In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.
- Benjamin Franklin.
ILR is ofcourse not a 'visa' nor a right.
It is a privileged
settled status for guests in this country to aspire to.
Similarly citizenship and even a first British passport are not rights but
privileges.
All privileges need to be earned (& can be removed).
Reaching one step of a ladder does not guarantee you will make it to the next one (let alone the rest of the way up).
Some members have been on their ILR journey for up to 10 years.
That is surely ample time to learn British culture and traditions, such as filing of
tax returns, paying taxes on time & etc.
High-powered and entrepreneurial businessmen (often with teams of professional advisors)
in any part of the world clearly need to understand the business and political climate they operate in.
How could anyone survive in business by any other way?!
Pleading ignorance and/or those who are
'innocents abroad' will simply get trampled underfoot by the competition.
Migrants and
tax avoidance/evasion are both current hot potatoes, how could anyone fail to grasp these political truths.
It is clear how the land lies in the prevailing geopolitical climate.
Also understand that HMRC and HO are two different government departments.
There is no guarantee of joined-up thinking or alignment between the two.
What may be acceptable to satisfy one set of legal requirements (say,
tax) may not be sufficient in another area (eg immigration).
I have discovered one sign of increasing maturity is when we stop blaming our parents for our misfortunes & the way life turns out.
(I include myself in this).
I am becoming more and more convinced that this probably applies in terms of blaming HMRC & HO for
tax and immigration misfortunes too.
In this case refusal was said to be due to caseworker's discretion based on serious grounds under 322(2) & 322(5).
These determinations are evidence-based and guidance states:
Standard of evidence
To refuse under paragraph 322(1A), 322(2) or 322(2A), you must have positive evidence to prove that the applicant has lied or submitted a false document. The burden of proof is balance of probabilities
Ref
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... __EXT_.pdf
- see page 8+
And regarding 322(5)
...guidance for caseworkers on how to consider when it is undesirable to let an applicant, applying for leave to remain, stay because of their character, behaviour or associations or they are a threat to national security.
...
This relates to general grounds for refusal under paragraph 322(5) of the rules.
The main types of cases you need to consider for refusal under paragraph 322(5) or referral to other teams are those that involve criminality ...
- ref linked doc (above); page 30+
