10 year good character requirement

[saira1983]

Hi all

Shooting the question right away:

Is there any way to go around the recent 10 year rule regarding Good Character requirement for citizenship applications, or is there any chance it might be softened in future ? I am asking as this rule has really hit my plans hard. My timeline (few months changed slightly for simplicity) is:

Jan 04 - Dec 06: student visa
Jan 07- Dec 10: work permit (working with approved employer)
Jan 11 - Sep 11: work permit (changed employment without informing HO, and old employer informed HO)Oct 11 - today: Married to my EU national husband

So basically, with this recent 10 year rule, I can't qualify for British citizenship until Oct 2021. As shown in the time line above, only 1 year of my work permit visa was in breach of HO rules (not my fault as the employer was playing against the HO rules themselves - to be discussed another time). The rest of my time in UK I was either studying or working.

Basically, my "beef" is: if even after staying in the UK for 12 years, not having claimed a single penny in benefits, and having paid circa £63,000 as taxes and NICs over the last few years, I can't be eligible for BC for another 5 years, then why should I stay here anymore ?

So I am asking the respected experts if I have any chance to get around this 10 year rule?

If not, I will start making plans to leave UK, as I feel UK does not want me anymore, even though I made it my home and lived an honest life (of course apart from the 1 year above).

Please advise, and help me make this important decision of my life.

[noajthan]

You can dig into such a vital question here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... _D_v02.pdf
you can see taxes/benefits don't come into the picture as long as paid up/fulfilled (as necessary).