Query about discretionary leave vs settlement

Hi there

I was wondering if I could get some advice for a friend of mine?

She is an Australian citizen who originally came to the UK in June 2004 on a working holiday visa. In May 2006, she left the UK briefly and returned on a 6-month tourist visa. In October 2006, she left again, this time returning as the dependant of a fellow Aussie with an ancestry visa (term of 5 years). In May 2009 she visited Australia again, returning in July 2009. She has never left the UK for more than 90 days in the last 14 years.

In October 2011, prior to the expiry of her dependency ancestry visa, she applied for a new visa on the basis that her Article 8 rights would not have been observed were she required to return to Australia (I am unclear on whether this constituted an application for asylum; I understand that you cannot apply for asylum from Australia, but she may have tried, she herself isn’t sure). In any event, her application was rejected but on appeal the court accepted that she had built a private life in the UK and she was awarded discretionary leave for a period of 3 years. Before this expired in 2015, she applied for a further award of DL (I believe this was an extension) and was awarded another three years. This expires in just over 12 days.

Nowadays her circumstances have changed quite a bit. She is single mother with twins. The children were born here, and the father (they were never married) holds a British passport. Were money no object, she would ideally be applying now for ILR on the basis of having spent 10 years in the UK. However, she is in an invidious financial position (in receipt of Universal Credit) and the application is very expensive, with no possibility of a fee waiver.

What are her options? If she cannot afford the settlement application fee, what pitfalls should she have in mind when submitting a further application for DL? Are there any other avenues available to her? What is likely to happen in respect of her benefits / further applications if she were to put in an application for DL that gets rejected?

Looking forward to any advice that you might be able to give. This includes any agencies that may be able to help her (but she can’t really pay, so it would have to be voluntary sector assistance).

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.