would really be grateful for a response...

[fido4]

hello,

I don't want to reveal too much information (and take up too much of your time) on the current situation so I'll try to keep this as brief as I can. (you can skip to where I ask my main questions if you like).

I'm 18 years old and have lived in the Uk my whole life. The issue comes with my parents who are overstayers (my dad came over from Africa well over 20 years ago to study at a university but was forced to relocate to a new place - something that he alerted the home office [or whoever is supposed to know] of.)

Despite this it appeared that the HO failed to acknoledge this [be it the fault of the post office, HO's incompetence or whatever] and he had only realised that he'd become an overstayer after his time had expired when he contacted them himself. *at least that's how I understand the situation. During this period my mother joined my dad and together had been living under false aliases since as my dad could not return to africa relating to political issues that could have put his life in serious danger *again something I don't know too much about.

Anyway skip another 20ish years forward and there I am oblivious to all these issues, live is great (despite barely having the finances to afford anything) I'm done taking my A level exams, about to go on my holidays where I'd finally be able to get a job and prepare for university when this bombshell lands and things are turned on it's head. No job, no money... even my surname is a lie! Things like why I've never been able to meet outside relatives, getting a job or getting gov grants finally make sense :p (they hid this from me to protect me and keep me focused on my education - which I guess worked as I managed to get into a uni)

----------

Since then we went to court and it appears that we were successful although this was in July (we were going for indefinate stay for the whole family - something that they'd been trying to sort out for years now). 3 months later and the only info we've heard from the home office is for passport photographs (good news I'm assuming, but this was over a month ago), is this an indication that things are nearly over? I've now been forced to take a gap year and have been doing absolutely now for ages, I feel like my life is wasting away .

So basically what I'd like to know is whether the request for passport photographs is any indicator of how close to completion they are. My brother was in a similar situation and had to take 2 YEARS from university after applying for indefinate stay by himself (as he was an adult by that time).

[sakura]

I do not know exactly what the requirement to submit photos means. ILR under the long residency category - 14 years legal/non-legal stay - can take anything up to several years....as in the case of your brother. It is sometimes almost as though they are waiting for the applicant to just give up and go home.

I do have a question; were you born in the UK? If so, I believe there would have been other options that you/your family fall under. I know there's a possibility for people born in the UK and who live here for at least the first 10 years continuously (and are still in the UK) to [url=chttp://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/britishcitize ... /borninuk/]register as a British citizen[/url], although you would need to check if this also covers residency without legal residency. I think that if you do indeed qualify, that would be better than getting ILR, but who knows how long the application would take....

I would advise you not to leave the country, as there's no way for you to get back in. As for university, who not try some other methods of studying (the Open University is a very well known university with online courses, I believe), to get some other qualifications?

[jei2]

I do not know exactly what the requirement to submit photos means. ILR under the long residency category - 14 years legal/non-legal stay - can take anything up to several years....as in the case of your brother. It is sometimes almost as though they are waiting for the applicant to just give up and go home.

I do have a question; were you born in the UK? If so, I believe there would have been other options that you/your family fall under. I know there's a possibility for people born in the UK and who live here for at least the first 10 years continuously (and are still in the UK) to [url=chttp://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/britishcitize ... /borninuk/]register as a British citizen[/url], although you would need to check if this also covers residency without legal residency. I think that if you do indeed qualify, that would be better than getting ILR, but who knows how long the application would take....

I would advise you not to leave the country, as there's no way for you to get back in. As for university, who not try some other methods of studying (the Open University is a very well known university with online courses, I believe), to get some other qualifications?

There is the discretion of registering a child, who has reached the age of 10 and was born in the UK to parents with no status, as a British citizen. Good character is taken into account. I don't think your parents deception would reflect on you but who can say in these giddy days? If you've been in any trouble or had any convictions in the past, it would have an impact on your application.

The request for photographs seems to be generally a good thing, the next steps in gaining ILR as you will see if you look around the forum.

[fido4]

thanks for the replies,

No one in my family has been involved with the police and we've all been in the UK for 18+ years (with myself and my brother being born here). We've also never left the country (and to be frank even if I wanted to - which I can't until this is all over and extra money is availble, I don't see myself doing so).

I have also had a look at the Open University as well as training courses etc. but this whole issue has resulted in us having very little than enough for paying the bills, food etc. (my dad, the only one who can work in this situation despite his and my mum's degrees has been forced into doing a lowly paid job) so such options are out of the question really... I do however plan on learning to do web designing in the meantime which should hopefully earn me some money in the meantime.

