Moderators/Experts - Please advise me. re apply for naturalisation?

[Ambo86]

Hi All,

I was wondering if someone could please help me or point me in the right direction with a frustrating immigration issue. (Its a big long winded, I apologise).

I have been residing in the UK for over 27 years now, grew up and studied through to university here, now I am working as a Group Health and Safety manager.

I am a Yemeni passport holder
I have ILR which I received many moons ago
Applied for naturalisation in November 2011
My application was refused in 2012

The ECO's reasons were:
Not declaring a driving offence (No car insurance) in October 2007 - to the HO this is viewed as deception, to me I was young naive and did not seek any legal help with filling in the form, I simply had no idea what it meant and am paying price massively for it now.

The ECO gave me a 10 year ban, meaning I cannot apply again until 2022..
The ban starts from the date of refusal and not date of conviction, which I found quite bizzare

My biggest frustration:
I have a 64 year old mother living between Qatar/Jordan, I have applied for her to come and visit me on numerous occasions and have been refused every time, I have been away from my mother for over 7 years, neither my mother or I can fly back home to Yemen due to the war, there are no functional airports so its impossible even if we risk it.
I applied for a visa for both Qatar and the UAE and have been refused for both so I am deprived from seeing my mother, its extremely difficult.

I have missed out on job opportunities abroad, graduation holidays with mates, work conferences and just having a family life - (surely we all have this one right at least)

My question is, and given the above circumstances;
What is my best option and how do I go about it? what are my chances? am I able to approach this from a humans right point of view?

Do I-
A) Apply for a new application to get naturalisation , expect a refusal, appeal and go down judicial review/upper tribunal and see if a judge will swerve the decision? - what are my chances? Is it honestly worth it?
Would these help? Good character references from MDs I have worked for over the years, I know a few mates who are paralegals, my GP? I do some voluntary work for my local community, sworn statement etc.?

B)A Re-apply for my mother, keeping in mind that she was refused 6 months ago, has a Yemeni passport and is elderly? do I pursue elderly dependant visa route, she is 65 in September and literally all her immediate family (Sons) are all in UK, luckily no medical conditions though, will this work?

I would really appreciate your help/advice/guidance and am really sorry for rambling on.

Muchos Gracia

[freeman14]

This is a specialist area and thats why you not receiving much responses. Your rejection and 10 year ban is inline with home office policy and to argue against it would be a big challenge. You are arguing the case on basis of discretion which would have had more chance of success say if it was a visa or extension of stay. But nationality is a privilege and requires good character. I see chances of success very minimal. Sorry to be saying things you may not like but unfortunately thats what is more likely. Only exception could be if you hire a lawyer who can say it is doable and is really a master of his field may give you a hope of overturning it.

[secret.simon]

First off, naturalisation is not a part of the immigration pathway and is governed by completely different, unrelated laws and rules. Be aware of that as that explains why applications for naturalisation are treated differently from immigration applications.

The ban starts from the date of refusal and not date of conviction, which I found quite bizzare

It makes sense. The 10 year ban was not for the actual driving offence, for which you were punished through the conventional procedures, but deception, which occurred when that offence was uncovered by the Home Office in the naturalisation application in 2012. Therefore, the 10 years start from the date of the detection of the deception.

You did not need legal help in filling up the naturalisation application, you just needed to fill it in completely.

Do I-
A) Apply for a new application to get naturalisation , expect a refusal, appeal and go down judicial review/upper tribunal and see if a judge will swerve the decision? - what are my chances? Is it honestly worth it?
Would these help? Good character references from MDs I have worked for over the years, I know a few mates who are paralegals, my GP? I do some voluntary work for my local community, sworn statement etc.?

Because naturalisation is not a part of the immigration pathway, to the best of my knowledge, judicial review is not an option available. All naturalisation applications are at discretion. So, I doubt the judicial review path will work successfully in your case.
Besides, in your case, it seems that the deception (of failing to disclose a driving offence) did actually occur. The good character requirement is taken quite seriously and has, since when you last applied, been made much more stringent.
So, in my opinion, a judicial review would have little chance of success.

My biggest frustration:
I have a 64 year old mother living between Qatar/Jordan, I have applied for her to come and visit me on numerous occasions and have been refused every time, I have been away from my mother for over 7 years, neither my mother or I can fly back home to Yemen due to the war, there are no functional airports so its impossible even if we risk it.
I applied for a visa for both Qatar and the UAE and have been refused for both so I am deprived from seeing my mother, its extremely difficult.

I have missed out on job opportunities abroad, graduation holidays with mates, work conferences and just having a family life - (surely we all have this one right at least)

Why were you refused from visiting Qatar and the UAE?

The solution to meeting with your mother would be to meet her in a third country. The Wikipedia article on visa requirements for Yemeni nationals suggests that Armenia and Nepal would be two countries which allow for visa-on-arrival for Yemeni nationals. Perhaps your mother and you can meet in one of those countries.

Adult Dependent Relatives visas are practically impossible to get. There is only a 6% chance of success at first application, with a further 16% approved on appeal. There is thus, even after appeal, a 78% rejection rate.

The conditions that the ADR applicant (in this case, your mother) are quite high;
a) That she needs assistance with basic functions such as bathing and washing up
AND
b) That such assistance is either not available or not affordable in their home country.

Read up on the Adult dependant relative – care requirement and the Older dependent relatives threads to understand just how tough this route would be.

To help us look at alternatives, can you give us more information on yourself?
a) When and where were you born?
b) When and where were both your parents born?
c) How did you arrive in the UK?
d) How did you acquire ILR?