Just last night I found a post from last year (already locked, so I couldn't reply to it) with a situation nearly identical to that of my partner.
My partner came to the UK to flee prosecutions from his home country. He used an agency and entered England in October 2012 by air, transiting through 2 other European countries. He claimed asylum seeker at the airport, but refugee status was granted to him only at the beginning of 2015. He got his IRL in April 2020.
From what I understood from reading Good Character requirements and this forum, he should be penalized for 10 years for entering the UK illegally and not claiming asylum in the first country he got to.
Now, the person who posted his story on this forum last year entered the UK the same way in 2013, got refugee in 2015 and IRL in 2020, and was advised by users to apply for citizenship. Unfortunately, he never posted any updates.
----> The title of that post was: Good Character for Citizenship (Refugee)
I don't understand why would he not be penalized for 10 years? Is there something I'm missing? Also, I found that some people say that 10 years starts not when a person claimed asylum but from the date, he was actually granted refugee status. Can anybody clarify this for me, please?


We were hoping to apply for citizenship this coming November, as we are also preparing to buy our first property in England, and getting a mortgage without being on the electoral register is much more difficult

Thank you for any help guys!
