Child refugee illegal entry naturalisation - Good character

[imnewhere]

Please i need your advise on this.
I entered the UK in 2007 as an unaccompanied minor and claimed asylum thesame day at the home office. My asylum application was refused but i was granted Discretional leave to remain as a minor. i applied within the deadline to extend my discretional leave to remain which was refused and I appealed against the asylum decision. I was granted refugee status in 2009 and then Indefinite leave in 2015. During the entire asylum process, I never breached an immigration law and all appeals were lodged within the deadlines. I have all the documentary evidence to this effect.

I have seen online that a lot of refugees are rejected citizenship because of the good character requirement and I was wondering if this going to affect me? thanks for your help.

[ouflak1]

Please i need your advise on this.
I entered the UK in 2007 as an unaccompanied minor and claimed asylum thesame day at the home office. My asylum application was refused but i was granted Discretional leave to remain as a minor. i applied within the deadline to extend my discretional leave to remain which was refused and I appealed against the asylum decision. I was granted refugee status in 2009 and then Indefinite leave in 2015. During the entire asylum process, I never breached an immigration law and all appeals were lodged within the deadlines. I have all the documentary evidence to this effect.

I have seen online that a lot of refugees are rejected citizenship because of the good character requirement and I was wondering if this going to affect me? thanks for your help.

Discretionary leave is different from asylum. As such, one cannot retroactively include the time previous to the grant of leave as legal stay like you sometimes can do with asylum. Note that even if the Home Office decides that *now* you have a valid claim to asylum (such as your country recently falling into civil war), that doesn't mean that their decision to not grant asylum previously was wrong (if your country was peaceful and stable at the time of the initial claim).

I'm curious when you say you 'appealed against the asylum decision'. Need a time line here:
1. When was your initial asylum claim refused?
2. When were you granted Discretionary Leave to Remain?
3. When did you apply for the extension?
4. When did you make this appeal and what exactly was the appeal against? Was it against the DLR extension refusal? Or did you somehow try to lodge an appeal against the initial asylum refusal from when you entered the country?

[imnewhere]

Hi,
Thanks for your reply. I think you misunderstood my question.
1. I came to the UK as an unaccompanied minor
2. I was given discreational leave to remain at the time as a child
3. My asylum claim was rejected but I continued to have leave- discreational leave until I turned 18
4. I appealed my asylum decision and the home office granted me refugee status
5. Before my refugee status (5 YERARS LEAVE) expired, i applied for settlement and I was given Indefinite leave to remain (Settlement).
6. Now, my questions:
I have seen in the forum that some refugees have been rejected naturalisation because of the good character requirement - the reason being the fact that they entered the UK illegally.

I am about to make an application for citizenship as I satisfied all the requirements and have had my settlement for over a year but wanted to find out if my application will be rejected because I entered illegally as a minor. I claimed asylum the day i entered the UK.

Therefore, will be naturalisation application be rejected?

Please let me know if you need further information.

[ouflak1]

The parts that are confusing me are where you said:

...I applied within the deadline to extend my discretionary leave to remain ....

and also say

4. I appealed my asylum decision and the home office granted me refugee status

It is possible you could have done both I suppose. It's just very unusual and I just want to be clear on whether you were granted an extension on discretionary leave or whether you granted asylum based on your appeal of the original claim.

If you were eventually granted asylum based on your original claim, then you should be ok to apply for citizenship (although I would like some more knowledgeable to speak up on that, and there may be some complications depending on how you entered the country). That validation or your original claim that you made on entry into the country should suffice to completely legitimize your stay. I'm not an asylum expert, but I do believe I have seen some similar cases proceed successfully (though after an appeal). Maybe a moderator will chirp in here. Good luck.

[imnewhere]

Thank you for your reply. I was then granted asylum based on my original claim ( not extension of my discretionary leave). I was granted the full refugee status.

I will be grateful if a moderator can help - I entered at the airport with documentation that wasnt mine but was then taken to the home office by the person I travelled straight away- so my illegal entry as a child was beyond my control... I will appreciate any advise from a moderator whether it is worth making the naturalisation application and what my chances of success are given the GOOD CHARACTER requirement.

thanks.

[Obie]

It seems to me that the post is clear.

1. OP entered as unaccompanied minor.

2. Claimed asylum immediately , was refused but granted discretionary leave .

3. Applied for extension before discretionary leave expired.

4. Home office refused with a right of Appeal.

5. Appeal won and refugee status granted.

I am of the view that you do not fall foul of the citizenship character requirement.

[imnewhere]

It seems to me that the post is clear.

1. OP entered as unaccompanied minor.

2. Claimed asylum immediately , was refused but granted discretionary leave .

3. Applied for extension before discretionary leave expired.

4. Home office refused with a right of Appeal.

5. Appeal won and refugee status granted.

I am of the view that you do not fall foul of the citizenship character requirement.

