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I ENTERED

Congratulations parigi. Can you please let us know what you included with your application. Perhaps I can persuade some people to go home and sort themselves out considering how difficult they are making life for illegal immigrants these days.

Ayomiful,
Here's a link to the BIA website
http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/siteconte, pdf?view=Binary

Basically
Applicants who have been refused entry clearance after having used deception in their applications will have any future applications they make refused for ten years. Other immigration offenders (other than those who overstayed for 28 or fewer days and left at their own expense) will be refused for the following periods:
One year if, following their breach, they left the UK voluntarily at their own expense;
Five years if, following their breach, they left the UK voluntarily at public expense; and
Ten years if they were removed or deported from the UK following their breach.

However, following the initial announcement a concession was granted where if the overstayer returned to their home country and reapplied from there before Oct 08, the above will not apply.

And there is some debate about granting further concessions to those with family e.g. spouse/children in the UK where they may not even have to return to their home country to apply. I think this is still in the House of lords.

ok

Well done for taking a brave step, the  sky  is  the limit. congrats to  you  and  your family.

Is your wife a British Citizen or an EU citizen living in the UK? I think it's easier to get entry clearance as the spouse of an EU citizen than it is as the spouse of a UK national. Your overstay and removal will be considered but they shouldn't refuse your appplication on that basis alone. Try to provide as much information as possible on your marriage, photos, bills etc in both names if u lived together in the UK before (and I assume your wife lives in the UK not in Nigeria with you?). U can also try posting your question on www.ukresident.com in the Spouse/Family sections and hopefully one of their experts will be able to advise you.

Per the French embassy, they shouldn't ask for anything at all under normal circumstances except your marriage certificate and your wife's passport but then if you are applying from Nigeria, normal rules may not apply.

Good Luck

JT,

I would advice you take the pains to go to the BIA website, UK Immigration rules have gone through a massive overhaul in the past few months. You would have been subjected to a ten year ban, under the rules that came into force on 1 April; but the ILPA forced the home-office to grant some exemptions to those who otherwise would have been subjected to the ban, sometime in may, and then the home office later made some exceptions sometime in June to those exempted from the initial ban. All a bit confusing really, but there are still going to be further changes in the rules.

As it stands, you need to seek legal advice, some may say you've been exempted from the 10-year ban, but the ECO has to refer to the circumstances that led to your earlier removal. The critical clause in the exceptions to the exemptions is as follows "Even if someone is exempted from a re-entry ban because of a concession, he or she may be refused an application to return to the UK if: * he or she does not satisfy other requirements of the Immigration Rules * if he or she has "contrived in a significant way to frustrate those rules"

Now, you have gone ahead to contract marriage to a 'UK citizen' after the ban, the onus is on you to prove that the marriage is indeed genuine, and not in-order to circumvent the rules, and get an exemption from the ban. Parigi's case above is slightly different from yours, he'd not been removed, and more importantly the marriage was an existing, and subsisting one with kids; so the facts are different. Please seek legal advise from a reputable solicitor, and be honest with your application. All the best.

The concessions apply to JohnThomas, but then again, he could also be caught by the exceptions to those concessions. His case is not straight forward. I'm not trying to be a spoilsport here, but its beneficial for him to be aware of traps that could jeopardise his applications. His marriage was after the ban, and the subsequent concessions. The ECO has to be convinced that it is indeed a genuine one.

These old discretionary rules for refusing leave to enter are of course replaced by the new rules 320 (7A) and 320 (7B). The potentially drastic effect of rule 320 (7B) upon people’s human rights is what the concessions are trying to address. But there is an exception to the concessions. When Lord Bassam announced the concession whereby the rule changes wouldn’t apply to anyone who left the UK before 1 October 2008 could not be relied on by people he also said:
 
“I emphasise that that does not mean that those people will automatically be allowed to come back. They will need to meet all the other requirements of the Immigration Rules. The BIA will also, as now, have the discretion to refuse them if they contrive in a significant way to frustrate the Immigration Rules; for example, by contracting a bogus marriage, which we know happens”.
 
Liam Byrne repeated this exception when he announced the second concession on 13 May.   
 
This exception – “contriving in a significant way to frustrate the immigration rules” is the booby trap here.

The new paragraph 26.17.5 reads:
 
“
'Contrived in a significant way to undermine the intentions of the immigration rules' test
 
'Contrived in a significant way to undermine the intentions of the immigration rules' is where an applicant has previously been an illegal entrant, overstayed, breached a condition attached to his leave or used deception in a previous entry clearance, leave to enter or remain application, but only where there are aggravating circumstances. Aggravating factors include offences such as not complying with reporting restrictions, using multiple identities, a sham marriage, harbouring an immigration offender and facilitating/people smuggling. This is not an exhaustive list and all cases must be considered on their merits taking into account family life in the UK and the level of responsibility for the breach in the case of children. ECOs will need to obtain ECM authorisation for all refusals under Paragraphs 320(7A) and 320(7B) of the immigration rules.”

For him to stand a chance, his application has to be watertight. He has to prove that the relationship is genuine, it would help if he has evidence to show that his relationship had been in existence prior to the commencement of the ban. The UK government knows there's a loophole that could be exploited, and hence they've attempted to put a plug on it.
Just my own view, and i'm not even an immigration solicitor.

I am familiar with the general gist of that case, was that not to do with the right to marry within the UK? CoA, CoE etc. I'll read up on the facts of the case just to be sure.

Sweeping changes are on the way, there are proposals for UK citizens to obtain a permit before proceeding abroad to engage in marriages; the qualifying age was also raised recently, if i'm right. It ain't getting any easier for migrants with irregularities in their status, and the government of the day is fighting the battle of its life, the tougher they get on immigration-the better their chances of survival at the next elections.