ILR and expired passports...

There've been a couple of posts recently re: ILR in an expired passport.  Seems that some of us have been told that it's okay to carry around the old passport (with the ILR in it) along with a new passport.  Others have been told that they must have the ILR transferred to their new passport when the old one expires (and pay to do so!).  I emailed the Home Office week before last asking about this (mostly because I'm cheap and don't want to have to pay at least £150/£250 every 10 years to have the ILR transferred!).  They said:

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you for your enquiry of 9th August 2004.

If you have a new passport and require the Home Office
to transfer indefinite leave to remain into that passport
you will need to obtain and submit an NTL (No Time Limit)
application form.

Application forms are available by calling 0870 241 0645
or from our web site on www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk.
All details and instructions are included with the form.


The Home Office now charges for applications:
£155 for a postal application or £250 for the Premium
Service in person at a Public Enquiry Office.

Alternatively you need not transfer the stamp from
 one passport to another you may just travel with both
 the old and the new passports.

Yours faithfully

Sophie Campbell
Managed Migration

If you intend to reply to this email please ensure
that you re-send all the information from your
original enquiry.

So, according to Sophie, we have both options!  Just thought I'd clarify this in case anybody was wondering about it! 

I was told to travel with both passports and when I returned to the UK, the immigration officer can stamp my new passport with an indefinite leave to remain stamp. It will just be a rubber stamp not like the stamp, stamp ones we have now. I havent done it yet. I have a new passport with my idefinite leave stamp in it but when I get my sons new passports Ill have to get them stamped. This was a few years ago when I was told this by the way so Im not sure if its still the same but its worth asking.
Pebbles

Make this a sticky, since it's a question that will be around forever. Thanks for finding out about this! Since my passport expires next May, you just saved me some dosh.

My son travelled back into the UK after a year's absence with his old passport (with ILR) and his new passport.  I spoke with the HO too and they said it could be done, but it was best to have the stamp replaced.  Particularly with children.  My son's first passport was at age 10 and he is now 16, so the difference in look is quite significant.

They also mention in your notice (letter) of ILR that you can carry the notice as proof.  I'd never rely on that solely, but it could prove a handy addition in case you get a grumpy IO.

The only risk here is that if we lose the letter, we're obliged to inform the government, since it's considered a key document. (or at least that's what the Home Office told me, and I think is even written on that sheet). If we lose an out of date passport, we just need to pony up the extra money.

The only risk here is that if we lose the letter, we're obliged to inform the government, since it's considered a key document. (or at least that's what the Home Office told me, and I think is even written on that sheet). If we lose an out of date passport, we just need to pony up the extra money.

Would carrying a copy be OK?

On one hand, I don't have the slightest idea of how an IO officer's mind (?) works. On the other, I don't think a copy would be accepted, since the sheet has an impressed sign to indicate that it's real. I don't know if you've seen one of these Squirrel, but it's hard to believe that it's an official document. It's just two single-sided A4 pages that are stapled together, an ink stamp, and a signed seal. It looks so ordinary, off-handedly produced, and easy to forge that it would be, imo, very easy to misplace or lose.

On one hand, I don't have the slightest idea of how an IO officer's mind (?) works. On the other, I don't think a copy would be accepted, since the sheet has an impressed sign to indicate that it's real. I don't know if you've seen one of these Squirrel, but it's hard to believe that it's an official document. It's just two single-sided A4 pages that are stapled together, an ink stamp, and a signed seal. It looks so ordinary, off-handedly produced, and easy to forge that it would be, imo, very easy to misplace or lose.

Yes I've seen it, my husband has one. But the letter is really just to inform you of your rights in the UK, the actual ILR stamp itself in the passport is pretty hard to forge.

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=5824.0

If you do have to pay it's not so bad every 10 years. Pretty much the same as a greencard has to be renewed every 10 years (don't know if they charge for that but I expect so).

But the letter is really just to inform you of your rights in the UK,

Respectfully, that's not correct. The letter has the same status as the ILR stamp. If our passports were lost, the letter is the second official part of the ILR. And if it gets misplaced, then the Home Office has to be informed, since with a letter one can get another stamp in liue of the old one.

whooops wrong thread!

Rosie