Are the last five years legal ?

[William Blake]

My application for ILR under the ten year rule which was refused in 2007 was subsequently granted in 2009 after a second review of my case by the Home Office.

When my 2007 application was refused I became an overstayer and then left the UK and applied under the then existing overstayer concession to return to the UK on a work permit (which was granted).

Now one year on from getting ILR I want to apply for British citizenship.

I read that one requirement to be met for an application to become a British citizen is that the last five years must have been legally spent. And I suspect the Home Office might try to argue that my period as an overstayer means that I don't have the last five years as legal time here.

Is this the case ?

Also seeing that my application should have initially been granted and that my work permit application was approved under a concession (which stipulated no penalty for overstaying) can the Home Office use the period of overstaying against me ?

[mrlookforward]

When HO granted your application finally in 2009 on a review of the decision that was based on your application submitted in 2007, then that effectively means that they accepted that your initial application was correct, and they should have granted you ILR in 2007. Keeping this in mind, I don't think they will will refuse you on the argument that you became an overstayer. But its important that you mention all this properly in a well drafted covering letter, otherwise a dumb caseworker might just refuse you, without having a proper assesment of your immigration history.

It will be a wise decision if you make a Subject Access Request to UKBA and find out what exactly what information they have about you on their file. It only costs ten pounds.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/navig ... onal-data/