Will Related but added complication of Illegal Immigrant!

[exLtEveDallas]

I'm after any suggestions - because I'm stumped.

A benificiary of a family members will moved to the USA 15 years ago. She married an American. She kept British Citizenship initially and has never green carded etc.

Her British Passport ran out 8 years ago and she never renewed it.
She doesn't have a bank account.
She works cash in hand.
She is technically (I think) an illegal immigrant.

Her DH works, pays tax etc.
They have a huge medical bill related debt.

She is due a good sum of cash from the will.

How on earth do we get this money to her?
There is a Solicitor involved over here, but he hasn't yet been told the extent of the problem - because we didn't know about it till last week! The executor would rather not involve him in case it shines a light on the relatives immigration status.

Any ideas?

Charolais
If you have a US passport you will have neither ESTA nor Green Card.
If you have a UK passport it will have the full issue details and your US immigration status on issue linked to the electronic record that UKBA see on their screens.

I do not know how often you fly in and out of the UK on your Blue passport but I can promise you that UKBA are an absolute PITA if there are any anomalies in the records.

Buying a one way ticket out of the USA with a shiny new British Passport will ring alarm bells with the Airline, with UKBA and with DHS

and yes, she should have done it legally, but she did not.

Altering the will to make her daughter the beneficiary is pretty much the only way to go.

If she makes her daughter the beneficiary, could the daughter then pay her mother's medical bill from the UK? Any money left over could then be transferred, but it would be less so a bit easier. I'm sure the hospital/doctors are used to sometimes having people paying bills for their close relatives.

I was referring to appointments within the US, charolais.

God what a bloody mess she is in. I hadn't realised the extent of the issue - had no reason to think about it until now. This money is the least of her problems, isn't it?

I don't think the beneficiary will be able to travel to the UK without answering some tough questions! Nor can I see how she can vary the will without proving her identity in some way.

Is the solicitor one of the executors?

She’ll be absolutely fine with the UKBA. She’ll have a valid British passport and it will have been issued in durham, as all passports for people living overseas are now. They will have no idea that she hasn’t just been living legally in Britain or the EU or whatever. But she won’t be able to re-enter the US easily for the next ten years. The sensible thing to do is use the inheritance to sponsor the husband to come to the UK. That’s totally doable. But people don’t always make the sensible choice.

LovesLabours
She’ll be absolutely fine with the UKBA. She’ll have a valid British passport and it will have been issued in Durham, as all passports for people living overseas are now. They will have no idea that she hasn’t just been living legally in Britain or the EU or whatever.
Absolute and utter piffle.

She will be applying for a passport with a HUGE gap since the last one
to be sent to an address in the USA

She will be buying a one way ticket from the USA to the UK with no proof of arrival in the UK or any sort of paperwork to prove how she got there

And on arrival in the UK, the UKBA will want proof that she is the person on the passport as they will not have a current digital picture of her in their records

I have been locked up by the UKBA
I would not wish it on anybody else

The sensible thing to do is use the inheritance to sponsor the husband to come to the UK.
Unless the inheritance is HUGE, she would fall foul of the Hostile Environment - she has no job here and nor would he.

If she goes to see an immigration lawyer in the US will that advice be confidential? The lawyer wouldn't have to report her to US immigration would they?

I think getting proper legal advice is the only way forward. How much is the inheritance? Worth packing up to live in the UK for? With regard to UKBA she hasn't broken any laws in the UK (?) so even if the hold her it until ID is confirmed shes then free to live legally here although with hostil environment I imagine it would be very difficult/impossible to get her husband living here. She's not going to be extradited back to the US for being there illegally although I expect would be barred from returning. Hostile environments everywhere, some countries just hate immigrants, couple unable to live together is the consequence, what a mess.

TalkinPeace. You only need £16k savings to sponsor someone and you can use that instead of an income. That’s the whole point of suggesting she can use the inheritance.

The UKBA aren’t going to ask a British citizen returning to the UK with a valid British passport for additional proof of id. If she has any issues it will be when she applies for a passport, but she won’t have problems because she has a previous passport.

You don’t really sound as if you know what you’re talking about.

The UKBA aren’t going to ask a British citizen returning to the UK with a valid British passport for additional proof of id
If you say so

If she has any issues it will be when she applies for a passport, but she won’t have problems because she has a previous passport.
Really?
Its a pre digital passport. She has no current UK corroborating ID. She has no UK Tax or NI records. She will be unwilling to attend the Embassy in person.

Brits are so arrogant when they assume about how their government treats those who might not have right of entry.

When I applied to become British the process was deeply unpleasant and intrusive - but then the interview was in Portsmouth

If your relative refused the inheritance, presumably her share would be split between the other beneficiaries? If those other beneficiaries are aware of the situation, close to your relative, trustworthy and willing to pass the money on to her at a later point / trickle it over to the husband, that might be an option? Risky though and very easy for the others to go back on the agreement the minute they receive the inheritance.

Hahahaha. Weird that you assume I know nothing about how the British treat people who might not have right of entry. Attending the embassy has had no part in the passport issuing process for some years, unless you need an emergency passport. This woman will not have problems reentering the UK. But since she doesn’t want to, that’s irrelevant.

Who is intending on distributing the money? Executor or solicitor?

I'm living abroad, and have just inherited a reasonable lump from my Grandmother.
The solicitor refused to distribute the funds without me turning up to her office with my passport. Totally reasonable - she needs to know the money is going to the right place. I offered her dates between 24 Dec and 3 Jan, which apparently is when the office is shut, but is the only time I'm in the UK.
Notorised copy of the passport from the Embassy wouldn't do. So if the solicitor is distributing the funds, there will be a big issue.

