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Hi

I applied for naturlisation in Oct 2015, received letter in Feb telling me my case is exceptional and they need more time. Today received letter asking me weird information which they should have.

Here is background for my case

Claimed asylum in 2000 as my father's dependent.
Received ILR in 2008 under out of immigration rules

I just didnt bother applying for citizenship as i didn't have need for it. Now i did and received the attached reply. I sent them my Pakistani passport that had ILR endorsed on it. Can the caseworker not figure out my immigration history from ILR no?

Please advise

HO is right. If you didn't have leave between 2001 and 2008 then unfortunately you are not eligible for citizenship. You need 10 year clean history to apply for naturalisation.

but i was on asylum, going to HO every week to show them my face, stayed legal within their policies.

If i was illegal or didn't comply with immigration rules, why did they grant me ILR?

My Parents, brother, sisters all applied for citizenship in 2011 and got it without any issue. We all received ILR at the same time.

If they can grant ILR based on immigration history, why this strange issue now?

Gurus can correct me if I m wrong but my understanding is that Asylum wasn't a leave to remain.

Your legal stay only started from 2008 when you were granted ILR. During Asylum, you did comply with the rules but that doesn't count towards 10 year clean immigration history.

These new requirements were enforced recently by HO. This wasn't an issue in 2011 and that's why they got it without any issue.

So you mean, i will be entitled to apply for citizenship in 2018? They have sent me questionnaire to fill that asks the history from 2001-2008

where was i living and with who ( With family )
who was responsible for paying bills ( NASS )
who was paying utility bills ( NASS )
Where did i study

Im not sure what they are trying to establish from all this when they clearly should have all info on system.

Citizenship is different team and they may request this information to clarify things.

Answer all of these honestly but it's highly unlikely to get an approval before 2018

I feel sorry for you as you could have possessed a passport easily 6 years ago.

Form AN Says

To meet the residence requirements you should not have been in breach of immigration law during the residential qualifying period. You should have been here legally. In other words, you must have had the necessary permission under the immigration laws to be in the UK. You may be refused if you have been in breach of immigration laws during the residential qualifying period. This is especially relevant if you came to the UK as an asylum seeker and your application for refugee status and any appeals were refused during this period.

If you came to the UK as an asylum seeker and/or as an illegal entrant (e.g. you entered the UK clandestinely) you must have evidence that you were here legally during the residential qualifying period. You may be in breach of immigration laws during the residential qualifying period if you had exhausted all your appeal rights and had not left the country, even if you were subsequently given indefinite leave to remain as a concession. If you were not covered by temporary leave to remain during the whole residential qualifying period while appeals were under consideration, then your application will fail on breach of immigration conditions.

So does it mean while on Asylum, you technically don't have any leave?

Just because you were given indefinite leave to remain does not mean that we will automatically disregard the time you were in breach of immigration laws during the residential qualifying period. Any immigration offences will also be considered as part of the Good Character requirement. This includes immigration breaches in the 10 year period before you apply for naturalisation

I will ofcourse answer honestly as there is nothing much to say. I will be broken if they refuse

hamid84 wrote: Claimed asylum in 2000 as my father's dependent.
Received ILR in 2008 under out of immigration rules

While it is true that in some cases a person granted asylum will have their previous stay (from the time they entered the country to the time granted asylum) included into the asylum claim period, it looks like from your description that:

• * (1) That you were in the country for some amount of time before going for asylum.
  * (2) That you were never actually granted asylum
  * (3) That you were instead granted leave outside of the normal rules

I could be totally wrong about any of these points, and hence wasting my time here. But please feel free to correct any of these points with a full complete immigration timeline.

(1) Being in the country for any significant period of time makes it unlikely a successful asylum claim would have previous stay retroactively included. Such claims are always considered dubiously. So if your leave expired during time of that claim being decided or before, it would always be considered illegal stay.

