The United Kingdom’s Home Office has informed Nelson Shardey, a 74-year-old retired Ghanaian man who has resided in the UK for 42 years, that he is not considered British.
As reported by the BBC, the Home Office instructed him to wait an additional 10 years before being eligible for permanent residency.
Shardey, originally from Wallasey in Wirral, had long assumed he held British citizenship until discovering otherwise in 2019.
Throughout his adult life, he diligently paid taxes but now faces the prospect of paying substantial sums to remain in the country and access the National Health Service (NHS).
Shardey, a former newsagent, initially came to the UK in 1977 to pursue studies in accountancy, arriving on a student visa that permitted him to work.
Following a political upheaval in his home country of Ghana, financial support from his family ceased, compelling him to take on various jobs, including roles at Mother’s Pride bread and Kipling’s Cakes near Southampton, as well as at Bendick’s Chocolate in Winchester.
During this time, he encountered no challenges regarding his right to live and work in the UK.
Subsequently, Shardey married a British woman and relocated to Wallasey to manage his own newsagent business, named Nelson’s News.
Despite the dissolution of that marriage, he remarried another British woman, with whom he shares two sons, Jacob and Aaron.
“I tried my utmost to educate them the best way I could so that neither of them would depend on social or anything,” Shardey said.
He told his sons to “learn hard, get a good job, and work for themselves,” and both went on to university and then careers as a research scientist and a public relations executive.
Shardey said he had never left the UK, as he saw no need to and regarded it as his home.
“Nobody questioned me. I bought all my things on credit, even the house. I got a mortgage. And nobody questioned me about anything,” he said.
Shardey, who had served on a jury and received a police bravery award in 2007 for apprehending a robber attacking a delivery man, found himself in a bewildering situation in 2019.
Despite his longstanding presence in the UK, when he applied for a passport to return to Ghana after his mother’s passing, he was informed by the Home Office that he lacked British citizenship.
As the unsettling saga of his life story unfolded, UK officials advised him to pursue the 10-year settlement route.
According to BBC reports, this path entails expenses totaling around £7,000 over the decade, in addition to approximately £10,500 for NHS access during the same period.
“I cannot afford to pay any part of the money they are asking,” said Shardey, who is recovering from prostate cancer. “Telling me to go through that route is a punishment, and it’s not fair in any way.”
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“I don’t understand why this fuss at all, because I put my life, my whole self into this country. “
Two years ago, when attempting to prolong his stay in the UK online, he mistakenly completed the wrong form.
Consequently, the 10-year procedure had to restart in 2023. As a result, the Ghanaian won’t be eligible for permanent residency in the UK until he reaches the age of 84.
“I just thought it was a joke. It’s just ridiculous,” said his son Jacob, who does research in cardiovascular physiology.
“Why would he need to go and start this 10-year route when he’s been here since 1977?
“He’s been here longer than the people who are working in the Home Office on his case have been alive.”
Shardey, however, pursued legal action against the Home Office with the assistance of Nicola Burgess, an attorney at the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU).
His argument, funded by his sons through crowdfunding, revolves around the contention that the Home Office ought to have recognized him as an exception due to his extensive residence in the UK and his commendable bravery award and contributions to the community.
“We know that at least one caseworker has looked at his file and suggested that he should be granted indefinite leave to remain because there are exceptional facts,” Burgess said.
“And when you look at it on a personal level, if Nelson was your friend or your neighbour, you would absolutely agree that he should be given the immediate right to settle.”
When a Home Office spokesman was reached by the BBC on the case, the source said, “It would be inappropriate to comment on active legal proceedings.”
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