However, now the executor is distributing the funds, suddenly I don't need to prove my identity. So, if there is a bank account somewhere that the executor can transfer her share to, this seems to be the route to go.

Setting up a UK bank account for her will be very hard.

I hope you find a solution.

She has no UK Tax or NI records.

Why have you assumed this? Presumably she paid tax and NI in this country before she left for the US.

NotDAvidTenant
She will have no records for the last 15 years since she moved to the US
as she has been abroad for 15 years she has lost the right to vote in the UK
and as the Windrush debacle has shown

• UKBA have been known to take UK passports off people and put them back on the plane whence they came
• UK Immigration only accepts their own electronic records as proof of identity
• UKBA has taken a lack of exit stamps (that they used to refuse to put in people's passports) as proof that you had never arrived / left

I am sure that LovesLabour and her team in which ever part of the Home Office she works for do a lovely job
but at the sharp end of Terminal 4 its another story.

Last time I came back into the UK I saw a British person's passport rejected at the electronic gates and the officers marched them off into a side room - computer had said No for some reason.

Basically the money needs to be altered at the Executor level to somebody who can collect and then Eve's relative needs to sort it out within her family, from the USA
and pray that TRump gets distracted from January onwards

I know you want to help but do keep your head on straight.

Her options are superficially simple: sign over to daughter; or, sort self legally. Former clearly better in terms of immediacy. Latter better for her long term.

Sounds like she has her head in the sand!

Opposite of the Home Office actually, I’m involved in migrant rights campaigning. The Windrush issue is irrelevant here.

Many issues are being conflated here not all of which are immediately relevant to the OPs relative.

But yes OP, I do think collecting the inheritance is the least of your relative's worries and I would go down the Deed of Variation route.

I agree with LovesLabour she's got to sort herself out. But you know that.

UKBA have been known to take UK passports off people and put them back on the plane whence they came

I don't think this applies here. The person is question is British and has no other passport or nationality. She is definitely not American so they cannot send her back there. I doubt they could declare her stateless - surely she has a British birth certificate? The Home Office/ UKBA would have to accept her however begrudgingly.

What an unenviable situation to be in!

Exactly. She will have a UK birth certificate, an NI number regardless of when she's last paid tax here, and I am assuming could procure evidence of school attendance, evidence of parents' nationality etc if necessary.

I am guessing the passport office could have additional questions for her though. I cannot believe she really doesn't have any current form of ID.

Op if she is currently married to a US citizen why on earth has she made such heavy weather of this situation? It's all very odd that she's made her life quite so complicated. Do you think you really have the full story? I am increasingly thinking just leave her to it. It's her problem to solve.

@Talkinpeece is absolutely right about the ESTA thing though. I can't see they won't ask about it if she tries to leave. She really needs to see an attorney, this is no way to live.

Talkinpeece

As I keep saying the person needs to renew their British passport from the U.S. I have been renewing my passport from the U.S. since the early 1970's. The UK border people do not ever ask what a British citizen has been doing out of the country.

I believe you have to be back in the U.K. for 6 months before you can use the NHS ands that would be probably the same for voting again.

If you have a US passport you will have neither ESTA nor Green Card

Absolutely untrue. You certainly DO NOT not need a green card if you have a U.S passport. You cannot be a naturalized U.S citizen and a green card holder. You hand over your green card when you become a citizen.

If you have a UK passport it will have the full issue details and your US immigration status on issue linked to the electronic record that UKBA see on their screens

I am born and raised British and have a British passport and it does NOT have any information anywhere on it about my U.S immigration status. In fact when I was boarding a plane at Heathrow to return here once the person checking passports at the gate mentioned mine was about to expire in a few months. He have no idea I was a U.S. resident and going home by looking at my passport.

I do not know how often you fly in and out of the UK on your Blue passport but I can promise you that UKBA are an absolute PITA if there are any anomalies in the records

My passport is a dark red not blue. I need to make it clear to you that there are no anomalies on my passport or anywhere else. I believe in following the law. I'm a legal U.S resident and would never dream of breaking the laws in the U.S or the U.K. I find it easier to be law abiding.

Buying a one way ticket out of the USA with a shiny new British Passport will ring alarm bells with the Airline, with UKBA and with DHS.

I have flown out of the U.S. using a newly issued British passport and there was no problem. You are allowed to travel with a new passport and people have to get a new one for many reasons.

You obviously have an issue with Trump and I think that might be because he wants immigration laws followed - as Obama did as well.

The op's family member might not have become a legal U.S resident because she couldn't for some reason. Maybe she had a criminal record, or maybe mental health issues - or drug resistant TB - who knows. To become a U.S resident you have to be well vetted. Criminal background check, medical examine etc.

As I said before I have been living away from the U.K for many years and still have my NI number (somewhere) and my BC. I can return home anytime if I wanted to, even with a brand new passport.

I was referring to appointments within the US

Showing up for an immigration appointment within the U.S. after you've been living her illegally for 15 years would get you arrested - and rightfully so. The person needs to leave the U.S before she is deported and she will be sooner or later, and then she needs to make an attempt to reenter legally.

But @Charolais do you not think when she presents her British passport at the airport they won't ask her about the ESTA thing? Based on my husband's experiences at the US airport, they look for the visa waiver to remove it. I can't see how they won't. If there isn't one in there - I can't see how it wouldn't trigger the conversation of how and when she arrived there.

Can you see a way aropund this?

Charolais
have a British passport and it does NOT have any information anywhere on it about my U.S immigration status
Really, have you read whats in the electronic patch ?
You do not really think that the interesting stuff is printed on passports any more do you?

You are right, I do not like Trump. He caused a family member to leave the GOP after 60 years of voting for them.
But the OP's family issues are less to do with Trump than with the UKBA frankly