UK AMNESTY FOR COMMONWEALTH CITIZENS

Undocumented Commonwealth citizens resident in the UK

Published 13 April 2018

Contents

1.Legal background

2.Check your status to remain in the UK

3.Evidence to support your application

This information is for Commonwealth citizens who are long-term residents of the UK and do not have documents to demonstrate their status. It explains their position and what they need to do next.

This page is not a substitute for immigration advice. You can find out how to contact an immigration adviser on GOV.UK. If you have difficulty affording legal advice you may wish to contact Citizens Advice.

1. Legal background

Recent changes to the law mean that if you wish to work, rent property or have access to benefits and services in the UK then you will need documents to demonstrate your right to be in the UK. The government believes this is a proportionate measure to maintain effective immigration control.

We recognise that this is causing problems for some individuals who have lost documents over the long period of time they have been in the UK. We want to help you to obtain new documents and are asking you to come forward so we can do this.

We are clear that no one with the right to be here will be required to leave. There will be a solution available for your situation.

2. Check your status to remain in the UK

If you entered the UK before 1 January 1973 then the chances are you are entitled to live here permanently. Your status is only broken following a long period outside of the UK (2 years).

A “no-time limit” biometric residence permit is a card that shows that you are entitled to live here permanently, if you were given indefinite leave to remain. Upon confirmation of your status you may be eligible to apply for British citizenship. You can apply for a “no-time limit” biometric residence permit and upon confirmation of your status you may be eligible to apply for British citizenship.

Find out how to apply for a “no-time limit” biometric residence permit.

Find out about British citizenship.

If you entered the UK after 1 January 1973 then you are not likely to have automatic status here but you may have been granted leave to enter, leave to remain in the UK and then indefinite leave to enter or remain.

A “no-time limit” biometric residence permit is a card that shows that you are entitled to live here permanently, if you were given indefinite leave to remain. You can apply for a “no-time limit” biometric residence permit and upon confirmation of your status you may be eligible to apply for British citizenship.

Find out how to apply for a “no-time limit” biometric residence permit.

Find out about British citizenship.

If you entered the UK after 1 January 1973 and have been here for a number of years but are concerned that you have never applied to the Home Office, no one has ever applied on your behalf or your status has lapsed, then you may need to apply for leave to remain on the basis of your long residence and life here.

Find out how to apply to extend your stay in the UK.

3. Evidence to support your application

We understand that many people are unlikely to have documents that are over 40 years old but you should send as much information as possible in support of your application.

To help you build a picture of your life in the UK, think about:

where you went to school

where you might have studied

where you have worked

whether you have family here

where you have lived while in the UK

Documents that can help support your application:

exam certificates

employment records

your National Insurance number

birth and marriage certificates

bills and letters


HomeOffice.

THORNY ISSUE OF UNDOCUMENTED CHILDREN IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

Linda was brought to UK from Nigeria to join her mother in the UK when she was four. The visa on which she travelled was, like her mother's, a visitor visa, and so she became an overstayer as a child. Linda's mother died when she was 12 and she was initially looked after by extended family members, being passed from one aunt to another. No one seemed to realise that Linda had no status in the UK.

Linda was 18 when she had to leave home because her aunt's partner had become abusive. She was no longer entitled to support from social services as a child. Neither could she access benefits or work. Linda was homeless. The only route open to her was to apply to the Home Office based on the length of time she had been in the UK, but she didn't understand the law, the application was complicated and she had no money to pay for an immigration solicitor in order to make it.

Eventually Linda was referred to the Migrant Children's Project at Coram Children's Legal Centre and she was able to get help, free of charge, and ensure that she could regularise her status and plan for her future.

Linda's case is not an unusual one. University of Oxford research has estimated that there are 120,000 undocumented migrant children in the UK, 65,000 of whom were born in this country.

These children, who live in the UK without regular immigration status, are often unable to progress in education and access basic social rights including healthcare and support as a result of their immigration status, leaving them extremely vulnerable and in many cases facing extreme poverty.

At the same time, they are often unable to take the necessary steps to regularise their status, even when they have very strong claims for remaining in the UK.

This may be due to lack of awareness of their legal options in an ever more complex immigration system, inadequate or unavailable legal advice, or prohibitive Home Office application fees. In some cases, they may be at risk if they were to return to their country of nationality. As a result, "unreturnable" children and young people who are long-term, settled residents of their communities are left in limbo.

Public concern about immigration has fuelled a policy approach based on the notion that creating a "hostile environment" for migrants like Linda is an effective means of encouraging them to leave, in the belief that it is Britain's "generosity" to migrants that attracts them to the UK.

The past few years have already seen the refusal to increase asylum support levels in line with inflation, the removal of legal aid for almost all immigration cases, the tightening of immigration rules on long residence, restrictions on access to private housing and proposals to severely restrict access to healthcare.

