10 year Long Residence Question

My friend is considering to apply through Long Residence.

He came to the UK with parents on September 1999 but left on july 2000 and came back 6 months and 5 days later on a fresh visa therefore continuous residence has broken.

He came back on Jan 2001 and continuously renewed visas in time until July 2002.

This is where the problems start.

In June 2002 his parents made an application to LTR as a student SEPARATELY and my friend made an application also SEPARATELY although his application would have been successful, because his parent's application was rejected, he was also. This application was refused in July 2002 BEFORE the original visa was due to expire. This refusal was due to some documents missing. However the refused application was returned to the wrong address and as a result without their family knowing, they had began to overstay thinking their application was still being processed.

Eventually they tracked their application down and by then they were overstaying by around 2 months.

So, in october 2002 they made a new application which was granted in march 2003.

So it seems there is a gap of 2 months in the ten year period.

On the face of it, it looks like a straight forward rejection but if you consider it carefully, could he have a chance?

He was 8 when the issue in 2002 happened, he had no control over his immigration etc. The issue with the wrong address also caused problems. having read Chapter 18 - Long Residence

However he did spend his formulative years in the UK and he does have close links here, could the UKBA use discretion?

It does read: "It may be appropriate to use your judgement in cases where an applicant has submitted a single application more than 10 days out of time if there are extenuating reasons for this (e.g. postal strike, hospitalisation, administrative error on our part etc). This must be discussed with a Senior Caseworker."

His points of argument is that (1) he spent his formulative years here, (2) he has close ties here; (3) when he was 8 he had no control over his immigration and (4) the error with the address issue may have prevented this from happening.

therefore ideally, his 10 years in the uk would end in jan 2011.
I would love to hear what you all think, thank you.

I would be really grateful if anyone can help me out? Does he need a lawyer because it's quite complicated?

joh118 wrote:I would be really grateful if anyone can help me out? Does he need a lawyer because it's quite complicated?

As you already provided all 4 points are more valuable to argue in his case. Also attach evidence that he lived in different address when the refused application returned to another address. There is a great chance since he was minor when the issue occurred. Apply with the proper covering letter. This is just my suggestion, It is again upto the case worker who will be dealing this application.

That really depends on how confident he/his family is with current immigration rules to argue his case in writing,
since his case is slightly complicated,could be a good idea give it to a lawyer to deal with. Just to buy some assurance,
Best of luck thou!!!

thanks for your advice, I think he is going to arrange to meet a lawyer. IMHO I think he might just have a chance with a really good lawyer. tbh him overstaying was in no way his fault, he was eight!

anyway, if anyone else has any advice, please share!

much appriciated. thanks

just talked to him today. He was adament that he was NOT eligible, he was quite disappointed. He had lived more than half of his life in the UK and just cus of a silly mistake that his parents made, he cannot settle.

Anyway, I've persuaded him to go see a lawyer. should help.

any suggestions?

what is your friends current status and when does his leave expire

f2k wrote:what is your friends current status and when does his leave expire

I believe he is on a student visa at the moment due to expire on November 2011 but he has been on a dependant visa before.

joh118 wrote:

f2k wrote:what is your friends current status and when does his leave expire

I believe he is on a student visa at the moment due to expire on November 2011 but he has been on a dependant visa before.

what did the lawyer say???
Thanks