A local mother who won a long battle for sanctuary in the UK has been told she will have to wait a further five years before she can apply for citizenship.
This means she has lost more than £1,000, and her children will be barred from going on foreign trips with their school because they do not have a passport.
When Sara first applied for citizenship she was told she 'ticked all the boxes', having passed the required test, achieving ESOL level 2, and being an active and upright member of the community.
But the UK Border Agency(UKBA) has told them that people who have been granted refugee status under the so-called 'legacy' system will not be eligible for another five years.
Sara, who recently performed in a Refugee Week drama production, and has delivered refugee awareness training to local social workers, says she was devastated to be told she would have to wait.
"The worst thing is what it means for the children," she says. "My son is so disappointed he won't be able to go abroad with the school. He's 11 now so will miss out through most of his teenage years". Sara also has an eight year old daughter.
To make matters worse, UKBA have said her £1,000 fee will not be refunded, even though noone told her she was ineligible. Welcome to Britain, huh?
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After a wonderful meal cooked
After a wonderful meal cooked single-handedly by an asylum seeker lady from Iran, The Lord Mayor of Bradford opened the event with an inspiring message of support.inspiring
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yes..Welcome to Britain!like
yes..Welcome to Britain!like this are majority of cases i meet until now.where is the law??
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After a wonderful meal cooked
After a wonderful meal cooked single-handedly by an asylum seeker lady from Iran, The Lord Mayor of Bradford opened the event with an inspiring message of support. Moving testimony, music and drumming followed by the Mussanzi family from the D.R Congo, whilst later in the evening Actors for Human Rights related the harrowing story of a Ugandan woman and her children in a powerful Asylum Dialogue.Craig Barnett (Coordinator – pictured) and Inderjit Bhoghal (Chair) of the national C of S movement spoke passionately about the reasons why the movement came into being and of their vision for the future. Before leaving each of those attending was asked to write an ‘Action Idea’ on a leaf which was then pinned to a tree. The working group will use these as it takes the vision forward.
Is the person who gave her
Is the person who gave her the 'advice' liable? I don't know, but it is worth her checking this out, as well as making sure that she can't get the money back some other way (I know the HO website say they won't refund, but immigration lawyers sometimes know ways and means)....it may be that the money is gone for good....but it is worth double checking. Also, if she has not done so already, she should seek advice about obtaining a refugee convention travel documents (for herself and eligible family members e.g. her son). As far as I am aware, there are immigration advisers at the law centre in Sheffield....and numbers for local advisers can also be obtained from the CLS (legal aid) directory for numbers of other advisers in her local area.
0845 345 4 345
www.communitylegaladvice.org.uk/en/directory/usingdirectory.jsp
Concerning Sara, before
Concerning Sara, before making the Naturalisation application, did she seek any legal advice? About when she could apply? The rules are complicated, and it seems she made an assumption about when you could apply, and unfortunately got it wrong.
Let's just examine some different situations :-
A) Some applies for asylum on arrival at the UK port of entry. That ends up being granted.
B) Someone enters the UK in the proverbial back of a lorry, and 3 months later they apply for asylum, and that ends up being granted.
C) Someone has a visitor visa, enters the UK using that, and then before the expiry of that visitor visa they apply for asylum, and that ends up being granted.
D) Someone has a visitor visa, enters the UK using that, and then lets that expire, and then 3 months after the expiry of that visitor visa they apply for asylum, and that ends up being granted.
There are of course other scenarios, but these 4 give an idea of the complexity of the situation.
It needs to be appreciated that when an ILR holder (not married to or in Civil Partnership with a British Citizen) applies for Naturalisation, they need to have had that ILR for at least one year AND to have been "legal" when in the UK at all times in the 5-year qualifying period.
So taking that factor on board, in A and C above, they will have been considered "legal" at all times, and thus as soon as they have had their ILR for one year, and assuming they have been in the UK for 5 years, they can apply for Naturalisation.
But what about B and D? For B they do not become "legal" until they get their ILR, and for D, whilst they were "legal" while the visitor visa was still valid, they ceased to be "legal" on its expiry, and were not legal either while their asylum claim was processed. According for both B and D, they need to wait until they have had the ILR for 5 years, before applying for Naturalisation.
As regards "her children will be barred from going on foreign trips with their school because they do not have a passport", that is not so, given that the Home Office can issue travel documents to enable them to travel internationally.