Man had a long wait to find out if he could stay in the UK

What happened

Mr C came to the UK from Zimbabwe and claimed asylum in 2002. He married a Zimbabwean national in the UK and they had three children. She and their children were given refugee status in 2009. Mr C applied for leave to remain in 2009 but UKVI rejected his claim. He made further submissions in 2012 but UKVI did not look at his case until winter 2013. When it considered his case, it granted Mr C indefinite leave to remain in the UK.

What we found

UKVI correctly put Mr C's case into a unit dealing with asylum claims made prior to 2007. It had made a commitment to deal with all these applications by summer 2011 and we found that there was no reason why Mr C's application should not have been decided by that date. UKVI failed to consider his case by summer 2011 and for more than two years after that. We found that its failure to take action and conclude his case was so poor as to be maladministration. We found that Mr C suffered anxiety, has been unable to make plans with his family and had been severely restricted in the work he was able to do. We considered that was an injustice to him.

Putting it right

The principle injustice to Mr C had been remedied as he had been granted indefinite leave to remain. UKVI apologised to Mr C for the failings we found, and made a consolatory payment of £200 in recognition of the injustice he had suffered.