IanAmy

Hi,
My fiancee came over here to the UK over a year ago and has been bed ridden here for quite some time (thus the overstay).
She only had 6 months here but can't move hardly and I have been looking after her since.
Our anxiety over getting help is fairly extreme as it is unlikely she would survive for long if she were deported. She has a big list of health problems and I look after her 24/7 and it is unlikely that anyone else could look after her as well as I do.
I'm hoping to find some way of us to be able to stay together here in the UK.
If anyone has any advice that could help then it would be most appreciated as it is a big sword over our heads.
Good luck to any other families trying to stay together out there.

IanAmy.

SanDiegogirl

Suggest you get an immigration lawyer - there is no standard process for her to remain in the UK, so its needs legal intervention.

BritInParis

I suspect not taking steps to adjust her status in the UK before now is not going to have helped your cause. As a US citizen overstaying on a visitor stamp then she won't eligible for NHS care either should the situation require it. I would get in contact with an experienced immigration solicitor immediately to discuss your options. To be blunt I suspect the outlook on the immigration side of things to be pretty bleak.

IanAmy

Thanks,
Pretty much what we expected to hear.
It seems insane a group of people can tell other people where they can live on this planet. That's democracy I suppose...

JAJ

In practical terms, she probably can't be deported if she is as ill as you describe. But that's not really a solution, since it doesn't mean she gets any permanent residence/citizenship benefits and when she is recovered, she would still normally be expected to leave.

However you use the term "living" in the U.K. If, as you suggest, she was simply visiting the United Kingdom and became ill, isn't her home still in the United States?

SanDiegogirl

Surely if she is as ill as you say - "can move hardly" - she had been seen by a doctor and/or admitted to hospital when this all started, they could have stabilised her under emergency treatment and then she either could have had further treatment paid for by her travel/medical insurance or could have returned to the US for continuing treatment.

With the course you have taken she has no recourse to medical treatment in the UK since I'm presuming her travel insurance has now expired.

While the US medical system is severely flawed, I doubt she would have died due to returning to the US. Someone without any medical insurance can still turn up at the emergency room and expect to be treated.

Bob

They can be stabilised and then kicked out of the door.

It doesn't help you much if you've got cancer, or are recovering from a heart attack/stroke type thing.

Mallory

If she is so incapacitated that she cannot walk, and therefore not work, then if in the US she could apply for Medicaid, and then long-term SS disability. Did she have private health insurance before she went on vacation? Seems like an odd situation.