Previous Schengen overstay, now applying for UK Business visa

Question

I'm Moroccan and I had a valid student visa in 2007 in France and then I was asked to leave by France and they took my passport as I didn't complete my study after 2 years. I stayed in France for the next 4 years without a valid card. I returned back to Morocco in 2012 by my own without a passport as I requested for a "Laisser Passer" from the Moroccan embassy in France.

In 2013 I started working for a company and now they want to send me to the UK for a visit of 10 days completely paid by my employer. I have a new passport obviously and I want to know if this will have any issues with the UK.

If I want to later ask for another Schengen visa for work will my old foolish stay be an issue knowing that this happened more than 12 years ago?

Answer 1

In 2014 I started working for a company and now they want to send me to the UK for a visit of 10 days completely paid by my employer. I have a new passport obviously and I want to know if this will have any issues with the UK.

This could certainly be an issue. I believe you will be asked about it during your application and a failure to disclose it can have very serious consequences, see e.g. applying for UK visa after attempting an overstay in the united states

Depending on your current situation (including your financial situation and travel history since your return to Morocco), you may be able to overcome it but your overstay was quite serious and the UK tends to be strict about this.

If I want to later ask for another Schengen visa for work will my old foolish stay be an issue knowing that this happened more than 12 years ago?

It's less likely to be an issue in this case. Applications for Schengen visas do not require you to disclose past infringements and bans or data retention periods are relatively short in the EU, if you even had a ban. A French IRTF only lasts for 5 years. After 12 years, chances are that it wouldn't come up at all.

Finally, if you somehow end up living in France again, the overstay and period of illegal stay can be held against you in naturalization proceedings. In other words, it might be nearly impossible to become a French citizen by naturalization, for your whole life.