Paragraph 276B of the Immigration Rules provides that an applicant is entitled to Indefinite Leave to Remain (‘ILR’) in the UK if they can show ten years’ continuous lawful residence.
Previously, many Immigration Lawyers took the view that if an applicant had made successful applications for limited leave to remain, but was then refused before the expiry of the ten years qualifying period, they could simply make another application for limited leave to remain within the 14 days’ ‘grace’ period in paragraph 39E of the Immigration Rules and then, upon reaching 10 years, vary the limited leave application to an ILR application.
The above view was held to be wrong by the Upper Tribunal in R (on the application of Juned Ahmed) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (para 276B – ten years lawful residence) [2019] UKUT 00010 (IAC) and – in a slightly different context – the Court of Appeal in Masum Ahmed v SSHD [2019] EWCA Civ 1070.
The cases of Juned Ahmed and Masum Ahmed are a good reminder for immigration advisers that the Home Office will almost invariably contest any interpretation of the Immigration Rules that appears generous to immigration applicants.
If you need advice, help with your ILR application, or help with a Tribunal appeal or judicial review, contact our Immigration Barristers. We are based in London and Milton Keynes but can reach most parts of the UK to help clients.