This is true but doesn’t seem to be the problem in this case. The OPs friend has a permanent resident document, which is acceptable proof (see page 7).
It now sounds like there are personal reasons for her not to have secured permanent employment …
She’s had her residency paperwork sorted out since roughly 1997, except for some kind of biometrics document, which she has also now had for years. I suspect the actual barriers to employment are some combination of a long absence from the full-time workforce, age discrimination, a lack of regular teaching credentials, and a certain lack of desire to work full-time for a large chunk of that time, which has compounded the other issues. And others have suggested that public sector budget cuts impacting education funding may have played a role, too.
Regular British born empty-nesters have trouble finding work here. A degree helps but gives no guarantee that someone who has been out of the workplace for ten years or more will be able to find anything other than a minimum wage, low skilled job.
Your friend has fallen behind on so much: technology, systems, national curriculum… She either has to go back to college or look outside education and it is always easier to find a job if you already have one, so grabbing the first opportunity and working up is probably the only way to go.
You say she is thinking of going back to the US. Has she considered how she will support herself there?
I’ve worked overseas continuously over the last 28 years and there are no burdens placed on employers from the US government.
from your quote
then talks about taxes.
It looks like your quote is saying the opposite. With a Biometric Residence Permit, which the OP’s friend appears to have, this indicates it’s straightforward.
Had I known that she had a BRP, I would have agreed. The consensus now seems to be that she is in the same position as a native-born citizen in the same situation.
Update: she is in the States for the first time in 20 years, and 2 other college friends and I have been staging somewhat of an intervention. She has finally taken the first step toward UK citizenship and taken and passed the Life in the UK exam. I don’t know that she has made any actual decisions about her next steps toward changing her situation, but she seems to have the idea that after 20 years of indefinite leave to remain, her Immigration status is still dependent on her marriage.
I am no expert, but what I have been able to find is almost identical to the US system: citizenship eligibility after 5 years of permanent residence in most cases, or 3 years if married to a UK citizen.
Is that correct and she is pulling the crazy idea about needing to stay married out of her ass, or am I missing something?
ILR can be revoked, but it won’t be revoked simply on the basis of having been divorced (or widowed). It could be revoked if there was found to be fraud or deception in the circumstances in which it was acquired, but presumably there’s no suggestion of that here. It can also be revoked if she becomes “liable to deportation”, which will happen if the Home Secretary thinks her deportation is “conducive to the public good”. The most likely circumstance in which this happens is if she is convicted of a serious offence. But he could also move to deport her on national security our counter-terrorism grounds, or if he judges her to be involved in “serious and organised crime”, even if she herself has not been convicted of an offence. SFAIK there is no right of appeal against the Home Secretary’s decision, but you can challenge it in the courts if you can make a case it that he made it improperly.
If she leaves the UK for more than two years, her ILR lapses. She can reapply, but her application will be judged on her circumstances at the time of the reapplication, not at the time of the original application.
That’s how it worked for me. I was on work permits for 4 years, applied for the permanent residence visa, then a year later became a naturalized citizen. Back then there was not test, no ceremony, and it only cost about £50.
If you could point me toward a cite on that subject, I’d greatly appreciate it so I can pass it along. (I already found the cite for the basic citizenship eligibility criteria.) And I’d think that after 20 years and 2 kids, nobody will question that it is a real marriage!
Here’s the Home Office manual on revocation of indefinite leave. It’s a practical guide for Home Office staff, but it’s publicly available, and it includes references to the relevant legislative provisions.