Hi all. Wanting advice regarding a friend who is currently sleeping on my couch with 4 years+ overstay.
He hasnt worked in 6 months after his previous employer asked to see his visa and cant get another job without one. myself and other friends have helped as much as possible with loans etc but we have all reached our limit and im getting pressure from my partner to turf him out as he was only suppose to be staying a week and we're now into month 3.
Of course it will be very difficult to find other accommodation without a valid visa, even if he had money for rent. He claims to not have much family in the UK and says they could never find the $ required to pay the fine. He says he wants is to go back to Europe to work and clear his debts..
My question is, what are his options? I'm fairly sure his situation is not that unique. If i was sure he was able to use it, as a last helping hand i could possibly organize a whip round for a one way ticket to europe but thats about it. Im inclined to tell him to throw himself on the mercy of immigration but dont want to be having to support him in prison for the next few years. From my research, im doubtful the embassy would have much sympathy and rightly so.
Any insights, much appreciated

Why would he go to prison? I would think throwing himself at their mercy would force the British embassy to get involved. He might get a free plane ticket out of it. All the overstays I've heard of have resulted in deportation, not jail.

This should be double checked since I have no direct experiene, but I have heard that if you throw yourself on the mercy of immigration in such a case, they do through you in jail while you await deportation, but it is a matter of days or maybe weeks.

From my research, im doubtful the embassy would have much sympathy and rightly so.

Maybe if he was first robbed of all his money, but also suffered from a mental illness (something sort of non-specific like PTSD) that prevented him from renewing his visa properly, and he put on some dirty clothes and went and hung out looking real sad in front of the embassy for a few days, maybe the embassy would take pity, or at the very least he could dupe the Khmer Times into doing a story about his plight. Yeah, that's the ticket...and Morgan Fairchild could be his girlfriend...

LTO wrote: and hung out looking real sad in front of the embassy for a few days, maybe the embassy would take pity,

or maybe not

if he goes to the embassy and says he is mad they will pay for him to go back...100%....'the moon's talking to me now, and it's saying to kill' should do the trick....

Turf him out and tell him to go to immigration and own up to his irresponsibility. Or tell him to wander/ride around naked...that seems to work.

Cheers for the feedback. Not gonna recommend to him theatrics and crazy stories. Dont think he's a good enough of a liar to pull it off. Not a bad lad just fucked himself by not making his visa a priority after a few months out of work. A week or two inside is fair enough. Call me soft or whatever but he's a mate and i wouldnt sleep knowing he was on the streets. He's not cut out for it. Also. more selfishly, the sooner he is back in europe working, the sooner I should see some money.
One more question if anyone knows, Im guessing he would need a plane ticket to wherever he is being deported to or would he just be dumped at a border?

Is his name Francis?

Nope...obviously not that unique a situation

cant run and hide forever, hes just going to have to bite the bullet and hope for the best, 4+ years overstay is a bit greedy though, its not hard or expensive to get visa extensions