Please Please help, Urgent Advice needed ILR app

[Godsgrace]

Hey Guys

Basically Im at a loss. I recently graduated from uni, last moth to be precise, and I am in absolute limbo. Im 20yrs of age, born in the UK (1987) to parents who had been students here for about 8 years each i think. Anyway, a year after I was born parents decide to move back to Nigeria and Ive been coming on holiday every year ever since.

I moved back permanently in 2003 to do my a-levels and I have been here since. As far as I know parents still reside in africa and I have lived with an aunt for the past five years. I have a degree in law and I plan on doing my masters next year. Here is the issue, very soon I will be applying for graduate jobs that require overseas training etc and I decided to apply for a british passport or ILR based on whichever I would be eligible for. I couldnt for the life of me find my initial entry passport amongst the documents my aunt keeps for me.

My parents are enstranged for reasons I cant discuss and I've had virtually no contact with them so asking for passport details is not even possible. All I have is my national insurance number and birth certificate, record of employment since I was 16, (Pro bono, retail, law firms, consultancy experiences etc), utility bills etc basically my life in the UK.

I have never had a need to travel until now and I dont know what to do. I realise the first step is to apply for ILR but how? I dont know the Visa I used to come here, I was 15 and I didnt even ask as coming to the UK was normal for me. My entire extended family are all legally resident in the UK, I was born here, Ive been schooling here etc so Ive never had any reason to doubt my legitimacy...

Please advice me, I want to apply for ILR and Im at an absolute loss, I cant carry on studying when I dont know my status, cant apply for any jobs oh Im just trying not to lose my mind....Please please please what are your thoughts? How do I explain this to the home office? thanks

[Mr Rusty]

You may have been coming and going for years, but unless you had already acquired indefinite leave as a dependant of your parents (which doesn't sound likely, you say they were here as students), it is your last date of entry to the UK which is significant. If this was on some form of visa, this has probably long since expired, so your most likely status now is overstayer - which provides no basis for any application.

Time to start talking to your parents, I think, to see what they remember, or what documents they can find. Where's your passport? You must have come with one. You could try asking the school where you took your A Levels whether they have any records or copy documents that can help you. National insurance numbers and birth certificates mean very little - they don't prove your immigration status.

I suppose immigration law is too mundane or recondite a subject to feature on the LLB syllabus, but it seems strange that someone from abroad can spend 3 years acquiring such a qualification without ever once thinking about the legality of their own status.

You might need to consider leaving the UK before 1st October to avoid a mandatory ban, and then submit an application to come back.

[jei2]

I hate to sound cynical but there seem to be an awful lot of gaps in your story. The Home Office would certain pick this up. Not that you have any real grounds for ILR as Mr Rusty has already pointed out.

You most certainly would be better off applying under the October concession with your student history; if you stay want to apply for settlement from here it will be under exceptional and compelling grounds and will invariably require elements of your family circumstances both here and in Nigeria. Unfortunately you can't airbrush them out of the picture. Even here though your chances of success would appear to be minimal.

Did you only find out in the last month that you had a problem?

[Godsgrace]

Thank you very much for your honest opinions. Yeah it is ironic that I am a law student, Ive always been business driven so most of my modules were commercial. I did have an inkling though because my aunt never had my passport or knew where it was so I had to make do with my birth certificate, I pretty much assumed my parents had it or something and I honestly could not let that worry me during my final year so I just blocked it out of my mind. It didnt really bother me until recently, (ie last couple of months) because Ive not had any desire to travel really, Ive always been too busy working and interning during the summer.

Now Im moving out and asking questions and Im not liking what Im finding. I have pretty much determined between posting on this board last night and attempting a futile conversation with my mother who promptly hung up, that Im an overstayer. Im beside myself because I dont understand. My next action is getting advice from a solicitior and u wonderful people... seriously, it doesnt make sense even to me

[Godsgrace]

I just wanted to add I appreciate your taking time to read this and reply. I really appreciate the honesty. I need some of that in my life right now

[jei2]

Godsgrace,

If you decide to go for the October concession, your very first (and urgent) step if you haven't already done so is to apply for a new passport. Like right this second.

It's quite likely that the previous one may have expired anyway. Not sure of the Nigerian timeframe and have a horrible feeling you might have trouble. You can't make any application - in or out - without one.

Personally speaking I believe that the Home Office might find some ways to bury (not literally!) those who don't meet the October concession but have been prevented from regularising their stay through factors beyond their control. But not through that nasty word amnesty of course.

Sorting out your passport is definitely priority. Don't hang about.

[Godsgrace]

Thank you very much jei, I work near the Nigerian High commision so I will do that immdiately. I'll use my aunt as a guarantor of my status or something and my birth certificate states that my parents are both nigerian.

[PaperPusher]

One way that you may be able to find out what has happened in the past is to make a subject access request and get copies of the records that relate to you:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/navigation/foi/

[Mr Rusty]

One way that you may be able to find out what has happened in the past is to make a subject access request and get copies of the records that relate to you:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/navigation/foi/

But don't hold your breath for an answer. From the information given by the OP, he has probably never had a Home Office record in his own right, and may only have featured as an adjunct to his parents' file(s) 15 or more years ago - so a search on his name may produce nothing. After that, if he was only coming here on visas for holidays and latterly as a student, the only record that could be accessed would be via the British High Commission in Nigeria.

[Godsgrace]

Thank you very much for your help everybody. I will be making arrangments based on your advice. Have a nice day

[Frontier Mole]

If you came back to the UK in 2003 you will have some sort of record with UKBA. It will more than likely be a student visa or it could be a multi entry visit visa. Either way it will not have given you the right to remain in the UK for 5 years. The UKvisa information system (CRS) will show your visa applications without much trouble from 2000 onwards.

Getting a SAR will not serve any real purpose; it will only prove that you are an overstayer. Best bet is to go to the Nigerian High Commission and get an emergency travel document and return home before 1st October. A passport will not achieve anything as you have no right of stay in the UK and given your current status will not be able to remain legally in the UK in any event. Any application in country will be refused out of hand. If you intend to further your studies go home and apply for a student visa to do so. It is possibly the easiest way forward.

A work based visa is unlikely to be successful, the UK churns out 1000’s of LLB students every year most of which struggle to get rolls in the legal industry. Lawyers is one thing this country does not need more of!