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We have been in the UK for 9 years, and have had ILR for over 3 years. We now want to apply for citizenship. However, when applying for ILR in 2015-16, we had a fairly traumatic time, as the Home Office was confused over the salary aspect of my husbands limited company and after 2 applications, administrative reviews and an extortionate amount of lawyers fees, they overturned their decision. Part of this time was spent in the UK with no current visa; however our lawyers ensured that we always had an application with the Home Office in the accepted grace period that they allowed.

We are concerned that this will play against us when we apply for citizenship. Has anyone experienced something similar and if so, provide some guidance? Thanks.

You will need to give us a detailed history of the date of applications, any relevant appeals, etc, for us to advise you further. Certain appeals would engage Section 3C leave, others won't and grace periods work differently at different times.

Here are our timelines:
Application for ILR: 25th September 2015 (Tier 1 (General) visa expiring on 15 Oct 2015)
Application for ILR refused: 23rd November 2015
Administrative review deadline would be 14 days (7th December 2015): Submitted 26th November 2015
Administrative review decision: 16th Dec 2015. Decision maintained

We then had 28 days pursuant to Section 3C to submit a new application.

New application submitted: 7th January 2016 (deadline would have been 13th January)
New application refused:3rd May 2016
Administrative review deadline would be 14 days (18th May 2016): Submitted 6th May, 2016
Administrative review decision: 24th May, 2016. Decision maintained

Lawyers applied to HO for a 7-day extension to submit further grounds as per Section 120, as we were planning to submit a pre-action protocol. This was granted.

Pre Action Protocol Letter: Submitted 6th June 2016
ILR Granted! 28th June 2016.

As you can see, our lawyers were very careful to ensure that we made an in-time application at every point during this very stressful process. Would welcome your thoughts. Thanks

LaserBurger1 wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 09, 2020 12:05 am

We then had 28 days pursuant to Section 3C to submit a new application.

That was your (or your lawyer's) mistake. Section 3C finished when the Administrative Review concluded. Therefore your leave expired on 16th December 2015.

LaserBurger1 wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 09, 2020 12:05 am

New application submitted: 7th January 2016

It is unclear what application was filed over here. However, if this application had been successful, then the overstay (from 16th December 2015 till the date of the successful grant of leave) would have been ignored for subsequent immigration (not citizenship) applications, under Rule 39E ofthe UK Immigration Rules (which only governs immigration i.e. upto ILR, not nationality/citizenship applications).

In your case, I would say that you were without leave (i.e. were an overstayer) between 16th December 2015 and 26th June 2016 (the grant of your ILR).

What were the specific reasons for the two refusals? If it was tax discrepancies, that can also be counted against your husband's good character.

In your case, it seems that the Home Office backed down and gave your family ILR. But that also means that there was no court judgment whether your husband's financial affairs and taxes were in order or not.

I would suggest applying for a detailed Subject Access Request on your husband and your immigration history, so that you have a complete understanding on how the Home Office interpreted your cases.

Hi, thanks for the info.

The application on the 7th January, 2016 was a fresh application for ILR following advice from our lawyers, which was again rejected and went through administrative review unsuccessfully, before we drafted a Pre Action Protocol.

All the information we supplied was correct, backed up by financial statements from the accountants, bank statements, invoices etc and it should have been easy. However the HO applied some ridiculous (and incorrect) logic to the calculation of his annual salary which then meant that the points accumulated for the 'earnings' portion did not meet the threshold for ILR. And did not really explain why in their rejection letter. They finally made sense of it, hence the overturning of the decision.

I have never heard of a subject access request. Would asking for this jeopardise any application we make for citizenship?

Hi,

I have a question about proof of residency and see that many people provide P60's and/or letters from employers. If I have only returned to work for the past 3 years, how do I prove the other 2 years of residency?

Also, my husband was a director of a limited company up until January this year, and is now working under PAYE. He can provide payslips from January this year, but what does he provide to prove residency before that?

LaserBurger1 wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 18, 2020 11:24 pm

Hi,

I have a question about proof of residency and see that many people provide P60's and/or letters from employers. If I have only returned to work for the past 3 years, how do I prove the other 2 years of residency?

Also, my husband was a director of a limited company up until January this year, and is now working under PAYE. He can provide payslips from January this year, but what does he provide to prove residency before that?

If you are a non-EU citizen then all that is required are your passport(s) covering the period.

Topics merged.

Have you resolved the overstaying issue and requested a subject access request??

Thanks for your reply. However, on recent trips back to the UK (in the past year), we have been going through the FastTrack route as well, so there are no stamps on our passport either.

Is there any other documentation they will accept in addition to P60's to prove residency?

Yes we did resolve the overstaying issue. We enacted a subject access request which showed the decision was overturned as the additional explanation/evidence we supplied unequivocally proved that we were due the points based on salary as originally stipulated. Thanks for the advice on this as we were unaware we could do this.

Is there any other documentation they will accept in addition to P60's to prove residency?

You only need your passports and the absences listed in the form. When you scan your passport on arrival it leaves a record. Ukvi do their own checks.

Thanks

I have a question about child registration and have not been able to find the answer through reading the current threads. We have 3 children (all under 18), and all 5 of us have had ILR (since 2016) - non EU. I have started to complete form AN for my application online and towards the end, there is an option to add my husband and 3 children (all under 18).

I was under the impression that we had to apply separately (i.e. AN forms x2, MN1 forms x3). Can anyone shed any light on this? Reading through the AN guidance, it mentions that if both parents are applying for naturalisation at the same time, children can be added to form part of a 'family application'. Is this correct - and if it is the case, does this mean that the requirement to pay separate fees for each application is not needed? Thanks in advance.

Topics merged. Please do not tag your questions onto other users threads.

Reading through the AN guidance, it mentions that if both parents are applying for naturalisation at the same time, children can be added to form part of a 'family application'. Is this correct - and if it is the case, does this mean that the requirement to pay separate fees for each application is not needed? Thanks in advance.

Yes if the form gives you the option then you can add them.

You still have to pay the same fee for each person applying, or £1330 per adult and £1021 per child applying. There is no discount for a family application.

Thanks for the info. I am going to ask something probably really obvious - so this means that there is no need to apply separately through form MN01? But fee remains the same. I was feeling hopeful!

LaserBurger1 wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 30, 2020 1:15 pm

Thanks for the info. I am going to ask something probably really obvious - so this means that there is no need to apply separately through form MN01? But fee remains the same. I was feeling hopeful!

Correct yes.

Thanks for this, and one last question. The application also allows me to add a partner. Then it asks why (ie. if they are capable of completing the application themselves). Can I add my husband into this, or should he complete a separate application? How will they be linked together?