British Citizenship – Good Character Small Period of Overstay as child

[afrogal7]

Hi there,

Brief context: I entered the UK legally in 2001 at the age of 4 with my mother. As I'm now aware, we had a period of legal stay up until around 2006/7 - and later on became overstayers. My mother sought asylum due to the dangerous political atmosphere back in my home country, however, this was refused and we were eventually granted with 3 years DLR in Sept 2011. Leave was then extended for an additional 3 years back in March 2015 after an in-time application was made in August 2014. I received my settlement (ILR) exactly 4 months ago today, and I will eventually like to apply for citizenship in the future as I have no connection to my home country.

My main question is: When will I be eligible to apply for citizenship? February 2019 or September 2021?

My main worry is in regards to the good character requirement due to changes in criteria. Clearly, I was in breach of immigration law back in 2006 as an overstayer, however, I was a minor (9-14) during that period and was not aware of my status back then. Overstaying was not something I consciously decided to do and the offence was out of my control seeing as I was a dependent.

With all of this in mind, would a caseworker automatically refuse my application on the basis that I overstayed between ages 9-14, or is there some type of small chance (application fee is not much of a concern) that they would be able to apply discretion? Or would it be best if I just apply in 2021?

[afrogal7]

Can someone please help? I'm 21 and I've had my ILR for 9 months now. I came here with my mum at a young age and there was a period of overstay before we received our LTR. However, this period of overstay happened when I was 14 and still a dependent so there was no way possible I personally could've prevented that. Is there any small chance they could apply discretion in relation to good character? It's not like I willingly overstayed as I didn't even have full legal responsibility of myself.

[eoo10]

Can someone please help? I'm 21 and I've had my ILR for 9 months now. I came here with my mum at a young age and there was a period of overstay before we received our LTR. However, this period of overstay happened when I was 14 and still a dependent so there was no way possible I personally could've prevented that. Is there any small chance they could apply discretion in relation to good character? It's not like I willingly overstayed as I didn't even have full legal responsibility of myself.

I think you can only apply 10 years after your stay was regularised (Sept 2021)owing to the good character criteria. Also be mindful of the date.

[vinny]

Ask them to use Discretion to waive immigration breaches:

Examples of when you might exercise discretion include where:

• the breach occurred at a time when the applicant was a minor whose parents failed to obtain or renew their leave