FOR more than 50 years he has called Southampton his home.

But now a city grandad fears he could be deported after his bid for UK citizenship was refused.

Joginder Kooner, known as Jiggy, says he is in “limbo” after his bid for full UK citizenship was refused, despite saying he has paid taxes and worked in Hampshire since 1973.

Now he says he fears the Home Office’s decision leaves him at risk of deportation from the UK.

He says his only option is to apply for a temporary residency which will cost him up to £1,000. He fears if that application is turned down he could be deported.

Jiggy came here from India in 1962, aged six, with his mum and four siblings on her Indian passport.

His father had already been in the country for six years.

He attended Central School, Deanery and Richard Taunton College before becoming a taxi driver at 21.

The 60-year-old from West End says he has paid National Insurance and tax since he started working in 1973 at the House of Holland furniture shop in Southampton. Jiggy, a father of two and grandfather of three, says he has previously left the country for holidays on a British temporary passport applied for through the Post Office, which have since been abolished since he last secured one in 1993.

He said: “Four years ago my daughter said she wanted to get married in Hawaii so I thought I would sort it out.

“She was going to get married within a year but it wasn’t ready so she had to get married in Wycombe and then have her honeymoon in Hawaii.”

A letter sent to Jiggy by the Home Office said: “As you were subject to a time limit on your stay in the United Kingdom on the date of your application you do not meet one of the residence requirements.

“The Home Secretary has no discretion to waive this particular requirement and as you do not meet it your application is refused.”

The letter, dated May 31, also reveals a 36-month ‘leave to remain’ permit which Jiggy had been granted in the meantime had run out in March and urged him to make a fresh application.

He continued: “I’ve tried to do everything in my power. This has been going on for four and a half years now. I’ve spent thousands of pounds on solicitors’ fees but I’m going nowhere.

“According to the immigration officer he said: ‘If you get arrested for anything it will come up with the fact you are illegal.’

“I’m angry, I’m worried and I’m frustrated there’s nothing I can do, it’s not right.”

The fresh refusal has lead him to fearing a new temporary permit could be blocked too and added: “I don’t know what the next step is and what’s going to happen. I don’t know what to do or where to turn.”

Kim Rose, pictured, from the Southampton Itchen branch of UKIP, said: “Jiggy is so English he doesn’t even like hot weather, and there’s a chance of being deported to a country that he is not familiar with.

“This is why we need a point-based system.”

He said he is willing to fund Jiggy’s case with his own money.

The Home Office declined to comment on specific cases, but said Jiggy would need to make an extra application to gain citizenship.