Insecure or unclear immigration status

If you find yourself in a situation where you are unsure of your immigration status, the best thing to do is to contact an immigration lawyer for advice. There are organisations in and around London that can provide free legal advice, even when legal aid is not available.

Such organisations include:

• Solace Women’s Aid provides immigration advice as part of their advice service, including on domestic abuse, human rights, European Union law and No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF)
• Lewisham Refugee and Migrant Network is a migrants’ rights charity in south London advocating for and supporting those most vulnerable. It advises on critical immigration cases, how to prevent homelessness, improve wellbeing, meet basic needs and campaign for change
• Notre Dame Refugee Centre is an independent charity supporting asylum seekers, refugees and human rights applicants in London
• Cardinal Hume Centre offers free legal advice and representation on immigration cases for Londoners who cannot afford to pay for legal advice on immigration, asylum and nationality law
• Rainbow Migration supports lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) people through the asylum and immigration system
• Rights of Women provides women with free, confidential legal advice by specialist women solicitors and barristers
• Islington Law Centre is a charity employing solicitors and caseworkers to provide free and independent legal advice and representation to people living, working or studying in the London Borough of Islington and surrounding boroughs. Services include debt, education, welfare benefits, housing, immigration
• Kalayaan is a small London based charity which works to provide practical advice and support to migrant domestic workers in the UK
• South London Refugee Association is a community organisation providing specialist advice and support to refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants who are at risk or in crisis because of past trauma or restrictions related to their current immigration status

Immigration lawyers can have different job titles. You may meet an immigration advisor, a solicitor, a paralegal, a trainee, or caseworker. This is not a problem as long as your representative is regulated.

All immigration advisors must be regulated to give immigration advice. They must have the right training and qualifications. Their name must be on an official list of advisors. They should be able to show you proof of this. You can check your lawyer's name on the OISC register or the SRA register.

When you meet an immigration advisory for the first time, they should explain:

• Who they are
• What they can and cannot do for you
• Whether they charge fees and how much they are.

You will need to ask whether your application is covered by legal aid. This is not available for all immigration applications. You can find a legal aid lawyer on gov.uk.

Lawyers are independent from the Home Office and they should work in your best interests. A good lawyer must be able to support you by:

• Keeping your information safe and confidential – this means none of the information you share will be given to anyone outside of their organisation, without your permission
• Responding to your messages within a reasonable time (about a week) – you should understand reasons for a delay
• Explaining the next steps in your case. If you do not know what you are waiting for, or what will happen next, you should contact your lawyer who can clarify things for you.

It is important that you give the lawyer as much information as possible about your situation so that they can give you the best possible advice.

If you have concerns about what your lawyer is doing for you, you should discuss this with them. If your concerns continue, you can make a complaint. The complaints procedure should have been set out clearly in your initial advice letter (often called a “client care letter”).

For information about lawyers and legal advice, visit the Right to Remain website.

If you have insecure or unclear immigration status, you should seek legal advice. Find a local immigration lawyer via the Law Society or Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association.

Any good immigration lawyer will need information about your case so they can represent you and give you accurate advice. They will likely need your Home Office file.

You may wish to save time by obtaining the file yourself while you look for an immigration lawyer. You can request your file from the Home Office and find out your status. However, once you contact the Home Office, they will have your contact details. If you do not have status, then you could be detained under immigration laws.

If you know that you do not currently have any immigration status, and you want to remain in the UK, you will need to make an immigration application to regularise your immigration status. We have put together a brief summary below of the types of applications you may be able to make based on the most common scenarios.

If you do not make an application, you may be at risk of immigration detention by the Home Office and removal from the UK. For more information, see our page on Immigration detention, removal and deportation.

You may be able to apply for status if you fear for your life in your country of origin or nationality. This application is called an asylum claim.

If you have not made an asylum claim before, please see our page on Asylum and refugees.

If you have already claimed asylum but this was unsuccessful, you may be able to make a fresh claim if you have new evidence about the original reasons you claimed asylum or different reasons, such as your political activities in the UK, and your evidence is significantly different from your initial asylum claim.

To increase the chance of success in a fresh claim, you should obtain new evidence about why you cannot return to your country of origin. This evidence must not have been previously considered in your original asylum claim. The evidence could be from your country of origin or the UK. Any new evidence should support your account and prove that you are truthful.

Examples of evidence include:

• an arrest warrant, issued in your name and given to a family member after the original decision on your asylum claim
• medical evidence from within the UK, showing your physical or mental scars are consistent with the experiences you have claimed.

These types of new evidence could form the basis for a fresh claim for asylum.

If the situation in your country of origin has changed significantly since your claim for asylum was originally decided, this could also form the basis of a fresh claim.

