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. 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.

'Never queried'
Retired newsagent Mr Shardey first came to the UK in 1977 to study accountancy, on a student visa that also allowed him to work.

After a coup in his native 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. When that marriage ended, he married another British woman and they had two sons Jacob and Aaron.

"I tried my utmost to educate them the best way I could, so that neither of them would depend on social or anything," Mr Shardey said.

He told his sons to "learn hard, get a good job, and work for themselves", and both went on to university and then careers as a research scientist and a public relations executive.

Mr Shardey said he had never left the UK, as he saw no need to and regarded it as his home. "Nobody questioned me. I bought all my things on credit, even the house. "I got a mortgage. And nobody questioned me about anything," he said.

Mr Shardey has performed jury service, and in 2007 was given a police award for bravery after tackling a robber who was attacking a delivery man with a baseball bat.

But in 2019, when he applied for a passport so he could go back to Ghana following the death of his mother, he was told he was not British.

The Home Office said he had no right to be in the UK.

'I can't afford to pay'

Officials told him to apply for the 10-year route to settlement. Over the 10 years it costs about £7,000, with a further £10,500 over the same period to access the NHS.

"I cannot afford to pay any part of the money they are asking," said Mr Shardey, who is recovering from prostate cancer. "Telling me to go through that route is a punishment, and it's not fair in any way." "I don't understand why this fuss at all, because I put my life, my whole self into this country. "

When he tried to extend his right to stay in the UK online two years ago, he filled out the wrong form. That meant the 10-year process had to begin again in 2023. As a result, Mr Shardey will not be allowed to stay in the UK permanently until he is 84.

"I just thought it was a joke. It's just ridiculous," said his son Jacob, who does research in cardiovascular physiology.

"Why would he need to go and start this 10-year route when he's been here since 1977?

"He's been here longer than the people who are working in the Home Office on his case have been alive."

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-69016539

Nothing concern me but E dey mind

He is too dark to be given UK citizenship

Plain truth. Same way one awkward-looking british lady made a poor remark of a British Nigerian lady by the name Ngozi Fulani, despite her role in the Royal family for years. An average white American sees black citizens as slave descendants. I hate to be profiled that way. I do tell them I'm Nigerian and african...and my family was never enslaved since the beginning of the creation.

No place like home. I refused to be American citizen for countless reasons. Anyone who wants to be foreign citizen is free to do that. I be African man, original.

Come back home.

Hmmm.. Youkay

But did he do the right thing?

Did he apply when he supposed to apply?

He was not informed

I've CEDIS

In Asari's voice - the earlier you learn to accept who you are the better it will be for you. Now dey never leave you ? They have left you behind. 70 years old man. No be Juju be that ?

MrSundry:


Mr Shardey said he had never left the UK, as he saw no need to and regarded it as his home

Prodigal son about to find his way back to Motherland. Hehehehe

Before nko? Go back to ur Ghana and make it better than UK u leech

you know these ghanaians boku for uk like sardines

Ghana embassy should give him passport to visit Ghana

Eee dey mind...
I sell herbs tho

See how black he is despite living in UK for 4decades,what do you expect brix to do?

W

Wahala

He is at fault . Never applied for passport all this years, never left the country too. This man no get sense abeg

U have seen it all, go back to Ghana.

The UK happened to him!

42 Years?
Wen you suppose don invest for your Obodo Ghana and go back after retirement for UK.

Well, my Nigerian pipu Abeg make una try put small investment for our Obodo country incase USD1 become NGN20.00

No matter how long a log of wood stays in the lake it will never be called a crocodile

Dey play. Black is black

I will return back to my Ghana Jejely. After spending many years in UK. Can't afford 10k pounds. Japa in the mud

How come some ppl are qualified to get the British passport after 5yrs of stay and work un the uk

Evidenx:
Village people don open file reach him matter

It took a while due to bureaucratic bottlenecks, but yes, they found his file.

Can this man still know road??

Hmmmmm

This is the most inane and unfair treatment I've come across in a very long time....
Pathetic to say the least!!

I laugh at people japaing & saying they will never return.

I no even understand...

How can spending many years in a place change things like that?

Just like monkey wey wear coat come dey claim e no be monkey again...


Buying nationality won't change anything, all that na paperwork and some people recognition abeg..

Smh

There's this Ghanaian wrestler in WWE who tried to deny his ancestry by claiming to be a Jamaican. His thick Ghanaian accent gave him away and he was disgraced on the stage.