Have received an email from a friend asking for help and assumes that as I'm ex army will know the answer. Does anyone have any insight, have already pointed her to SSAFA but if anyone has come across this problem any info will be a great help.
From email:
He has lived here almost all his life, went to school and uni here and thereafter he has worked here for many years. He has always paid all his taxes and legally contributed to the economy. He has in the last couple of weeks changed jobs and this has shown up that the law has changed. Due to these changes he is now considered an illegal immigrant who has no right to work here, no right to even be here. Why? All because he had the misfortune to be born on a British RAF base in Cyprus where his Dad was working at the time. This means his passport says he is a British Overseas Citizen. When the law changed all British Overseas Citizens except for those from the bases in Cyprus automatically got full British Citizenship. He on the other hand needs a visa to be allowed to be here, a work permit to be allowed to legally have a job and he can't even apply for these while he is in the country. He can't go "back home" and apply for his visa and work permit because he is home. This means we have a very uncertain time while he applies for all this during which he could be detained because of his illegal status, and his new employer can't employ him.
From email:
He has lived here almost all his life, went to school and uni here and thereafter he has worked here for many years. He has always paid all his taxes and legally contributed to the economy. He has in the last couple of weeks changed jobs and this has shown up that the law has changed. Due to these changes he is now considered an illegal immigrant who has no right to work here, no right to even be here. Why? All because he had the misfortune to be born on a British RAF base in Cyprus where his Dad was working at the time. This means his passport says he is a British Overseas Citizen. When the law changed all British Overseas Citizens except for those from the bases in Cyprus automatically got full British Citizenship. He on the other hand needs a visa to be allowed to be here, a work permit to be allowed to legally have a job and he can't even apply for these while he is in the country. He can't go "back home" and apply for his visa and work permit because he is home. This means we have a very uncertain time while he applies for all this during which he could be detained because of his illegal status, and his new employer can't employ him.