Emergency Student Visa Situation

That's fine.  Right up to the point when you have to make a claim and they check your status.   

No.  This is wrong.

A permanent resident is one who has no time limit on their visa.

If your visa has an expiration date, then you are not a permanent resident.

true, but I was talking about in the eyes of (most) travel insurances, they consider you pernament if you are on a visa (other then ILR) and before it expires, you will apply for ILR while remaining in the UK. Only if you  HAVE to return to your home country when your visa expires is when they wont offer the insurance

That's fine.  Right up to the point when you have to make a claim and they check your status.   

I've already made a claim and everything's been fine. 

true, but I was talking about in the eyes of (most) travel insurances, they consider you pernament if you are on a visa (other then ILR) and before it expires, you will apply for ILR while remaining in the UK. Only if you  HAVE to return to your home country when your visa expires is when they wont offer the insurance

Even better!

true, but I was talking about in the eyes of (most) travel insurances, they consider you pernament if you are on a visa (other then ILR) and before it expires, you will apply for ILR while remaining in the UK. Only if you  HAVE to return to your home country when your visa expires is when they wont offer the insurance

Now I understand.  The term you're looking for is "settled status".  One step short of ILR.

most insurance companies don't know anything about immigration,so I guess they use "permanent resident" because they don't know of any other term. I've had to explain to the people I work with including the bosses,so many times about what visa means what. Those people I work with think it means if you aren't a UK citizen then you aren't considered a permanent resident

Regarding the initial concern of the thread, the best strategy may be to transfer my emergency passport to a permanent passport, and explain that I didn't have time to transfer the visa into the permanent passport (which is true). But, this still delays the issue, because besides having to re-enter the UK in January, I will need to re-enter in March. Very frustrating.

But, this still delays the issue, because besides having to re-enter the UK in January, I will need to re-enter in March. Very frustrating.

Regarding the March trip,  you'll definitely have enough time to make an appointment at a PEO to get the new visa in your passport the same day if you wish (costs more £££ though), or even if you send in the NTLTOC form by post this month there's a decent chance that you'll get your passport back by March (although there's no guarantees on that.)

Right. But, spending 500 pounds is absurd (and basically unaffordable for me). The original via cost me approximately 100 pounds. FIVE times that to replace it? I can't even purchase a new one if I wanted to since I reside in the UK already.

Right. But, spending 500 pounds is absurd (and basically unaffordable for me). The original via cost me approximately 100 pounds. FIVE times that to replace it?

I'm right there with you- £500 is a heck of a lot of money for a student.  By post, though, it only costs £160, which is still a chunk of money, but much more doable.  The bottom line is that I don't think there is an absolutely ideal resolution for your situation...whichever way it's resolved you're going to have to change some of your circumstances, whether that means changing your travel plans or spending more money to replace your visa faster.

You can't always get what you want.

You have the following choices:

1)  delay the trip and send it all off by post.
2) delay your return and get it sorted from the US
3) pay the £500
4) call the IO at the airport and see if they will let you in again with the copy of the visa, and sort it when you get back IF YOU CAN.

Vicky

You can't always get what you want.

You have the following choices:

1)  delay the trip and send it all off by post.
2) delay your return and get it sorted from the US
3) pay the £500
4) call the IO at the airport and see if they will let you in again with the copy of the visa, and sort it when you get back IF YOU CAN.

Vicky

For my future reference, how do you sort something like that from the U.S.?

Apply for a new visa in this situation...I think that is less complicated and less expensive.

For a settlement visa thats lost it gets a bit trickier.  In a similar case with someone who had ILR and the Home Office had lost their passport, I got them ILE as a returning resident then got the HO to issue a refund.

Vicky

Thanks for all your help guys. What I'm considering now is applying back in the US for a new visa through a courier same-day-service. Even with the courier surcharge, it still costs way less than 500 pounds. The only issue is that I'm in the US for only 1 business day (a Friday), and I need to give my biometric information (due to new regulation) before handing over my application the courier service. Does anyone know how long this takes?

Thanks for all your help guys. What I'm considering now is applying back in the US for a new visa through a courier same-day-service. Even with the courier surcharge, it still costs way less than 500 pounds. The only issue is that I'm in the US for only 1 business day (a Friday), and I need to give my biometric information (due to new regulation) before handing over my application the courier service. Does anyone know how long this takes?

That's your sticking point, which was my concern when you said you only had 4 days in the US. If this had happened before biometrics came in, it would have been more than possible to sort everything in one business day, but depending on the appointment times of the biometrics center , the distance between the biometrics center and consulate and the times that the courier can take in the application to the consulate, it may well be logistically impossible to do biometrics and a courier application on the same day.  If you're going to try for a new visa in the US, I'd say prepare to have your trip extended for a few days if need be.