Citizenship and 10 years legal stay after entering illegally

kloklo · Post by **kloklo** » Thu Sep 10, 2020 1:03 am

HI all
before i start i would like to apologies if i am posting my enquiry on the wrong thread post as i just registered and trying to find out how things works here.
i am about to apply for citizenship and would like to ask if there is a 10 years law or if it still exist as last time i checked there was an article states that if you entered the country illegally you should have lived in uk for 10 years lawfully since you had your status legalised or since your first contact with the home office and count 10 years from it.
i entered uk illegally in 2003 never had any contact with home office at all my first contact with home office was in 2010 when i applied for certificate of application to get married in uk that was granted in september 2010 then i got married in december 2010 then applied for residence card, granted in august 2011 lived as normal until i again applied for permanent residence granted in 2018 ( but in between i had to appeal as my first application for permanent residence was refused ).
now my question is if i can apply for BC as since my first contact with home office up until now 10 years have passed if counting as home office paragraph states.
Please advise
Kind regards

please accept my apology if my post is not on the right discussion thread.

Zerubbabel · Post by **Zerubbabel** » Thu Sep 10, 2020 7:11 am

granted in august 2011

Hello

I would wait August 2021 to apply to be fully on the safe side.

But if you feel it, you can also apply now.

They use a "Good Character" test and that requires that the applicant didn't breach immigration law in the UK during the last 10 years. This is not explicitly defined by law but they seem keen on it. There are cases were people managed to get the citizenship despite being illegal at one point during the last 10 years. So sometimes the Home Office seem to show some leniency on that but you can't be sure until you apply.

In case of refusal, you lose the application fee. So if money is a factor, you may want to think twice before risking it.

kloklo · Post by **kloklo** » Thu Sep 10, 2020 1:25 pm

Hi
I thank you for taking time on replying to my post
I will gather all the papers and proofs I have as I think the 10 years lawfull stay before applying starts from the day you entered the uk or the first day you came in direct contact with home office as I said on my post my first contact was in august 2010 as I have the correspondence from home office and a case number too so I hope that will support my application in regard to god character.
Any other suggestion and advise from members will be appreciated.
Ki d regards

kloklo · Post by **kloklo** » Thu Sep 10, 2020 8:45 pm

kloklo wrote: ↑
Thu Sep 10, 2020 1:25 pm
Hi
I thank you for taking time on replying to my post
I will gather all the papers and proofs I have as I think the 10 years lawfull stay before applying starts from the day you entered the uk or the first day you came in direct contact with home office as I said on my post my first contact was in august 2010 as I have the correspondence from home office and a case number too so I hope that will support my application in regard to good character.
Any other suggestion and advise from members will be appreciated.
Ki d regards

Zerubbabel · Post by **Zerubbabel** » Sat Sep 12, 2020 8:58 am

kloklo wrote: ↑
Thu Sep 10, 2020 1:25 pm
Hi
I thank you for taking time on replying to my post
I will gather all the papers and proofs I have as I think the 10 years lawfull stay before applying starts from the day you entered the uk or the first day you came in direct contact with home office as I said on my post my first contact was in august 2010 as I have the correspondence from home office and a case number too so I hope that will support my application in regard to god character.
Any other suggestion and advise from members will be appreciated.
Ki d regards

The first contact with the Home Office doesn't make your stay legal from that point.

Imagine someone with the following history:
- entering illegally in the UK in 2007
- then making first contact with the Home Office in 2012
- getting a residence card in 2015

So that person is legal since 2015 not since 2012. If we look back 10 years (since 2010) that person was illegal for 5 years.

kloklo · Post by **kloklo** » Sat Sep 12, 2020 11:01 pm

Hi
thank you again for your reply
from your point as the example you have given there is a gap between 2012 to 2015 so you have to justify your status between 2012 to 2015 then of course the legal stay starts from 2015 since the time residence card ben issued , but as i explained in my case there was no gap since the first contact in 2010 until 2018 when i got permanent residence once my certificate of approval for marriage was granted in 2010 my case kind of started with the home office as i said before and have a case number,so if they apply 10 years lawful stay that was mentioned in a paragraph homeoffice.gov they stated that the 10 years starts from the days you entered the uk or the first contact with home office in regard of the gap in between.so if there is continuous 10 years, i believe with no gap they may take that in consideration but in other way they did not give more clarification than that, so it can be 50/50 chance.
i will do some checks further and see , i thank you again for your time and if there is anything you know and wanting to share please let us know i will appreciate.
Kind regards

Zerubbabel · Post by **Zerubbabel** » Sun Sep 13, 2020 10:18 am

Your legal stay starts when you get your first residence in the UK. Provided, it's not broken later, you need to accumulate 10 years of lawful residence before applying for citizenship.

The date when you made yourself known to the Home Office doesn't start the clock for your lawful residence.

vinny · Post by **vinny** » Sun Sep 13, 2020 11:41 am

See also Naturalisation as a British citizen by discretion: nationality policy guidance > Discretion to waive immigration breaches.

hikz · Post by **hikz** » Mon Sep 14, 2020 3:40 am

Zerubbabel wrote: ↑
Sun Sep 13, 2020 10:18 am
Your legal stay starts when you get your first residence in the UK. Provided, it's not broken later, you need to accumulate 10 years of lawful residence before applying for citizenship.

The date when you made yourself known to the Home Office doesn't start the clock for your lawful residence.

I was under the impression that your first contact with the HO after you being under the radar either entering illegally or overstaying is the time where your 10 years period start. I entered legally in 2008, overstayed for a few months then was taken at home by immigration in the beginning of 2010. I claimed Asylum, was refused then was granted it at court in January 2011. Was I not legally residing here when I was an Asylum seeker especially that I was signing at an immigration centre without missing out on any appointments? I am actually confused now.

vinny · Post by **vinny** » Mon Sep 14, 2020 4:10 am

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Citizenship and 10 years legal stay after entering illegally

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