on time.    3.  The visas don’t need to be one after another without breaks. You can leave on one Student visa and return ...

  Applying for your 1st UK visa or planning the next step? Initial visa, extension, settlement (Indefinite Leave) or maybe the time is coming for British Citizenship. Whether your next visa is coming soon or next year, it is never too soon to start planning! You can book a consultation with our lawyers now, over WhatsApp, Zoom or email:  https://www.1st4immigration.com/book-a-consultation/  As always, our advice fee £150 will be counted towards our professional fees for your case in the future.  1st 4Immigration  is one of the most experienced UK immigration law companies, OISC – accredited at the highest Level 3. We have been in business for over 15 years, our OISC reference is 200800152, in which 2008 stands for the year accreditation. Office: Tower 42, 25 Old Broad Street, London, EC2N 1HN.  www.1st4immigration.com