KANLUNGAN

Calling all care workers with gaps in your visa!

When the government changed the work permit requirements for senior care workers in 2007-2008, many care workers lost their right to extend their visa. A campaign was launched by Kanlungan and other organisations against these changes and the Home Office responded by offering concessions to those who needed to extend their work visas.

However, some of you ended up having a “gap” in your visa. The gap is the period between the date when your first visa expired and your new visa (gained as a result of the concession) began. Recently, some of those who gained visa extensions through the concession have applied for indefinite leave to remain since they have worked in the UK for five years. However, we have heard that some of these have been refused because of the “gap” in their visa.

Kanlungan wants to support migrant workers who have lived in the UK for more than five years, but have not obtained indefinite leave to remain because of this visa gap. Kanlungan is ready to launch a legal challenge against this decision on your behalf. This legal challenge will argue that the decision to refuse your application for settlement on the basis of a gap in your visa is unfair because the gap was the result of changes in the regulations and not because you breach any immigration law.

The fact that the government offered a concession for carers who needed to extend their working visa is an admission that they made a mistake in the rule changes they made. It is therefore your right to be able to demand indefinite leave to remain on the basis that you have stayed in the country for five years.

If you want to demand your right to indefinite leave to remain on the basis of having stayed in the UK for five years, please contact us immediately. We need a certain number of these cases to be able to put the legal challenge on your behalf.

You need to be aware that waiting until you have more than five years residence will not compensate for the gap period, and delaying your application could mean you lose out on the opportunity to get ILR. The Borders, Immigration, and Citizenship Act 2009, which has now received Royal Assent, has removed the Indefinite Leave To Remain provision and replaced this with probationary citizenship which could mean up to another three years (on top of the previous five years requirement) to satisfy even more difficult requirements to gain citizenship.

The new law also states that if you have “gaps” in your visa or have not satisfied the citizenship requirements, you might be required to start another five years of temporary residency before they accept your application for probationary citizenship. The Borders, Immigration and Citizenship Act 2009 will be implemented in stages. There will be a limited transitional measures that will be put in place in relation to applications for ILR.

To obtain permanent settlement, you must ACT now! Fight for your right to indefinite leave to remain! Contact KANLUNGAN immediately!!!