She came to the uk 13 years ago from Asia on a student visa.
She has not been out of the uk since arriving.
How has she been supporting herself? When did her visa expire? Why has she not done anything to sort her status out or leave the UK?
She has said she paid a solicitor £1000 to send her passport to the home office. I’m trying to understand what kind of process is happening at the home office I.e was an application form also filled in? If so what’s the name of that application?
Sending a passport to the Home Office means nothing, besides, originals are no longer sent to the Home Office anyway. She needs to apply for a visa she believes she qualifies for online, attend a UKCVAS biometric appointment and then wait. She should be asking her solicitor these questions to be honest. There are many different applications. We would be unable to tell you what form, if any, has been applied for.
My brief reading around this on line indicates the outlook for overstayers is not good and that there are no routes for a single person to apply. As far as I know it is possible by having a child or marrying.
Having a child does not guarantee anything. She needs Home Office approval to get married and by giving notice to at the Registry office, where she needs to show proof of visa status and passport, will alert her presence and location to Home Office.
I have asked her but she does not seem to know beyond the fact that the home office have her passport. I don’t want to keep pushing her on it.
Are there any other routes to a legal status for her?
Just be aware that by involving yourself, you are stepping into a world of changing immigration rules and extension financial cost for visas and/or appeals. Also, to be blunt, be careful that you are not being used for her to gain status. We see this all the time on the forum, once an overstayer has legal status based on a partner, they have a child quickly and then leave the partner and claim another visa based on a British child or use domestic violence to gain permanent status. We have seen it all on the forum.
There is no 'one size fits all' visa for overstayers. Even if she was lucky enough to get a visa, it would be for 2.5 years and she will need 10 years on this visa route before she could apply for permanent residency. Each visa of 2.5 years currently costs £1,048 plus IHS fee of £2,587-50. Permanent residence currently costs £2,885. Visa fees and IHS increase annually, sometimes twice a year.
