He has been in UK for more then 10 years (for reference his name is Mark) on the status of a political asylum seeker (which means his case was still being considered). Just 4 months before he could apply for ILR (indefinite leave to remain) based on long residence (10 yrs) he was refused the asylum application. Then he, of course, had the right to appeal; however his lawyer decided to transfer Mark’s case to another lawyer (his friend). This changeover of lawyers was not, by the way, in any way solicited or desired by Mark and might have also contributed to the following fatal mistake made by the lawyers. So when the case was transferred the new lawyer, for some reason, thought that the appeal was already submitted by the previous lawyer and so the new lawyer actually submitted it when it was too late and the appeal was automatically refused because it was late. The lawyer apparently tried to explain all that but I have an impression that he was delaying things on purpose may be because he was afraid to admit the terrible mistake, which was indeed pathetically ridiculous. Also the new lawyer used a wrong address to mail to Mark the outcome of the appeal, this contributed to the delays. This is already the mistake number 2 by the lawyer. Mark says that he clearly wrote the new address on the application and there is definitely proof of that. And finally here is the third mistake. In one of his final attempts to save the situation the lawyer was writing to the home office a letter in which he included Mark’s debts because this is one of the things that can be considered as the tie to the country. So instead of 30k he only put 3k !!!! Were the mistakes deliberate, who knows. So if the first mistake did not happen Mark would have most likely successfully applied for the ILR since the appeal normally takes few months; thus may be it is possible to revert the situation somehow since it seems unfair that the person is suffering due to the lawyer’s mistakes, and they three serious mistakes which can prove lawyers incompetence ??
Also in one of his check visits to the airport immigration, after all the above, that are required of Mark to be done monthly he was asked to sign papers that he agrees to voluntary return to his home country and if he did not sign it they said he would go to prison for 2 years. Is this legal to force a person to do this ??
Also can you explain this: after that signature (ref: above) he still goes to the airport every month for a check and nobody is deporting him. ??
Below is the brief reiteration of the main points that could help him to may be win the case and that you could use to structure your answer.
1. mistake #1appeal was late because of lawyers mistake
2. the changeover of handlers of his case probably contributed to it if this and mistake didn't happen appeal would have been on time and he would have been within 10 years.
3. Mark was imposed the changeover
4. mistake #2 = wrong address used by lawyers contributed to delays
5. mistake #3 = wrong figures, debts of 3k instead of 30k. this prooves their incompetence.
6. forced to sign paper about volontary return, is this legal ???
My suggestion to Mark is to change the lawyer and take the case somewhere. The question is where
.Any answers and any other suggestions would be very much appreciated.