(2) Since you weren't granted asylum, there is no chance for any retroactive inclusion of previous stay anyway. As far as I'm aware, asylum is the only type of leave where previous stay without leave can be retroactively included.

(3) Your grant of leave outside the normal immigration rules is the point that your stay became legal again. Ten years from that date you were granted that leave, you would be able to apply for citizenship under the recent rule changes.

hamid84 wrote:HO is gone strange

The sovereign nation of the United Kingdom may change and apply their rules for citizenship as they see fit.

If you were a minor when you received ILR, you might yet be naturalised, as there is a view that children should not be punished for the sins of their fathers. (I presume your father brought you to the UK.) In particular, the courts have recently ruled that children can't be refused registration as British just because their fathers are believed to be terrorists.

Possible related case - fyi:
http://www.immigrationboards.com/britis ... 05176.html

I think case worker has not established my stay history in the UK properly. My whole family claimed asylum, parents and siblings at the same time. Throughout the 8 years journey, we all face same circumstances e,g appeals refused, fresh claims and finally granted ILR october 2008 under legacy rules at that time.

They all then applied for citizenship, passed English test and succeeded in getting BC in 2009/2010 straight after 1 year of getting ILR.

I did not apply because it was too lazy or didn't find the need of it at that time.

Now my question is, why others managed to get everything so easily and i can't get now? Why should i complete 10 years when others were never asked for it?

I often hear ppl saying they applied for BC after 5 years. In my case, i have been here for 16 years and still struggling. Just bad luck or mishandled case?

As zahmed05 advised earlier "These new requirements were enforced recently by HO. This wasn't an issue in 2011 and that's why they got it without any issue." The 'good character' rule has made qualification much tougher.

Thanks for all inputs. I will just fill in the form they sent asking questions and see what happens.

hamid84 wrote:Thanks for all inputs. I will just fill in the form they sent asking questions and see what happens.

Hello,

I also had the same letter and filled out and gave all relevant details.
I got my ILR through 14 years long residency and I had to wait 5 years due to having a motoring offence.
Since I applied last year I had HO asking for where I worked, where I lived etc.
But as the previous posts suggests, HO is using this 10 year rule to stop people getting citizenship.

Like numerous others they are only counting from the day they gave ILR.
All I can say is brace yourself for rejection on your application. And the lawyers and solicitors are not doing much about it as they see it as a losing case, unless you have strong evidence.

Today i received letter telling me, my citizenship has been approved

Sent them everything 10 days ago, case worker spent a few hours on documents, approved on 27/03

Happy days

Congratulations!

Thank you Casa

Congratulation Hamid, you are lucky

My case as like you but they refuse me, i was not overstayer
During visit i clam asylum, was refuse in 2004. and no right for appeal. Return my passport too. Visa was still valid. but after my appeal application. i start signing too, till asylum case accepted in 2007. my uncle provide accommodation, all expenses. But home office refuse my application.

Did apply for reconsideration.

Hamid who is your lawyer plz.

hamid84 wrote:Thank you Casa

Congratulation Hamid, you are lucky

My case as like you but they refuse me, i was not overstayer
During visit i clam asylum, was refuse in 2004. and no right for appeal. Return my passport too. Visa was still valid. but after my appeal application. i start signing too, till asylum case accepted in 2007. my uncle provide accommodation, all expenses. But home office refuse my application.

Did apply for reconsideration.

Hamid who is your lawyer plz.

hamid84 wrote:Thank you Casa

I did this application myself. All those years NASS was providing me me everything and i was signing.

They might grant you in 2017. Not so long to go, good luck.

But in my case they refuse me, it was not over stay or legal status. i was in touch with H/O at all time, and i win my case in all ground.
H/O did Q, how i maintain my self.
If they accept your case, my case worker should be accept my application too. coz i'm not involving any kind of illegal works. its wrong decision.

see the attachment as follow:

hamid84 wrote:I did this application myself. All those years NASS was providing me me everything and i was signing.

They might grant you in 2017. Not so long to go, good luck.