I am a foreign national working in the UK under the Skilled Worker Visa. My Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) issued in Dec 2020 says the start date was 07 Dec 2020 (my actual work start date) (before which I was staying in the UK under the Student Visa) and end date 06 Dec 2023 but my BRP which was later issued says the date of issue was 06 Jan 2021 and valid until 20 Dec 2023. Both the start date and the end date do not match.
Question 1:
Was my working full-time between 07 Dec 2020 and 05 Jan 2021 in the UK legal?
Yes, because you were on a student visa at the time, which would have allowed you to work up to 20 hours per week during term time and full-time hours during the holidays and after the end of your studies.
As long as you submitted your application for the work visa before your student visa expired, your student immigration status (including your right to work) would have been automatically extended until your work visa was issued on 6th Jan 2021. And as long as the hours you were working between Dec 7th 2020 and Jan 5th 2021 complied with the employment rules of your student visa, it will have been legal work.
Question 2:
I am aware I can apply for the ILR up to 28 days before the 5-year continuous period is reached. Upon consulting solicitors I know that my 5-year period starts from 06 Jan 2021.
1. What is the exact end date of the 5-year period? Is it 06 Jan 2026 or 05 Jan 2026?
I would use 6th January 2026 - that's how we normally calculate it here on the forum.
2. So on the ’28 days’ before the end date, is it 09 Dec 2025 (if the end date is 06 Jan 2026) or 08 Dec 2025 (if the end date is 06 Jan 2026) or 08 Dec 2025 (if the end date is 05 Jan 2026) or 07 Dec 2025 (if the end date is 05 Jan 2026)
You can apply from 9th December 2025 (28 days before 6th Jan).
You don't want to apply on 8th December and then find that your ILR ends up being refused because you applied 1 day too early.
