Back in March I found out about a civil judgment that was made without my knowledge 7 years ago. To make a very long story short, my employer terminated me, I collected unemployment, then when I left the state she turned around and lied, claiming that I quit.
Then the unemployment bureau launched an investigation and accused me of making "a wilful false statement." They attached a penalty on top of the lump sum and then entered a summary judgement in court 5 months later, while I was living 3,000 miles away.
I never knew about it until I found it by doing a background check on myself.
To make a long story short I've been fighting this for six months and there's no chance it's going away--I can't fight it, the employer is very vindictive and pulled some crazy shenanigans at the hearing. Blah blah blah.
So the big question: I'm going to pay all of this back in a lump sum and get this judgment satisfied. What scares the living hell out of me and my fiancée is what happens come ILR time and we have to declare this after living together for 27 months on the spouse visa? They accused me of fraud which is not true, but never charged me, nor is it a conviction, just a civil monetary judgement. It's not even marked as fraud on the form, but it says "penalty assessed." I discovered it, I came forward, and did everything I honestly could to rectify the situation.
Are we dead in the water on this? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, it's been six months of living hell and the thought of this cloud hanging over our heads for another 3 years until it's time to apply for ILR is too much to bear.
Thank you so much for any advice or tips. I've lost 3 stone over this matter over the past six months....
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_sad.gif)