For £90 I would give it a go. Its not a lot to lose. We cn at least add it to the experiences and knowledge of everyone and future enquiries
I would think , the length of the overstay would be the main problem , and as Mattecube has said, it is a question that is asked on the application . It would be very chancey not to declare it . I would be very surprised if a visa was granted as they wouldn't want to be seen ,as condoning overstaying . I've no idea on the Human Rights side of it .
a problem with long term overstayers is--what did they live on ? cash in hand earnings ? so no NI or income tax then ?
Don't have to be an overstayer for that, I personally know people in the building trade down here in England that haven't paid NI or tax for decades, all cash in hand.
problem for them is--they either dont officially exist---or are on the dole. either way--sooner or later the system will catch up with them.
The main one I am thinking about does not exist, no council tax, no vote, lives with his partner but is invisible, has about 4 or 5 kids from previous relationships all grown up. His, I hope tongue in cheek, reply to what he will do when he reaches retirement age, is that he will knock off his partner and live in the comfort of her majesty's prison service for the rest of his days. However while he is ten years younger than me he looks ten years older and probably won't last that long, his partner is the same age as me but she also looks ten years or more older. Literally decades and never caught.
He's too pissed to care most of the time. This is not a friend it is a person that frequented my local and given that I've not been in a pub for two years I don't know what he is up to these days. His life appeared to be about earning enough to smoke and drink and eat the odd donner kebab, he's from Liverpool.
I knew a long term overstayer,came here from the Philippines as a bogus student,no intention of ever studying,got a job as a live-in nanny/domestic with a foreign couple,did that for maybe 7-8 years in London,easy to blend in.She married an English guy assuming she was safe as she wanted to go home on a visit,the marriage seems real,at least from the guys point of view UKBA raided their house,she is in the Philippines now,been there for a number of months,having difficulties getting back here after overstaying here for 10 years her bleat is she cant adjust to being back in the PI,her sister did the same thing in the states but was there for a few years less,went as a tourist I think?
Thousands upon thousands of people, both born here and immigrants, are living in the 'grey' economy, not in 'the system' . Very easy to do.
Isnt there an estimated million (no one has a scooby-doo the real number,all guesswork) irregular immigrants AKA illegals in the UK,they all seem to be living under the radar just fine.
here you go https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1020032/uk-migration-watch-illegal-migrants-britain-migrant
Yup,they stream in,i was fishing last year near heathrow,chub in a small river,found a beaten track through some trees leading from the rivers edge.Unusual in that area so I followed it,straight into a tented encampment in the trees,dont know how many lived there,no more than half a dozen,one of them was menacing with a screwdriver,they didn't speak any English whatsoever,the area is renown for illegals being close to slough,heathrow,southall,hayes etc.
Those encampements in that area are known,similar to sheds with beds,lots of people living under bridges etc in the area.