Hundreds of migrants living in the UK are facing agonising delays in finding out if they can stay, despite some having British children.

Most immigrants in the UK have to apply to extend their stay every 30 months – before qualifying to remain indefinitely after either five or 10 years – paying thousands of pounds each time.

In many cases, the Home Office aims to respond within eight weeks, but figures obtained by Sky News show 902 immigrants seeking study or partner visas have been waiting more than a year.

Lengthy delays can cause applicants to lose their jobs, have their benefits suspended and leave them dealing with crippling debt, even if they already live in the country legally.

Independent migration policy researcher Zoe Gardner said the figures, which also show 167 cases have remained unresolved for at least 20 years, “point to a problem” at the Home Office.

“These delays can seriously impact people’s lives, even if it’s 900 people waiting over a year – this is potentially life-ruining for those people and it’s clearly systemic,” she told Sky News.

Applicants are charged £1,258 just to submit forms for what the Home Office refers to as Leave to Remain visas, £1,035 per year to use the NHS plus potentially thousands more in legal fees.

Parents of four children Ali and Sade, who qualified for spouse visas after visiting Britain, said they applied for a fee waiver to dodge an £8,000 bill for their third extension in May 2023.

Three of their children are British citizens – having been born in the UK and lived here for 10 years – while their eight-year-old daughter is part of their current application.

But more than 18 months later they are still waiting for an answer – a delay they told Sky News has cost Ali his job over the uncertainty, left them in debt and relying on food banks.

“Now my husband’s work is gone, we are relying only on my end, it’s not enough,” said Sade, who works as a carer and like Ali didn’t want to give her real name in the wake of the Southport riots.

“It’s taking food away from our children’s mouths, so we go back to food banks and this all impacts our health. It makes you feel like you’re in the wrong place, even with British children.”

Why can delays be a problem?

Immigrants who aren’t asylum seekers and submit their application to extend their stay before their current visa expires are allowed to remain in the country while their case is processed – this is known as “3C leave”.

But in some cases the Home Office fails to provide documents – or a share code – for applicants to prove they are in the country legally.This means potentially thousands of people are at risk of losing their jobs each year through no fault of their own.

In June this year, a High Court judge ruled the government had acted unlawfully by failing to provide applicants with proof of their status.

Mr Justice Cavanagh said the absence of proof has “serious adverse consequences”, adding: “Where these problems bite, the consequences are very severe indeed.”

He ruled in favour of healthcare worker Cecilia Adjei, who has two children – one of whom is a British citizen. She waited nearly a year for a decision and was suspended from her job twice in that time.

Processing time aims may vary according to demand and could be as long as 12 months for certain spouse applications. Anyone who doesn’t apply in time faces a much longer wait than usual and won’t qualify for 3C leave.

‘How long can we do this?’

Ali said he lost his job in security when his contract was due for renewal in September after he couldn’t prove to his employers he has the right to work.

He fears they won’t be able to afford their next round of applications, adding: “How will I work and raise money while paying bills in just another two and a half years for three applications?

“Even if I work every month I can’t afford the fees. We don’t know if we will qualify for a fee waiver. We have to save now, but how long can we do this for?”

To make matters worse, Sade’s father died last month in Nigeria, but because she wouldn’t be allowed back in the country until her status is clarified she will miss the funeral.

The family had also planned to take the children, aged eight, 12, 13 and 18, on their first ever trip abroad over the summer – a holiday they had to cancel for the same reason.

Home Office ‘failure’

Since 2020, the Refugee and Migrant Forum Of Essex & London (RAMFEL) has been tracking how its clients have fared during 3C leave and claim 17% have suffered “serious detriment”.

If replicated on a national level, the groups estimates 40,000 people on 3C leave could lose their job each year – compounded by the Home Office’s “failure to respond to employment verification checks in a timely manner”.

RAMFEL’s head of campaigning, Nick Beales, told Sky News there are “crueller aspects” of the immigration system, but “nothing better evidences its dysfunction” than parents of British citizens waiting nearly two years for renewals.

Read more:
Net UK migration falls by 20%
Breaking down new UK figures

The figures obtained by Sky News show 346 partner visa applications have been unresolved for more than 10 years, which Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at Oxford University, described as “puzzling”.

“In theory, delays are a problem addressed with more resources, it is fixable,” she told Sky News, adding another option could be to simplify the process by requiring fewer applications.

A Home Office source acknowledged applications can “sometimes take longer to process”, but said they can “vary in complexity” depending on the individual circumstances.

They added employers can check an individual’s status with the department while the application is pending.

It means little to Ali, who said they have already spent a costly year and a half waiting for a process that will need them to go through the same applications again within 30 months.

“Sometimes the children look at us and ask why we are sad,” he said.

“Even if they give it today, it doesn’t make sense anymore… we will need to raise money again to renew.

“I don’t know how we are going to do it.”