{"id":57112,"date":"2026-02-28T03:21:52","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T08:21:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/im-finally-a-british-citizen-after-48-years\/28\/02\/2026\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T03:21:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T08:21:52","slug":"im-finally-a-british-citizen-after-48-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/im-finally-a-british-citizen-after-48-years\/28\/02\/2026\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;I&#8217;m finally a British citizen after 48 years&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A retired shopkeeper who was told he was not British despite living in the UK for nearly five decades said he is &#8220;over the moon&#8221; to have been finally made a British citizen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Nelson Shardey, from Wallasey in Wirral, has lived in Britain since arriving as a student from Ghana in 1977, but in 2019 he was told he had no right to live in the UK.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">After his family launched a campaign to have his case reviewed, the government eventually recognised Nelson&#8217;s case as &#8220;exceptional&#8221; and he was granted indefinite leave to remain in 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The 76-year-old said he was &#8220;delighted&#8221; to this week be granted full British citizenship and thanked the people of Wirral for their &#8220;unbelievable&#8221; support.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-0 size-full\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-3 right-3 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed bottom-0 left-0 right-0 top-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>Nelson&#8217;s sons Aaron and Jacob said the support for their father had been &#8220;phenomenal&#8221; [BBC]<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I feel nothing but pride for the place I call home,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;While the journey has not been easy and has tested us, I am delighted that this story ends not in frustration, but in belonging.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">When Nelson first came to the UK he took on various jobs, including making Mother&#8217;s Pride bread and Kipling&#8217;s Cakes near Southampton, as well as Bendick&#8217;s Chocolate in Winchester.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He said no-one had ever queried his right to live or work in the UK and after marrying a British woman he moved to Wallasey to run his own business, a newsagent called Nelson&#8217;s News.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">When that marriage ended, he married another British woman and they had two sons, Jacob and Aaron.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"mb-4 text-xl font-bold md:text-2xl\">&#8216;Very proud&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In 2007, he was given a police award for bravery after tackling a robber who was attacking a delivery man with a baseball bat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">However, when he applied for a passport in 2019 to return to Ghana after the death of his mother, he was told he was not a British citizen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Officials told him to apply for the 10-year route to settlement which costs about \u00a37,000, with a further \u00a310,500 over the same period to access the NHS \u2013 sums Mr Shardey would have struggled to find.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">But after his family started a fresh fundraising campaign to help with his legal fight, his case was looked at again by the Home Office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Officials said the Immigration Act allowed discretion to grant Nelson indefinite leave to remain outside the normal immigration rules &#8211; which was eventually upgraded to full citizenship.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Speaking after a ceremony at Wallasey Town Hall on Thursday Nelson said he was &#8220;very proud&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><em>Listen to the best of <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sounds\/curation\/p0cjdwyw?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Blink%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><em>BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds<\/em><\/a><em> and follow BBC Merseyside on <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bbcmerseyside\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Facebook;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><em>Facebook<\/em><\/a><em>, <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bbcmerseyside\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:X;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><em>X<\/em><\/a><em>, and <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bbcmerseyside\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Instagram;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><em>Instagram<\/em><\/a><em>. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"mb-4 text-xl font-bold md:text-2xl\">More on this story<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/articles\/im-finally-british-citizen-48-080137420.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A retired shopkeeper who was told he was not British despite living in the UK for nearly five decades said he is<br \/><button class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/im-finally-a-british-citizen-after-48-years\/28\/02\/2026\/\">Read More &rsaquo;<\/a><\/button><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/EKyNN3f.njrAVGpFnU4NKg--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD02NzU7Y2Y9d2VicA--\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/bbc_us_articles_995\/c1e7c3f50cf27adb2ace424b31812ff5","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57112"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}