Overstay and citizenship application

[Zerubbabel]

Hello

My question is the following: when applying for British Citizenship, if the person was illegally in the country on overstay basis more than 7 years ago (within the 10 years), what are the risks of having the citizenship application refused?

Are we talking about risks of refusal or certain refusal (means no need to apply)?

Background:

- I am EEA / British
- Came to the UK around 2007 and met my wife the same year
- She was in the UK since early 2000. Her visa had expired for a while
- In 2008 we started living together and asked her to stop working. She was paid once in a blue moon, 60% of her miserable salary went into committing and she was always at risk of Home Office raids. I had a good salary so that illegal work was just a stupid risk and break of the law for nothing. So she stopped working in 2008 and I supported her.
- We got married in 2013 and she got an EEA national residence (family member) from within the UK
- In 2018, she got her permanent residence within the same route
- She has been working legally since 2013
- There is no instance of illegal work in the last 10 years
- During the last 10 years, she was obviously illegal between 2009 and 2013 when we sorted her immigration status out


Now, I am preparing her Citizenship application and really worried about that illegal presence in the country. Should we take the risk and go ahead with the application?

Should we add a letter explaining that I supported her during this time and she wasn't working? Or should we wait and respond to that only if asked.

They didn't make any difficulty last year when we applied for her permanent residence.

[CR001]

A letter from your supporting her at x time is likely irrelevant. She is likely to face a refusal for failing to meet the good character requirements until at least 2023, the 10 years anniversary of the date of you married, which is when her 'stay' became legal under the EEA regs.

If you apply now, HO could still ask how she supported herself since her last visa expires and by working illegally, even though more than 10 years ago, will still count against her under the good character requirements.

[Zerubbabel]

Thank you for that. Applying now, can open a can of worms.

I initially thought if they didn't ask when she applied for the permanent residence, this things are no longer relevant.

We can wait until 2023 so the application is more straightforward. But at the pace immigration law is changing, in 2023 she might not even be eligible to apply under some future and more complex regulations.

It's a balancing act really

I need to see the timeline and compare immigration histories to see if anyone managed to get the citizenship despite being illegal within 10 years.

[CR001]

I initially thought if they didn't ask when she applied for the permanent residence, this things are no longer relevant.

EU rule applications have absolutely nothing to do with the requirements to apply for citizenship which are UK nationality laws.

We can wait until 2023 so the application is more straightforward. But at the pace immigration law is changing, in 2023 she might not even be eligible to apply under some future and more complex regulations.

Don't confuse immigration rules, EEA rules and nationality laws. They are all separate and independent with completely different requirements. Nationality laws, which are much harder to change, do not change very often at all.

I need to see the timeline and compare immigration histories to see if anyone managed to get the citizenship despite being illegal within 10 years.

There have been very few and those are mostly asylum or refugee history migrants.

[Zerubbabel]

EU rule applications have absolutely nothing to do with the requirements to apply for citizenship which are UK nationality laws.

Thank you for that. It makes absolute sense now. The application will land in front of different people working in a different context and they will have to look to her immigration history.

Don't confuse immigration rules, EEA rules and nationality laws. They are all separate and independent with completely different requirements. Nationality laws, which are much harder to change, do not change very often at all.

Agreed. I was looking at it from the immigration perspective and seeing the law changing for the worst every few months, makes me nervous. But you are again right, it's not about immigration but about citizenship.

My wife is thinking of waiting until 2023 were she would have a full 10 years of clean immigration history. Then any overstay period will be out of these 10 years range.

Myself, I was thinking if it's just mater of risking the loss of £1300, it's not the end of the world. If the worst case scenario is receiving this infamous letter recommending to apply in 2023, it's fine but if there are other risks beyond that, I would then refrain totally and destroy the application I prepared for her. I don't want her to apply in 2023 with a history of citizenship application refusal behind her.

[London22]

EU rule applications have absolutely nothing to do with the requirements to apply for citizenship which are UK nationality laws.

Thank you for that. It makes absolute sense now. The application will land in front of different people working in a different context and they will have to look to her immigration history.

Don't confuse immigration rules, EEA rules and nationality laws. They are all separate and independent with completely different requirements. Nationality laws, which are much harder to change, do not change very often at all.

Agreed. I was looking at it from the immigration perspective and seeing the law changing for the worst every few months, makes me nervous. But you are again right, it's not about immigration but about citizenship.

My wife is thinking of waiting until 2023 were she would have a full 10 years of clean immigration history. Then any overstay period will be out of these 10 years range.

Myself, I was thinking if it's just mater of risking the loss of £1300, it's not the end of the world. If the worst case scenario is receiving this infamous letter recommending to apply in 2023, it's fine but if there are other risks beyond that, I would then refrain totally and destroy the application I prepared for her. I don't want her to apply in 2023 with a history of citizenship application refusal behind her.

Hello Mate
You should think ,search &gain more info before applying.UK immigration under this Govt.is just a nightmare for every migrant as constant changes in rules to trap migrants &making millions in increasing fees is the normalcy.There are many migrants in that situation specially many refugees.Good character requirement specially on overstayers is controversial &too harsh.

[Zerubbabel]

Hello Mate
You should think ,search &gain more info before applying.UK immigration under this Govt.is just a nightmare for every migrant as constant changes in rules to trap migrants &making millions in increasing fees is the normalcy.There are many migrants in that situation specially many refugees.Good character requirement specially on overstayers is controversial &too harsh.

Hey mate, thank you for your comment.

What I found strange is when reading the HO guidance, it says they check the immigration history within the qualifying period. Qualifying period is 3 or 5 years (British vs EEA husband) but still, they look back 10 years!

[London22]

Hello Mate
You should think ,search &gain more info before applying.UK immigration under this Govt.is just a nightmare for every migrant as constant changes in rules to trap migrants &making millions in increasing fees is the normalcy.There are many migrants in that situation specially many refugees.Good character requirement specially on overstayers is controversial &too harsh.

Hey mate, thank you for your comment.

What I found strange is when reading the HO guidance, it says they check the immigration history within the qualifying period. Qualifying period is 3 or 5 years (British vs EEA husband) but still, they look back 10 years!

Hello
I think you should avoid applying now &wait untill 2023 as it is highly likely you will be refused &lost fee which HO needs.As your partner isnt a refugee so having ILR is almost same like having BC as it is a big difference for refugees with ILR though &for those refugees waiting for more time is a chaos that HO wants to see the migrants in.