WAITING RESPOMSE TIME FROM HO- JAMAICAN HUSBAND

My husband and I have been together for 10 years this year. He came to the Uk on a visitors visa 11 years ago. When he came to the uk from Jamaica he had a 6 months stamp in his passport but overstayed. When we met he had a daughter (British Born). We have only been married for 4 years this year and we have 2 children together not including his first daughter.

We sent off his application through a solicitor to apply for his ILR last year following the advice of 'solicitors', as we were told that it would look better if we had been married for a couple of years and his daughter would havce reached a pivital age of 8 years old which would have strengthen his family connections to life in the Uk. However the application was sent to the HO in June 2005 and although we have recieved the letter confirming that they were waiting for it to be processed, we still have not recieved any news on the applications progress. Even by sending letters and by calling we still don not have any news as to how long this would take!! We are hoping that no news is good news, but deep down i am very concerned. Does the HO always take so long to respond?

When the application was submitted we sent through numerous I.D, brith certificates, Bills, School reports, bank statements etc. So they have all our information and havent requested any more. When our 2nd child was born this year we also sent through confirmation of her birth . But we still dont have any further news. Subsequently we no longer use our solictor because they didnt seem to be doing anything. We have heard about applying to the local MP for assitance - could somebody give me some guidence as to how this strengthen the case.

1) Main questions - is the waiting time usual?
2) Does the HO usually give feedback
3) How do I contact the MP
4) Can anybody relate to this situation.

1) Yes
2) No
3) http://www.upmystreet.com/commons/l/
4) My wife succesfully got a visa with not so dissimilar situation to yourselves although she was a failed asylum seeker rather than a visitor. Many others have also done it been successful but generally when applying from their home countries as we did.

Unfirtunately for you, as far as I know, all in country applications by an overstayer are now refused (except under 14 year rule) without very good compassionate reasons; an 8 year old daughter is not such a reason.

There is a lot of good information on this board relating to your position. If you applied in June 2005 you will wish you had found these boards earlier.