Thanks Obie. Please can you explain the rationale of your view that I do not fall foul of the character requirement and have you encountered someone in a similar situation with success? Will it also be worth doing a good cover letter for the case owner in considering my application?

thanks again

[Obie]

A cover letter will help.

Reading the views expressed by the minister in parliament and taking into account the fact that you have been found by the court to be a genuine refugee, I believe you will be fine.

[imnewhere]

A cover letter will help.

Reading the views expressed by the minister in parliament and taking into account the fact that you have been found by the court to be a genuine refugee, I believe you will be fine.

I rang the solicitor who helped me with my Settlement application and she said that all cases are being refused as far as she is aware and she purports that success is based on the case handler's discretion.
However, she mentioned that she has done an application for a minor yet.

Has anyone had an approval recently?

[Obie]

Well the lawyer needs to do a bit more reading, and familiarise herself with the law, policy and the category of people the Minister stated that the policy will be applied to.

[ouflak1]

A cover letter will help.

Reading the views expressed by the minister in parliament and taking into account the fact that you have been found by the court to be a genuine refugee, I believe you will be fine.

I rang the solicitor who helped me with my Settlement application and she said that all cases are being refused as far as she is aware and she purports that success is based on the case handler's discretion.
However, she mentioned that she has done an application for a minor yet.

Has anyone had an approval recently?

These requirements are rather new and we're all, Home Office included, still trying to sort out the details and specifics of the implementation. I think that your solicitor might be concerned about the deception to gain entry. Some illegal stay will often be allowed and absorbed into the asylum leave, along with some stay in another category as in your case. But I just don't know how harsh they will be on the false documentation to gain entry. I'm not even sure the Home Office knows how they will handle that. Successfully claiming asylum allows for the forgiveness of some things. It doesn't necessarily forgive everything. I think you will be alright, especially considering how many people have made it in on the backs of lorries and successfully claimed asylum and gone on to become citizens. But the rules have changed. It may be that you will just have to try it and see what happens.

[imnewhere]

Thank you both for your help
Have you heard of any illegal entry successful naturalisation application cases following the minister comments?

[CR001]

For info from same OP.

http://www.immigrationboards.com/britis ... 05888.html

[imnewhere]

Hi all, please i need your advise urgently, i was overpaid benefit in 2009-10 - because I was working what i thought was under 16 hours needed not to inform the job centre - i was interviewed by the benefit fraud unit and was not charged with an offence but was instead asked to repay the amount overpaid. I have been making these payments - £5 every month for over 3 years now.

Do you think it will affect me in terms of good character requirement? do i need to declare this? it is not an offence and not sure if it is under my record as i was not charged and it wasnt delibrate.
thanks

[imnewhere]

Please senior members,
I applied for naturalisation and I am getting worried whether I need to send a letter to the home office declaring the benefit overpayment back in 2011. I have read the policy of dishonesty in relation to public funds. I have been paying minimal payments to the job centre for over 4 years now.
I remember during the time, the investigator told me to accept to pay the overpayment as I argued it wasn't deliberate. He told me I should not risk going to court as I didn't succeed in court , would have resulted in a criminal record which won't be good for me.
Right now , I have been working ever since and paying over £600 a month in taxes.
Do you think I need to send a letter explaining this incident to the case worker regarding my application?

[johnch121]

If you new or not does not really matter in such you committed fraud, yes you should declare it better you do it than they find out where it could lead to more problems for you

[imnewhere]

The letter I have then from the job centre states " in the circumstances of your case, legislation allows me to offer you the opportunity to agree to pay an administrative penalty as an alternative to prosecution in respect of this overpayment, in the manner specified by the Secretary of State/ local authority . This administrative penalty notice is given to you by the local authority under section 115a of the social security administrative act 1992.

The administrative penalty only applies where it appears to the local authority that the making of the overpayment was attributed to an act or omission by you and that there are grounds for instituting proceedings for an offence relating to the overpayment".

I'm not entirely sure if I should wait for the home office to do conduct the search and I can address it if they raise it with me as I am currently making minimal payments or I should write a letter which I'm not sure would even get to the case owner detailing this issue. Thanks for your help

[AcrossBorders]

If it was before the application, maybe let them know. Since you've applied I would personally wait and if it raises any questions clarify it at that point. It could cause unnecessary confusion and delays if you send it now.

Relax and wait it out. Let us know how you get on.

[imnewhere]

Thanks I think I'm just going to wait and see what happens.

[imnewhere]

Hi, this might be a silly question but i have received my acknowledgement letter but without the biometric letter, should i be concern because i have checked all timelines on here, both letters seem to come thesame day. Are there in the same envelope or separate ? thanks

[CR001]

It is probably still on its way, just relax.