10 years residence with obstacles

[mau]

Hi, i have a query regarding my 10 yrs residence. I arrived in the UK in SeP 1994 on a student visa. All was going well until i had to resit some of my postgrad exams in 2001. My visa was initially rejected by the home office because they thought i wasn't a bona fide student due to the resits.

I used a solicitor to rebut their claims in summer 2001 and despite numerous letters to Croydon, haven't heard a thing since. I have since graduated from my course, my passport expired 2 years ago, and i am in legal limbo.

What can i do to rectify the situation? I'm no longer a student, i'm not working( true) i can't go on living like this.

[Chess]

Mau,

it is gonna be difficult to get out of this one. Make sure that your Solicitor did indeed send in an application to Croydon!!

Having established that, you should either use your MP or chase HO through your 'old' Solicitor.

Unfortunately the 10year rule may not apply as the Clock stopped in 2001

[Jeff Albright]

I used a solicitor to rebut their claims in summer 2001 and despite numerous letters to Croydon, haven't heard a thing since. I have since graduated from my course, my passport expired 2 years ago, and i am in legal limbo.

This bears some resemblance with my case.
It may be that your application had been lost or mishandled. And they treat you as an overstayer, hence the term is 14 years and not 10.
Do you have a copy of that application/letter/representation that went astray? Do you have an acknowledgement from the IND that it had been received?
If you have any of the above, you should first ask your MP to contact the MP Hotline in Lunar House. as advised above and then raise a complaint with the IND Complaints Unit, the information how to do that is given on the IND's website. Complaints are treated separately from immigration cases by the IND and one will not affect another in parallel. However, should the former is justified, the latter will receive a favourable accent.

Having sorted that out, you will know what happened to your old application. If it had been lost as a result of no fault of yours you should be given the right to regularise your status (for which you should have a clear picture what status you want in this country). If it had not been lost but is still in the process, you can ask to speed it up or resubmit a new application using the 10 year rule.

Best.

[mau]

Thanks Jeff Albright and Chess for your replies. I contacted my solicitor to check whether he has the relevant documentation today.
Hopefully this will be resolved quickly by the IND complaints department.

[Jeff Albright]

Good luck with this.
Please could you update us on the outcome?

Many thanks