A friend's sticky immigration situation

Hi everyone.
Apologies if this is not appropriate for this forum, but a friend of mine is having an issue and I thought I'd ask for advice for him.
This friend's brother met someone online from the States and she came over here to be with him for six month as a visitor. Standard. They then decided to get married. They would not listen to my advice because apparently some solicitor told them to wait until after she had been here the six month and then just go get married. I told them NO. They refused to listen to me. So after she over-stayed her visa, somehow they got a registrar to give them a marriage license and got married. This same solicitor told them that if they moved to Ireland, after a year he could apply for citizenship there and then could get her an Irish visa. This was their plan
They have since gone back to the solicitors who told them that the person they spoke to was not an immigration lawyer and told them the real deal. They still refuse to listen. So now, she has been here illegally over a year with my friend's brother scraping by to support them both. He doesn't seem to care because he is young and is ....well....just being an idiot. The family has learned a lot about this girl....they even got in contact with her mother. Turns out she is a massive scam artist. She stole her father's credit card to buy her ticket here. She is now sending her passport to a friend in the states to renew from within the country because it is expiring.
Our friend is very concerned for his brother. They are all aware that this situation will eventually land him in jail. And while they don't want that, this girl is slowing eating away at this kid's life. They are obviously not reporting anything, as they dont want him to go to jail. However, this girl is morbidly obese. She is eventually going to have to go to the hospital and will get caught. They are worried what will happen to the rest of the family as they know she is here. Does anyone have any advice for my friend's family?
Also....we don't know how the registrar gave them a marriage license without a visa but is it even valid without one??

The marriage will be valid, assuming both of them were free to marry (not married to anyone else).

The man isn't going to go to jail for anything.

Often people only listen to the advice or rules they WANT to hear instead of the true laws.

At some point, she'll need to legalize her stay.  What that will consist of when the time comes is anyone's guess.

If the man is a grown adult, unfortunately these are his choices to make.  It's hard to stand by and watch, but it sounds like you've done all you can. 

Well, that’s one complicated situation.

However, I don’t see how it could land your friend’s brother in jail. He hasn’t broken the law... it’s his US citizen wife who is currently breaking the law, so if anyone is going to get into trouble, it will be her, not him.

If the registrar agreed to marry them and they weren’t ineligible to get married (i.e. not already married to someone else), then the marriage is legal.

What this girl really needs to do is leave the UK ASAP. But it’s up to her to do it. If she won’t, or your friend’s brother won’t listen or do anything about it, then I guess she’s just going to end up getting caught another way. For example, if she uses the NHS or tries to work or something. I have a feeling that she could have an issue with renewing her passport, since it may well get flagged up by customs when she mails it to the US and/or when her friend sends it back to the UK.


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I guess you or someone else could always report the overstay to the Home Office. You could do so by following the instructions here:

https://www.gov.uk/report-immigration-crime

But you know, you might want to consider two things. Firstly, there seems to be a lot of hearsay in this scenario. I'm not saying that what you've written isn't 100% accurate, but it's hard to know the totality of the situation unless you're in it. Keep that in mind before you report, perhaps?

Secondly, some people are very clever when it comes to negotiating their way through life. Even if the Home Office is informed, that may not stop/hinder/demotivate this American overstayer. Her husband and his family will be hit with potentially high solicitor and application fees if they pursue the family life route or something else outside the rules, which they may choose to do at some point. But that's his and their choice, and it's been done before by others with some (limited) success. It's just a long, costly road for anyone involved.

Although the ideal thing for her would be to leave and apply from the US, based on what you've written, I doubt that will happen. She might just choose to live "underground" as it were, and take her chances. But in the current immigration environment with banking/driving/NHS/rentability/employability checks everywhere, that's not going to be easy.

Ultimately, your friend and his wife are going to do what they're going to do and face the consequences of their choices. Try not to get too wound up in it, as it ultimately doesn't impact you. But I hope that what I and others have written will put things into better context.

Although the ideal thing for her would be to leave and apply from the US, based on what you've written, I doubt that will happen.

The thing with doing this is that the length of her overstay would cause a ban/automatic refusal for at least 12 months from when she left the UK (or longer if she was removed/deported).

- If the overstay started before 6th April 2017, UKVI will only overlook an overstay of up to 90 days.
- If the overstay started after 6th April 2017, they will only overlook an overstay of up to 30 days.

An overstay of any longer than those 90 (or 30) days is an automatic ban from the UK of between 12 months if they left voluntarily and at their own expense or either 2, 5 or 10 years in more serious circumstances (i.e. being removed/deported, they left at the government's expense etc.).

However, this girl is morbidly obese. She is eventually going to have to go to the hospital and will get caught.

How will she pay her medical bills? The NHS can now ask for payment up front and add 50% to the bill if she doesn't have insuance. The NHS can now refuse to treat her if she doesn't pay up front, unless it is life threatening i.e. heart attack, but even these people are still billed and have 50% added if no insuarance.

