I just found out that my friend is an illegal immigrant

[tmonaghan]

Hello,

I don't want to loose the friendship that I have with a friend of three years who is from India and has been living in the UK for 11 years illegally. I just found that. I don't want to do anything such as reporting him to the Authorities. Instead, I would like to remain friends. What are my options has a British Citizen please?

Trevor

[CR001]

You dont have any options and cant make his stay legal based on your status. Immigration doesnt work like that.

He will have to sort it out himself and either leave or find an application and substantial justification on why HO should grant him a visa.

[tmonaghan]

Thank you CR001.

[secret.simon]

You could guide him to these forums and based on the information he provides, we could guide him on how to regularise his stay, if it is possible.

If he has been illegal for 11 years, there may be implications for any future immigrations applications.

[tarekhasan]

Wait till April next year, a visa on the basis on private life now requires 20 years residence. Rumours are this might be reduced to as 12 years and there might be new options to regularise his status. Watch out for the next immigration bill.

[tmonaghan]

Thanks Guys for the advice. We had a disagreement because I found out. I am not going to be involved anymore with it. In addition, and to be honest I am afraid that if the authorities raided his home, and he has also one of his friends with the same problems living together, I could have had problems as the result of knowing his illegal status. I could have not envisaged us remaining friends anymore because of the lack of genuineness in our friendship. I won't report him as this is not my business and it will be up to the authorities to handle such case if they found out and I don't want to be part of it...

[secret.simon]

Wait till April next year, a visa on the basis on private life now requires 20 years residence. Rumours are this might be reduced to as 12 years and there might be new options to regularise his status. Watch out for the next immigration bill.

Where did you hear these rumours? Can you post a link?

I would be a bit cautious on this point. It is more likely that the threshold for ILR(LR) may be increased from 10 years to 12 years than the long-term illegal residence be reduced from 20 years to 12. Even before 2012, the illegal residence threshold was 14 years.

Changes to the Immigration Rules do not require an Immigration Bill. They are written by ministers as secondary legislation and take effect automatically, unless either House of Parliament passes a resolution against them, which is exceptional and has happened very rarely for any secondary legislation.