Most fresh claims are refused by the Home Office. You should consider asking a lawyer to help prepare your fresh claim. A properly prepared fresh claim could increase the chance of success. While looking for a lawyer, it is useful to see what sort of evidence you can obtain that you could rely on for your fresh claim.

This video by Right to Remain explains the fresh claims process.

If you do not fear for your life in your country of origin, you may be able to make a different application.  

You may also be able to apply for status if you have a family in the UK that the Home Office is not aware of.

In general, for family life applications, you must have either a child or a partner in the UK.

To apply as a parent of a child, you will need to show:

• you have a genuine and ongoing parental relationship with a child (under 18)
• your child is a British citizen, or has lived in the UK continuously for at least the 7 years before to the application date
• it would not be reasonable to expect the child to leave the UK.

To apply based on your relationship with a partner, you will need to show:

• you have a genuine and ongoing relationship with a partner who is in the UK
• your partner must be a British citizen, a refugee; or settled in the UK
• there are very significant challenges in continuing your family life with that partner outside the UK
• these challenges cannot be overcome, or would involve very serious hardship for you or your partner.

You may be able to apply for status if you have lived in the UK for a long time, or from a young age.

In general, for private life applications, you must meet any of the following criteria:

• you have lived continuously in the UK for at least 20 years
• you are under 18, and have lived continuously in the UK for at least seven years
• you are between 18 and 25, and have spent at least half of your life living continuously in the UK
• you are 18 years or older, and have lived continuously in the UK for less than 20 years; but there would be very significant obstacles to your integration into your country of origin. (However, if you have made an asylum claim which has been declared inadmissible, you might not benefit from this rule. You should speak to a lawyer first before making a private life application.)

It is best to seek advice from a qualified immigration lawyer. Find an immigration lawyer.

If you want to stay in the UK but you do not fall into any of the above categories, you may be able to make a different application based on your human rights. Reasons for a human rights applications could include:

• your age
• your relationship with another relative
• your health.

If you have been exploited while in the UK, or at any time in your life, you may be considered a victim of modern slavery or human trafficking. You are entitled to be recognised as a victim. This may result in you being granted a form of immigration status. Examples of exploitation include being forced to:

• work with little or no pay
• commit criminal activities
• provide sexual services
• do anything against your will, for no benefit to yourself.

If you have been exploited, you should try to contact a lawyer for advice. There are also organisations that offer support for survivors of exploitation, including the Anti-Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit or Kalayaan. You can also seek help from the Salvation Army.

Generally speaking, you cannot make any other type of application if you are currently in the UK without any immigration status. However, some other applications may be possible if you are a European national or family member (see our page on European Londoners).

If you have any criminal convictions, your application will be impacted. You will need the assistance of an immigration lawyer. Find a local immigration lawyer via the Law Society or Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association.

This depends on the type of leave to remain you were granted. In most cases, the Home Office will grant leave to remain on a temporary basis. This means you will need to apply to extend your permission to stay in the UK before your current one expires.

If you received a positive decision on your asylum application, you will be granted leave to remain for up to five years. Before this leave to remain expires you will need to apply for further leave to remain.

If you were granted five years initially, you can apply for permanent status (called ‘indefinite leave to remain’). This application is free.

If you were granted status for a shorter time (for example, 30 months), you will need to apply to renew this. You will need to continue renewing your status until you have lived in the UK for 10 years. These applications are free. After 10 years, you can apply for indefinite leave to remain.

Important: You must submit any further immigration applications before your current status ends. You will need to show that you still need protection from the UK government. This means you will need to explain - with evidence, if you can get this - about why you would face problems in your home country if you returned there.

If the situation has changed and it might be safe for you to return, this might impact the outcome of your further applications. Also, if you have a criminal record from your time in the UK, this may impact the application outcome. In these cases, we recommend you speak to a lawyer before you apply for leave to remain, but make sure you seek advice early so your leave does not expire.

For further information, please see our section on Asylum and refugees.

If you received a positive decision on your private life or family life application, you will usually be given temporary status (or 'limited leave to remain') for 30 months. You will usually be on a ‘10-year route to settlement’.

This means the Home Office expects you to continue renewing your temporary status until you have lived in the UK for 10 years. After this, you can apply for permanent legal status (also known as settlement or ‘indefinite leave to remain’).

This usually involves making four immigration applications - three further applications for 30 months, and one final application for indefinite leave to remain. However, this depends on your circumstances. For example, some people may have limited leave to remain for 60 months instead of 30 months, and some may be on a shorter ‘5-year route to settlement’. You must apply to renew your status before your current one expires.

Every time you apply to renew your status, you will need to pay the application fee and NHS surcharge. This means it is important to plan for this, including saving for your application fees and ensuring you apply on time.

If you cannot afford the application fees, you can apply to get a fee waiver.

The Home Office recently made changes to the frequency children and young people need to reapply for status. More information is available on our dedicated section on children and young Londoners with insecure status.