Windrush scandal – UK-born man waits 35 years for British passport: Ace’s story

Ace* was born in London to a Jamaican mother who arrived in the UK in 1969 as a teenager with indefinite leave to remain (IDR) and an English father. Leaving school at 16, he applied to open a bank account and for a British passport. Both were refused and Ace began a battle for his legal status that would last for the next two decades.

After relying on his mother to open him a bank account, Ace secured a job in the construction industry and applied for a passport. Despite his siblings receiving their documentation with no problem, Ace was denied one because his father was not named on his birth certificate.

Although he worked for the same company for many years and paid tax as a British citizen, the Home Office told Ace he would have to apply for naturalisation. For the next 20 years, he missed out on school trips, holidays with friends, multiple family celebrations in Jamaica, including weddings and his grandfather’s funeral.

Ace tried everything, even reaching out to his estranged father to have his name added to his records, but his application was again refused. After media reports started to surface in 2018, revealing the negative impact the Home Office’s hostile environment policies had on the lives of people originally from Commonwealth countries who arrived in the UK legally, eventually at the age of 35 and on his third attempt, the Home Office asked to see Ace’s mother’s original ILR stamp. This time, he was successful.

Ace said: “It was crazy. I sent them the same stuff they requested when I was 16, but this time they accepted it. I’m sure it was because the Windrush scandal was all over the media.”

Encouraged by his boss, Ace went online and found United Legal Access (ULA), which runs a scheme to support people who have suffered due to the UK’s “hostile environment” towards people from Commonwealth countries who arrived in the UK legally but were wrongly classed as “illegal immigrants”.

After multiple meetings with a ULA in-house lawyer Sibon Phiri, they made an application to the Windrush Compensation Scheme. Ace said: “My interactions with ULA were amazing. We had video calls and meetings. They were very helpful. They did all the hard work and I just had to send them the information.”

They were helped by Antara Verma, a volunteer lawyer from Ashurst, a global law firm that partners with ULA to help with the applications, who said: “It was clear that Ace had been stripped of his sense of belonging, despite living in the UK his whole life. Working on the case has been extremely rewarding and I look forward to working with ULA in the future.”

After 12 months of consideration, Ace was eventually awarded £70,000 as compensation for being unable to demonstrate his status in the UK and being denied his lawful documents.

Ace said: “When I found out I was getting £70,000 I was over the moon. I didn’t expect it because I didn’t think I met the criteria. I suppose the good thing to come out of all this is that now I have a deposit for a house. The outcome was good, but the journey to get to it was really difficult.”

*Name has been changed to protect anonymity