Fong-on Joshua Lau's response

Long residency applications can be quite complicated simply due to an applicant's long history in the country and the fact that the burden is on the applicant to prove he qualifies.

Without knowing more of your history, my opinion is that you have a particularly complicated case and one that is very likely to be refused by the Home Office at first instance and necessitating an appeal with no certainty of success.

In answer to your specific question, yes, continuity of residence appears to be broken in your case. Among other things, leaving the UK when having no current leave to enter/remain breaks continuity.

Furthermore, there are other significant issues that the Home Office will take into account when considering long residency applications. They must consider all the circumstances in the round to make a reasonable and balanced decision but certain factors will weigh against you. How much it weighs against you will depend on context and the overall circumstances in the round, including human rights considerations.

For instance, a person's conduct and criminal as well as immigration history will be considered. In your case, you have not said what your nationality is, what your spouse's nationality is, what immigration status you held when you first left the UK and how you left the UK. Subsequent to that, you say you entered under visit visas and stayed for a whole year with just an absence of 3 weeks abroad inbetween.

Based on this, it would appear that there are issues to be explored. Broadly speaking, it would appear that there is a possibility that you may be treated as having gained entry by deception because you obtained visit visas when it was not your intention to be a visitor but to stay with your partner. You then overstayed your 6 month visit visa and departed from the UK as an overstayer. In gaining re-entry to the UK, it would appear that you may not have made full and frank disclosure in your visa application, because if you had informed them that you had overstayed previously, which you are legally required to do if true, then there is good chance that you would have been refused entry. Active long term evasion of immigration control and repeated deception in full knowledge of what you are doing are factors that count heavily against you.

Moreover, acts of dishonesty and deception are particularly relevant in nationality applications and if there is evidence of this then British nationality is unlikley to be awarded.

Also, you have not indicated where and how you married your spouse. If in the UK then you would have needed a Certificate of Approval to register a marriage. There are therefore issues to be explored over this issue as well.

In your situation, your best course of action may well be to apply for an EEA residence card, if you have not already done so, assuming that you and your spouse meet the relevant criteria.

If you do not currently have an EEA residence card or family permit or leave to enter/remain then the best advice is that you consult a good immigration solicitor for some specific advice as soon as possible to regularise your stay. Any prior irregularity must be explained in any future application you make.

Unfortunately, situations such as yours are not uncommon. This is why it is so important to seek legal advice from a good immigration solicitor at the earliest opportunity. A person often damages their immigration history without full awareness of the consequences of their actions, sometimes irreparably so.