It was around March 2017, I had 2 months left on my papers to stay in the UK, after which I thought I would be due my Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR), which would grant me a permanent stay in the UK and bring me closer to becoming a UK citizen. My wife was a dependant, which meant her stay was to be determined by my status in the UK (or so we thought).
By our calculations and understanding, I had clocked 10 years in the UK in January 2017, so, everything else was just additional and it was supposed to be easy sailing once you apply through the 10-yr route, so I was just waiting for the existing visa to run out and I’ll apply for my ILR via the 10-yr route which automatically qualified me for permanent stay, and my wife will automatically qualify along with me and both of us will be free from immigration wahala.
Our imaginations and expectations were perfectly okay until I ran into a brother who I used to attend same church in Luton, called bro Sunny (I will never forget him). I met him at the shopping mall in Luton and it was a normal greetings thing and we were both asking after each other’s family and welfare and general brotherly gist.
He knew I was still on a visa and he too was once on a visa but somehow he just asked me how I was faring with my visa journey (I had no idea why he asked). I told him my journey so far, and confidently told him that I’m just two months away from my ILR, and I was looking forward to it. He asked about my wife’s status, I told him my wife was my dependant and that once I get mine, she’ll get hers automatically and that I intended to submit both applications at the same time.
That was when the guy asked me whether I came into the country same time as my wife, and I said no. He just burst my bubble and told me the most important thing in my life till date: he said “o boy, no be so e dey work oo, dem go just deport una two if your papers expire”. I froze for a minute and asked him what he meant.
He just told me to, as a matter of urgency, sort out my own ILR, then use my new status to get my wife an extension on her visa, which would take her to her own 10-yr route because she was supposed to qualify on her own, not relying on my own route. My eyes were wide open as he said this and I asked him if he was sure and the guy said he has never been more sure of anything. The guy told me to treat this with the utmost urgency it required.
Not only did he tell me what to do, he gave me the contact of an immigration lawyer he had used, who was also a Nigerian, and asked me to contact her immediately to start sorting things out. He said I should just mention his name and the lawyer will know who referred me to her. I was visibly shaking as he was telling me this. I took the number of the immigration lawyer and ran home to tell my wife what has just happened and how our expectations and calculations have just been turned upside down.
The story of what happened next and the drama that followed it will be too long for this write-up, so, watch out for the video of the conclusion of this story. You won’t believe what happened next but e no easy at all .
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