legalising my stay as an overstayer

[sak1222]

In need of some urgent immigration advice, I’ve been researching for quite a while now without any real solution so really hoping someone on here could help! I’ll start with explaining my immigration history:

I came to the UK in 2012 on a tier 4 visa which was initially valid for 4 years. I had to resit some modules in the 1st two years and as a result, my expected graduation date got extended to 2018. however in july 2015,before I had got the chance to submit my application for a visa extension I received a letter from my sponsoring university saying that i’m required to withdraw. i tried to appeal to them through extenuating circumstances at the end of summer that year however I wasn’t able to speak to any of the student support team. I started applying to other unis to finish my degree while i still had time on my visa.

I lost all hope and considered leaving everything and going to my parents but that itself had its own complications. My home town was in U.A.E (that’s where I was born and lived all my life) but I had a Pakistani passport (Never lived there). My family had relocated to another country (different from either of them) since I had come to the UK and on top of that my father ddn’t want anything to do with me at the time. My girlfriend at the time thought it would be best for us to move in together.

Fast forward towards the end of 2017, I finally managed to get myself onto a part time course which was related to my previous studies and when it occurred to me that I’m now considered an overstayer and desperately need to legalise my stay, and in order to do that I need to go back to my home country to apply for one.

Time passed, and now mid-2018. I still don’t know how to legalise my stay. I’ve been with my partner for over 2 years and have been living together for majority of that time. We’re in a genuine relationship and want to get married but know that if we go to the registrar to register our marriage, I might get detained. I don’t want to go through the 10 year private life route as I know i won’t be able to cope with living under a blanket for 4 more years. plus I don’t want it to jeopardise my studies/career any more than it already has.

My question is: What options do I have for me to legalise my stay in the UK as i’ve been living here for quite a while? could I make an application based on unmarried partner living together? or if I wanted to depart voluntarily with my partner to another country and get married, would I be able to return to the UK ever or will I face a travel ban? ( I still need to finish my course and I know that it could hinder me from travelling to other countries too). Could I exercise any human rights to legalise my stay? (I’ve read a bit about article 8,12,14 but don’t exactly understand them) and finally if all else fails and I decide to pack up and leave, will I be able to go to any other country based on my overstay in the UK?

Any advice/help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[secret.simon]

I don’t want to go through the 10 year private life route as I know i won’t be able to cope with living under a blanket for 4 more years.

Whichever route you look at, you will be atleast five years away from ILR and at least ten years away from British citizenship from the day you regularise your stay. Your previous time in the UK will not count and your (lawful) residence clock is reset to zero because you are currently an overstayer.

I’ve been with my partner for over 2 years and have been living together for majority of that time.

Do you have proof of living in a relationship akin to marriage (shared bills, shared bank accounts, shared mortgages, etc)?

What are the nationalities of your girlfriend?

[sak1222]

Hi secret.Simon, Thanks for your reply.

I've always tried to keep our bills and posts so I should have them somewhere, however i'll need to go through them to see how far back they date to. Unfortunately we don't have a joint account or mortgage together. what else could be used as proof? and would it be possible to get statements from the landlords stating how long we occupied their properties for?

My girlfriend is a UK national, was born and lived in England all her life. It's a shame that my previous stay in the UK won't count/ has been reset to zero but if I have hope of regularising my stay at least I can travel to places, work and have a job, study without having a lot of burden, get a license / have a normal life rather than feel like all the doors are closed to me for being born foreign.

[secret.simon]

I've always tried to keep our bills and posts so I should have them somewhere, however i'll need to go through them to see how far back they date to. Unfortunately we don't have a joint account or mortgage together. what else could be used as proof? and would it be possible to get statements from the landlords stating how long we occupied their properties for?

The point is not merely proving that you live together. Flatmates live together and that does not give them any rights over each other.

The point is to prove that you have lived in a relationship akin to marriage; i.e. joint financial commitments.

all the doors are closed to me for being born foreign.

Doors are not closed to you for being born foreign. I daresay that most of us on these forums are born foreign. It is the lack of a legal residence status that causes hinderance, not where you are born.