In 2008, MP Ian Duncan Smith, in opposition, noted that the then government was "using forced destitutionas a means of encouraging people to leave voluntarily" and that this "failed policy" was "driven by the thesis, clearly falsified, that we can encourage people to leave by being nasty". In 2012, the Education Select Committee asserted that "it would be outrageous if destitution were to be used as a weapon against children because of their immigration status". Yet, as we approach 2015, this is still the risk.

Coram Children's Legal Centre's research and experience, documented in a 2013 report: "Growing up in a hostile environment: the rights of undocumented children in the UK", shows that such a policy approach is having a significant and damaging impact on children in the UK, pushing many into poverty.

And as well as the consequences for children, many of the changes implemented as part of this "hostile environment" agenda have resulted in a shifting of responsibility and costs onto already stretched local authorities, who for many people are the last remaining safety net when destitute and desperate. For example, homeless families with children have to turn to their local authority if they are homeless, placing increasing pressure on local government resources.

There have long been calls on the Home Office to provide a robust and effective immigration system, and one that incentivises compliance with the rules. But such a system must also address historical failings and deal properly with those who have strong claims to stay in the UK rather than wasting precious resources trying to pursue enforcement action in clear violation of the established rights and best interests of children and young people. This includes children who have grown up in the UK, go to school in the UK, and feel themselves to be British.

Undocumented migrant children and young people are among the most vulnerable in the UK and the most at risk of exceptional poverty and destitution. A fair, effective immigration system is one that upholds the rights of these children.

Kamena Dorling is policy and programmes manager at Coram Children's Legal Centre.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

UK SLAMS SHAM EU-MARRIAGES UNDER NEW RULES!

The new Immigration Act 2014 makes changes to notice requirements. The requirement to give notice of an impending marriage or civil partnership will be increased from 15 days to 28 days by the Act. This applies to everyone in England and Wales, regardless of their nationality (saka kana nema British acho) . Notice must be given to a Registrar by both parties in person, and they will be required to provide specified evidence of nationality, rather than the current position whereby the Registrar /registration authority just needs to be satisfied of nationality. Without the correct documents, it may be difficult to get married or forming a civil partnership in the UK.

The registrar will now be empowered by new investigation powers to notify the Home Secretary if one party to the proposed marriage/civil partnership is a non-EEA national. Once the Secretary of State has been notified, she has 28 days to decide whether or not to mount an investigation into the proposed union. If she does not investigate further, she will notify the Registrar and the couple who may then proceed to marry / form a civil partnership.

 

However if the Secretary of State has “reasonable grounds for suspecting that the proposed marriage or civil partnership is a sham” then she can mount an investigation, which extends the notice period to 70 days. There may be home visits and / or interviews. The kinds of things that may trigger suspicion are if one of the parties:

1. Is of a nationality at high risk of involvement in a sham;
2. Has a visa of a category which is linked to sham cases;
3. Has no immigration status or leave which is due to expire shortly;
4. Has previously sponsored another partner to enter or remain in the UK.

Another important change is the end of the exemption from civil preliminaries for non-EEA nationals who are marrying in the Church of England.

Registrars will also now have a duty to report suspicions of a possible sham marriage.

Thanks to Zimeye.com

NIGERIA TOPS IRELAND DEPORTATION TABLE!

IRELAND: Over 200 failed asylum seekers & illegal migrants were deported last year

A further 1,890 people were refused access to the country at ports and airports. Read more after the interlude:

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210 failed asylum seekers and illegal migrants were deported from the State. The top five nationalities deported were from Nigeria, China, Mauritius, Albania and Pakistan. 86 were deported on charter flights and 124 on scheduled commercial aircraft.

A further 84 asylum seekers were transferred to the EU member state in which they first applied for asylum, while 63 EU nationals were returned to their countries of origin on foot of a Removal Order.

The figures show a slight reduction on the previous year, when a total of 2,700 people were removed from the state (again, the vast majority stopped at ports and airports, and a further 298 failed asylum seekers and illegal migrants actually deported home).

Immigration

Overall, around 166,000 new applications for visas, residence, protection or citizenship were received last year by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service.

At the end of 2013, some 120,000 non-European Economic Area had permission to remain in the State, compared to 121,000 at the end of 2012.

The current top six nationalities are as follows:
India (11 per cent)
Brazil (10 per cent)
China (9 per cent)
Nigeria (8 per cent)
USA (6 per cent)
Philippines (6 per cent)

CSO stats show that the overall non-Irish national population accounts for 12 per cent of the total population, or some 544,000 people. Most of that number are from EU countries.

There were over 30,000 applications for citizenship last year, and 18 citizenship ceremonies were held.

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