If the bill isn't paid, the NHS can pursue her and her husband through the courts for the money the owe. i.e. one person on another site lost in court and ended up with a bill for 36k for his father's emergency treatment for a stroke, while in the UK  as a visitor.

Any unpaid NHS bill of over £500, is reported to UKVI. UKVI also use the NHS SPINE system to catch those who who must pay to use the NHS. The NHS have a hotline for NHS staff to contact the UKVI.

When she tries to use the NHS she will be given an NHS number, even if she pays in full. In the first 10 months of 2016, nearly 6 thousand were deported who were found by UKVI using the NHS records.

The problem she has is that in the past it has been really easy to live in the UK with no legal status/no right to reside, and be able to steal from the NHS, work illegally, be allowed to stay in the UK even though they lied to enter the UK and said they were just a visitor, delay deportation for years, etc, but now all that abuse has ended.  The two new Immigration Acts 2014 and 2016 and all the never ending changes to the Immigration Act 1971 and the changes to outside the immigration rules, are designed to make it impossible for those who don't have permission to be in the UK, to survive. Too much abuse always gets things shut down.

By overstaying, she has committed a criminal offence, not her husband. It is a fail of Good Character requirement to help an illegal and refusal of a visa, but if he already holds British citizenship then it won't affect him.

If her husband is renting a property or just a room in somebody’s' home, then she is not allowed to live there. A landlord must now check that illegals are not in their property even if that illegal does not have their name on a tenancy agreement. The government has an online checking system for landlords.

"You can get an unlimited fine or be sent to prison for renting your property to someone who isn’t allowed to stay in England."
https://www.gov.uk/check-tenant-right-to-rent-documents/how-to-check

It's not in any landlords interest to keep quiet about illegals now or to not bother to check.  New laws are going through to allow landlords to evict illegals quickly.

Anyone who employs her is now committing a criminal offence.

Since 2016, working or driving while having no legal status in the UK, is also a criminal offence now too, with up to 12 months in jail and their wages/the car they were driving, seized. A UK driving licence is now revoked from those who don’t leave the UK and become overstayers, as UKVI now tell the DVLA if they have haven't left the UK.

No bank accounts for illegal overstayers anymore and the banks are now starting to look for those who already hold a bank account with them before this new law but have no legal status in the UK. The US is also looking for US citizens who have bank accounts in the UK and that too will bring her to the attention of UK banks.

Even if she can survive without: renting, using the NHS, driving, working; a bank account etc, there are still others ways she can bring herself to the attention of UKVI. i.e. the UK have exit checks now and will realise she hasn't left. Even if she moves, UKVI can now gather  information from other government departments when they look for overstayers i.e. the NHS records, even if the person paid to use the NHS. The police will stop check on the occupants of cars too and now carry portable fingerprint machines for those they think might not be legal in the UK and will detain immigration criminals for UKVI; UKVI have immigration checks in the streets.

But you know, you might want to consider two things. Firstly, there seems to be a lot of hearsay in this scenario. I'm not saying that what you've written isn't 100% accurate, but it's hard to know the totality of the situation unless you're in it. Keep that in mind before you report, perhaps?

UKVI do check they are illegal before they go out to detain them. The same with the benefit thief hotline, the relevant benefit agencies check before they send out an "Interview under Caution" letter. Those IUC letters are only sent to those that they have the proof they need to convict. The DWP now handle all the fraud cases for all the other benefit departments too.

Secondly, some people are very clever when it comes to negotiating their way through life. Even if the Home Office is informed, that may not stop/hinder/demotivate this American overstayer. Her husband and his family will be hit with potentially high solicitor and application fees if they pursue the family life route or something else outside the rules, which they may choose to do at some point. But that's his and their choice, and it's been done before by others with some (limited) success. It's just a long, costly road for anyone involved.

That won't work anymore as that abuse was shut down too.

And there aren't any in-country appeals against refusals anymore to try to delay their removal from the UK for years, as that well known abuse ended under the Immigration Act 2016 and that includes Human Rights appeals too.

As I said, abuse always gets things shut down.

The thing with doing this is that the length of her overstay would cause a ban/automatic refusal for at least 12 months from when she left the UK (or longer if she was removed/deported).

- If the overstay started before 6th April 2017, UKVI will only overlook an overstay of up to 90 days.
- If the overstay started after 6th April 2017, they will only overlook an overstay of up to 30 days.

An overstay of any longer than those 90 (or 30) days is an automatic ban from the UK of between 12 months if they left voluntarily and at their own expense or either 2, 5 or 10 years in more serious circumstances (i.e. being removed/deported, they left at the government's expense etc.).

And as long as she hasn't been Frustrating the intentions of the Immigration Rules: RFL07, paragraph 320(11) as that can stop someone getting a spouse visa too.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/frustrating-the-intentions-of-the-immigration-rules-rfl07-paragraph-32011/frustrating-the-intentions-of-the-immigration-rules-rfl07-paragraph-32011