[sak1222]

Well we don't just simply live together. we're in a genuine relationship and have loads and loads of evidence to prove our relationship. we've been engaged to each other and we both proposed to each other ages ago! The only thing that's stopped us from getting married yet is the fear of me being arrested on the day of marriage at a civil ceremony! we do everything in life together and can prove financial commitments such as paying rent, doing shopping etc through our bank statements if that's the sort of financial requirements you're talking about. but when it come to having a joint bank account? no, we never felt the need to have one (even though she said lets go open a joint bank account once and I might get one in the future) however we've both got bank accounts so she can use mine whenever she wants and i have permission to use hers if needed. if it helps, I was a named driver on her car insurance policy for about a year while i was learning to drive (I could prove financial commitment there as we used to split the costs of insurance). same could go for her mobile phone insurance and road tax as they're set up as direct debits on my account. It's just a matter of I pay for certain things and she pays for others.

It does actually feel like doors are closed to me for being born foreign. I've got a good social circle here and a lot of my friends have access to things I don't (understandably). I went to an international school in Dubai and have had friends who are british since childhood. A lot of people on this forum are going through the same struggles that expacts face due to the the harsh and dearly beloved visa rules of the HO which operates more like a money based business i feel.Not saying that immigration procedures are different in other parts of the world and I understand that rules have gotten stricter in the recent years due to so and so policies of the government, It's unfortunate that I fell behind in keeping up with life for a bit due to certain circumstances and I let my visa run out without doing anything but I want to amend it and I believe in a world without borders (though too idealistic) and unless scientists discover another planet that humans can live on, I need a place to live my life without restrictions to basic needs on this planet.

Now before you say, why don't you go back to pakistan where my passport is from. 1.i've never really lived there and will most likely go through a culture shock to adjust there. 2. My family is muslim and they don't agree with the fact that i've got a girlfriend who i've been living with and am about to have a baby out of wedlock. 3. My immediate family doesn't live there. That being said, Article 12 guarantees the right to marry to men and women of marriageable age and the right to found a family, according to UK laws. So why can't I do that without getting deported?

I've got a life going over here, I'm currently studying towards a qualification that will help me get a graduate job and I never know, I might relocate to another country with the other half if I don't want to live here for 5/10 more years. but in the meanwhile going back to my initial question, How do I regularise my stay in the Uk and If I can't go through the unmarried partner route due to not having a joint bank account then how do we get married? and if it doesn't seem plausible, would I be able to go to an EU country with my current overstay status.

[ouflak1]

It does actually feel like doors are closed to me for being born foreign.

You're on an immigration forum. The vast majority of us here are foreign born and yet have managed to navigate the rules successfully and legally. If you want to try and play that card with the UK government, especially in today's environment, I think you're going to quickly find yourself up against a wall and in a place with very little sympathy. Best to stick with your immigration status and a way to move forward with your current circumstances.

I think you might have a shot proving the two year relationship, but you will have to gather every scrap and documentation and evidence, organize it, and make sure represents a relationship akin to marriage and not just two people living together. You say you're engaged. Prove it. If you don't feel confident enough here, go for marriage present this same evidence. I believe it will be strong enough from what you've briefly described, and usually the UK will give the benefit of the doubt for sufficiently long lasting relationship and sufficient evidence.

Article 12 guarantees the right to marry to men and women of marriageable age and the right to found a family, according to UK laws. So why can't I do that without getting deported?

You have the right to marry, but that does not likewise confer to live whereever you want. Nor does marriage excuse you, or anybody else (including legal residents and British citizens) from following the laws of the United Kingdom.

I'm currently studying towards a qualification that will help me get a graduate job...

How are you doing this without a visa?

[sak1222]

It's an online course i'm studying so it didn't have anything to do with my visa, i was fed up of not doing anything after having such a proactive time in university and felt brain dead so i've made it my goal to graduate and its only for the better.

I've had a look though our paperwork and I've only got bills dating back to little bit more than a year! can't find anything before that, think my partner threw them away during a move so I'm not feeling very confident there.

[sak1222]

Further to this post, and considering that it seems best for me to just return to my family and deal with the consequences of whatever I have ahead for me. Can someone give a me an idea of how I can voluntarily return and what will happen from there on?

from what I have read, it seems like I may be subject to a re-entry ban of 1, 2 , or 5 years. It's also mentioned that I may have to explain my reason of overstaying for so long, could that be in the form of a cover letter and what will I have to include in there?

Does that travel ban only apply to the UK or other countries around the world too?

[GMacNab]

Can someone give a me an idea of how I can voluntarily return and what will happen from there on?

The Voluntary Return Service are usually helpful. The link below details who is eligible and how to contact them.

Get help to return home if you’re a migrant in the UK