Voluntary Departure & Re-Entry Ban

[gannicus91]

Hi guys,

Hope you are all well.

My question is would there be/is there a re-entry ban for people who left UK voluntarily at their own expense?

Just to give you guys a timeline and bit of an immigration history. Will try to keep it short and simple.

Immigration History:
1. Refused entry at the port Heathrow T3 in March 14, Detained but Released after a week as got lawyer involved and got temporary release; challenged the decision & appeal was allowed in April 14 and further 60 days leave was granted on the passport.

2. Applied for T4 Student PBS extension in July (before currently leave expired), unfortunately the college who issued CAS was shut down by HO hence the application was refused and also the decision of removal was made with the following options - right of appeal/one stop warning/fresh application/leave voluntarily immediately. Since my current leave had expired during that application process, i made a choice to leave voluntarily. The decision letter was issued on 09 Nov 14 and i left the country on 10th Dec 2014.

Now, am looking to apply for a re-entry clearance under a settlement category (spouse) in couple of months time and am concerned will my immigration history would have any impact on my settlement application? If any of you fine people could shed some light on this that would be great.

thank you.

[Casa]

Read through the guidance for Immigration Officers in the link below and in particular 320(7b).

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration ... or-refusal

If applying under Spouse settlement, 320(7b) shouldn't come into play unless you fall under 320(11) of the Immigration Rules. See the link below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... raph-32011

[gannicus91]

Thanks Casa for your reply.

Not sure if i interpreted 320(7b) correctly, i have never breached the UK immigration law neither am class as immigration offender. The result of me being overstayed for the period of 09-Nov-14 to 09-Dec-14 was the result of the decision of the Secretary of state, where i had right of appeal etc (mentioned in my first post). i decided to leave the country by involving a solicitor who liaised with HO and voluntary departure team to get my passport hence why it took 4 weeks. So not sure if 320(7b) applied to myself, but i have red on citizen advice bureau website that if you leave voluntarily at your own expense, you will be ban for re-entry for 1year.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/immig ... om-the-uk/

in regards to 320(11) i believe i don't fall under that category hence as you said 320(7b) won't come into play.

in the light of above is it fair to assume that, mentioning previous immigration history in the online settlement application is safe and application won't be refused on any of these grounds?

thank you casa.