Permanent visa to British passport ?

[visaissues]

Hello, I am a regular name changer (grape eating, mad tablecloth woman, moldies...) with a question about a citienship application.

Has anyone got recent experience of changing a permanent visa for a British passport?
I know someone who wants to do this. They have an outstanding court case from 2005, of driving without valid insurance, which (I think) usually means a few weeks prison.
Is it true that a prison sentence automatically means the citienship application being refused, or the person being deported?

Appart from this, the person should have a strong case - in the UK for more than 15 years, children born here etc.

here you go

when you say they have an outstanding court case what do you mean? they just didn't show up?

This is the page you need:

clicky

It all boils down to whether the conviction is spent or not, ie that a certain number of years have passed since the original conviction and fulfillment of the sentence.

A prison sentence of 30 months or more means that a citizenship application is unlikely to be successful.

Didnt turn up. (consider the words "bloody idiot" to be already said)

Thanks for the link. OK it seems clear that the person should wait until it's a spent conviction, but they are also worried about the poss of being deported after a month in prison.

Re-reading the page, it seems unlikely that they would be deported, as it talks about pending court cases.

thank you eldon and vinblanc.

Isn't the case still pending? Or does it just disappear if you don't show? Confused.

I would say that a deportation would be harsh for a road traffic offense, but the no show at court really weakens their case. The court does have the power to deport for criminal offenses.

I would suggest your friend having a chat with an immigration lawyer.

I suspect they may just convict you in your absence for traffic offences

I think that he has probably been convicted in his absence, and the prison sentence is hanging over him. Looks as though he'd have to do it and wait for it to spend itself.

He is going to see an immigration lawyer.

www.ukresident.com is a v. good forum for queries on this sort of thing. We got lots of good advice on there when my DH overstayed a UK visitor visa. The lawyers on the forum are quite active and helpful.

doesn t permanent leave to remain mean they are here permanenetly and cant be deported??

an old boyf had perm leave to remain but used his passport ubtill he realised the pain of havign to get visas etc to travel within europe for hols so applied for a passport