IMPORTANT PLEASE READ Terms of Use and Forum Rules

[Site Admin]

Agreement

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use set out below and our Privacy Policy - UKCEN Citizenship and Residence for European Nationals and their families ">Privacy Policy. You also agree to abide by our Forum Rules at all times. These terms are subject to review and amendment at any time. It is your responsibility to check this post regularly to ensure you are aware of any changes. You should also pay attention to the announcements and notices posted throughout the site.

Terms of Use

Availability

We cannot guarantee the continued availability of this site at any time, we reserve the right to discontinue the service, close down or suspend access to, this site. You must not rely on this site to be available at all times.

Most of the people who support this forum do so on a voluntary basis, this means they may not always be available to answer your queries or there may be a delay responding to them. You should always allow enough time to get a response from our team. You must not expect a timely response to a query you post the day before your submission, appointment, departure date, etc. 

Free access

Access to the site and its resources, help and support is all completely free of charge and we do not offer paid subscription services nor paid advertisements. This site is not to be used for commercial purposes.

Legal advice

This site only provides help and support with applications, it is not intended to be a substitute to proper legal advice based on an assessment of your documents and personal circumstances. We do have a team of lawyers who volunteer for the site on a one-off, pro-bono basis on the forum, without liability. Our lawyers also offer off-forum, paid private legal advice. These services are totally separate from the forum.

Purpose of this site

This site is intended to provide assistance and information, we have no political affiliation nor do we support any party or ideology. This site does not represent any campaign or lobby group. We provide practical help and support but this site is not the place to vent against the government or any institution, company or organisation, nor is it an emotional support group.

You acknowledge that the intention and spirit of this site is to share information about UK residence and nationality issues and you are expected to comply with this.

Accuracy

Although we do our best to ensure that our resources and responses are factual, accurate and up-to-date, procedures, fees and requirements are subject to change and we cannot guarantee that the information provided herein will always reflect those changes, nor that it will be relevant to you. You are encouraged to do your own research and double check any facts posted here.

Sources

We have compiled our resources from official government sources and other reliable sources, as well as from practical experience based on our user base and the views and experiences of our lawyers. These resources are provided for your convenience and are no substitute for proper advice.

No Liability

We provide resources, help and support freely for your convenience, without liability. We shall not be liable for any loss or damages incurred as a result of reliance on any of our resources or responses provided on the forum or by any forum member off the forum. If in doubt, you should seek proper legal advice from a qualified professional. It is your responsibility to ensure you send the required documents in the required format for your application.

Document check

We regret we cannot offer a document check service on the forum, this service can only be provide by a qualified professional who is fully aware of your personal circumstances and any relevant factors. We can only provide generic, limited assessment of documents posted, such as whether the post shows an ILR stamp or a PR card.

Language

The site's language is English and only English, if you want your posts approved and responded to, you must post in English, any content posted in other languages will be removed.

Security

Although we use a SSL certificate and do our best to keep our site secure and free of malware, adware, etc. we cannot guarantee that our site will be secure and free of bugs or viruses at all times. It is your responsibility to take adequate steps to protect your data and devices from any malware.

Access

You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to our site, the server on which our site is stored or any server, computer or database connected to our site. You must not attack our site via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack. Any breaches of this nature constitute a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and we will report any such breach to the relevant authorities and remove all access to our site immediately.

Linking

You may link to our site, provided your site is legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it. You should not give the impression of being associated with our site or being a part of it.

Third party links

We provide links to third party sites for your convenience and to specify our sources. Site content is subject to change at any time and we cannot be responsible for the content of any third party sites over which we have no control whatsoever, nor do we have any control over their privacy policies or security.

Jurisdiction and Legal System

We are based in the UK and can only provide information about what the law is in the UK, not in any other country or jurisdiction. Members may sometimes share experiences, opinions, links and information about other countries. We do not check, verify or authenticate this information so you act on it at your own risk. You are encouraged to contact the relevant authorities in the relevant countries directly.

Similarly, we cannot provide advice regarding dual citizenship, this is something you need to check with your own Consulate. Any information provided by our members in this respect is without liability and based on their own experiences and sources.

[Site Admin]

Specific groups

Lawyers

Anyone interested in volunteering as a lawyer must contact the admin team before offering their services, providing advice or posting responses on the forum. The admin team will need to ensure they are suitably authorised and insured and agree to the specific terms for lawyers before being admitted on the forum.

Service providers, translators, etc.

Anyone who wishes to provide a service should get prior approval from the admin team before offering their services on the forum.

Journalists

Journalists should contact the admin team and get permission to post on the forum and/or ask members to submit their stories to them. 

Researchers

Researchers should get prior authorisation from the admin team before posting any polls or links to polls or asking people to answer question or to contact them. While we are happy to support students and other researchers, we need to ensure that the nature of their research meets our standards and that the respondents are fully aware of how their data will be used. 

Any lawyers, service providers, journalists, researchers, etc. who do not comply with the above will have their access to the forum permanently removed.

[Site Admin]

Forum Rules

You must abide by these rules at all times. It is your responsibility to make sure you check these rules periodically as they can be subject to change without prior notice.

Failure to comply with the rules will result in an infraction as well as a temporary or permanent ban depending on the nature of the breach.

1. You will treat everyone with respect. We will not tolerate any abuse towards the admin team, lawyers or other forum members. 
2. You will obey any instructions given to you by the admins, such as to stop making comments under posts marked for admins and lawyers only or to stop posting irrelevant content.
3. You must not misrepresent yourself or your affiliation with any body or organisation, nor  impersonate any individual.
4. We will not tolerate any kind of spam. Any unsolicited links to commercial sites will be regarded as spam and edited out or removed. Spammers will have all access to the site removed. You may not use the private messaging system to spam members either, this will result in an immediate ban.
5. The following are not acceptable:
   • Promoting, advertising or encouraging any illegal activities or anything that breaks the law or infringes copyright or intellectual property law. This includes links to illegal sites, pirate stuff, fake documents, etc.
   • Encouraging or promoting violence, damage or self-harm.
   • Any language intended to harass, upset, embarrass, alarm, bully or annoy other people;
   • Encouraging people to lie, cheat or mislead in their applications.
   • Using abusive, aggressive, threatening or offensive language.
   • Any content that promotes discrimination based on race, gender, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age.
   • Any defamatory content against any individual or organisation.
6. The admin team reserve the right to edit or remove any content without having to explain or justify their decision.
7. The admin's decisions are final and the admin team will not enter into any arguments regarding content.
8. The forum does not allow individuals to register multiple user accounts or profiles. Members who register more than one profile will have their access removed.
9. User accounts are individual and members are not allowed to share their user accounts with other people. Friends and family members should be encouraged to register their own accounts.
10. Support with applications cannot be provided via third parties, with the exception of close family members. Members are encouraged to get their relatives, friends and acquaintances, to join the forum, unless there is a valid reason they are unable to do so, such as due to age, disability or any other limitation.

Consequences of breaching the rules

Depending on the breach and whether the user has breached the rules on previous occasions, the offending user could be:

• Given an infraction;
• Issued with a warning;
• Given a temporary ban; or
• Given a permanent ban.

Response Times

Please note that this forum is supported by volunteers, therefore you should be prepared to wait a reasonable amount of time for your posts to be approved and responses provided.

You must allow enough time for a response before any appointment you have booked or any deadline you have to meet, we cannot guarantee to be able to provide you with any guidance if you have to do something the day after you post a query.

Contacting the Admin Team

Although we are here to help you with any technical or practical issues regarding accessing and using the forum, the admin team cannot provide private advice nor emotional support. Please do not use the private message facility for this purpose.