Can someone apply for 20 year rule if been in prison?

Hi I do freelance interpreting and this post is on behalf of a client.
Situation is that my client has been here for nearly 20 years now as a over stayer and the person wants to apply for 20 year rule but the person has been in prison in UK before for about 6 months but got released and never reported back to whoever it was. So can this person application become successful? thank you

Time spent in prison will not be counted. But a person from prison can indeed apply

An application can be refused on grounds of suitability, depending what the offence was? Does the client have a partner or any children here?

Amber wrote:An application can be refused on grounds of suitability, depending what the offence was? Does the client have a partner or any children here?

Hi, well I think it was some kind of fraud and no children, I think the partner is over stayer as well. Would it make any difference if my client had a legal partner or children?

Yes, having a partner who was British, settled, a refugee or HP or a British child or a child here for 7 or more years could engage Article 8 of the convention and outweigh a suitability issue.

See Part 9 of the rules for suitability issues with leave to remain applications - https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... les-part-9

A 20 years residence could also outweigh public interest in refusing under Article 8, depending on whether the person has little or no ties with their home country.

Obie wrote:A 20 years residence could also outweigh public interest in refusing under Article 8, depending on whether the person has little or no ties with their home country.

Sorry but I dont really understand that sentence?

Well hw long he's gonna be in prison nw? if its more than 12 months den he would be deported automatically !

The person not in prison now, the person was in prison a few years ago but got released.

If the person has been in the UK for 20 or more years they may have a route to leave however it would depend on their criminality and its nature.

jammy101 wrote:The person not in prison now, the person was in prison a few years ago but got released.

If excluding the prison time he has lived here for 20 years, then that helps, but not the end of the matter.


In cases like this , it is difficult to see how the requirement of S-LTR 1.2-2.3 and 3.1 will be met.

Even Paragraph 399A makes life extremely hard for many people.


It may well be the case that in the end this person may not qualify for anything.