A retired 74-year-old Ghanaian man who has lived in the UK for nearly 50 years must wait a decade before the Home Office will let him stay permanently.
Nelson Shardey, from Wallasey in Wirral, had for many years assumed he was officially seen as British.
The BBC reports that he only discovered otherwise in 2019 and, despite paying taxes all his adult life, now faces paying thousands of pounds to stay and use the NHS.
The Home Office declined to comment on the ongoing legal case, according to the BBC report.
‘Never queried’
Retired newsagent Mr Shardey first went to the UK in 1977 to study accountancy, on a student visa that also allowed him to work.
After a military coup in Ghana, his family could no longer send him money for the fees.
He took on a series of jobs, making Mother’s Pride bread and Kipling’s Cakes near Southampton, and Bendick’s Chocolate in Winchester, and said no-one ever queried his right to live or work in the UK.
He married a British woman and moved to Wallasey to run his own business, a newsagent called Nelson’s News.
Source:bbc.com