Registering myself as a British citizen also looks like a good idea (I'd have to look into it further) but does it depend on (or have an affect) on the appeal for the family as a whole?

My main concern atm is the time this may take to get ILR, the sooner the better for obvious reasons but anytime before a year is what I wish for. Based on the photographs is this a good indication that we may be sorted before that time period is reached?

[fido4]

I'm not one to bump a thread but it's been nearly a month since my last post (and very close to 4 months now since our case was won) and I'm still more or less confined to my home. My original question was how long you think we're expected to await for a final response but if that cannot be answered, is there a time limit for us to wait for this to be sorted out before we can make some form or official complaint? I do understand that there are many people ahead of us on the "list", especially those who haven't broken any laws but I do feel hard done by considering I myself have done nothing wrong.

[tasha75]

Just so I understand it correctly - your application was refused, you appealed and the appeal was allowed (decided in your favour, not sure what you mean by "it appears"). Then the Home office requested your photographs? Right?
Was it appeal Implementation Unit in Leeds (or Liverpool I think the other one) who requested photos? If so, they are ready to grant you leave. They are not in rush tough, and many people have been waiting for months, even tough it only takes a few min/hours to put the stickers in your passports/ issue IDS.
You have to start chasing them up. They usually issue "stickers" within 4-6 weeks from receiving photos, perhaps someone misplaced your file.

If that was Leeds office - write to them again, also lodge a complain to North east customer services (contacts on the bia website ). And don't just send email, called them up to follow up, they were fobbing me off for months. I was getting automatic acknowledgements to my emails, that someone will look into it and reply within 20 working days, but when I called them 25-30 days later, they kept saying they have no records of my complaints.
Hopefully this will make them to get on with their job. But if everything fails (as in my case - 11 complaints, gazillions calls, months and months of waiting) - involve your MP. I got everything sorted within 4 weeks after contacting my MP.
Good luck.

[JAJ]

Registering myself as a British citizen also looks like a good idea (I'd have to look into it further) but does it depend on (or have an affect) on the appeal for the family as a whole?

Your immigration status is irrelevant for this kind of registration (U.K. born with first 10 years of life resident in the U.K.).

With respect, if you are eligible and your future in Britain is important to you, it's time to stop looking and just get on with it.
http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/britis ... rnintheuk/

If by some chance you were born in Northern Ireland before 2005, you may also apply for an Irish passport.

[tasha75]

Your immigration status is irrelevant for this kind of registration (U.K. born with first 10 years of life resident in the U.K.).

I am surprised parents haven't done it years ago. Or they could have applied for ILR under 7 years child concession policy (or 10 years if it was before 1999?).
Even when refusing the application (was it under 14 years rule?) the Home Office could have mentioned that the child could be registered as BC

Fido, was your brother also born in the UK?

[fido4]

Thanks for the replies, just wanted to give an update.

My dad's now been given legal status in the UK but despite all of us applying to be treated at one case, as a family the HO have clearly decided for whatever reason to treat us all individually, meaning that we don't have a clue how much longer this process will last until we're all okay.

My brother applied through the same method mentioned by JAJ last year and is also legal but financially we're as low as we've ever been, which is why we applied as one case. My brother was only able to do so under some help financially from distant family members...

[fido4]

(forgot to add)

we're planning on seeing our solicitor and contacting out MP to try and get this sorted out once and for all.

[sakura]

Thanks for the replies, just wanted to give an update.

My dad's now been given legal status in the UK but despite all of us applying to be treated at one case, as a family the HO have clearly decided for whatever reason to treat us all individually, meaning that we don't have a clue how much longer this process will last until we're all okay.

My brother applied through the same method mentioned by JAJ last year and is also legal but financially we're as low as we've ever been, which is why we applied as one case. My brother was only able to do so under some help financially from distant family members...

You are not looking at this the right way. If, as in your first post, you cannot get a job because you have no status, then you should really do as JAJ suggests and apply. If money is your concern, ask a family member or close friend to loan you the money, or maybe go to the bank. If, at the end of it all you are a British citizen and you can work, study, vote, etc, without any hassles, then owning someone a thousand pounds or so would have been worth it, right?

What about your brother? He is now a BC or he has ILR?