BritCits

Immigration rules keep British father apart from wife and daughter for 9 years

http://www.jcwi.org.uk/blog/2013/06/12/immigration-rules-keep-british-father-apart-wife-and-daughter-9-years

Via our fellow campaigners at Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants :

'Our client applied for asylum in 2004 fleeing torture and persecution from Darfur, Sudan. His asylum application was not resolved despite substantial evidence and was eventually dealt with under the Legacy Provisions (a scheme set up to deal with outstanding asylum cases). He was granted  Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in January 2010 and in July 2011 he was naturalised as a British Citizen.

'Had he received a positive asylum decision and been granted leave as a Refugee his wife and then 9 year old daughter would have been allowed to automatically join him in the UK. 

'However, he was granted ILR and as such his family had to apply under the Immigration Rules on Family Migration. His wife and daughter applied in December 2010, our client was able to support his family having a good job as a translator and earning approximately £400 a week. Unfortunately the application was rejected as the then new English language requirement had just been introduced.

'There was no recognised English language institute in his wife’s home town in Sudan and she had to leave her daughter and temporarily move to Khartoum in order to study English. She struggled to learn the language despite having an economics degree from her home country.  So in August 2011 our client left his job in the UK and spent 7 months with his wife in Khartoum helping her study. When she set the exam she passed with a First Class Certificate.

'However their joy at overcoming this obstacle was short lived as in July 2012 the income requirement was introduced and now our client had to earn at least £22,400 a year in order to sponsor his wife and daughter. Our client upon his return from Sudan immediately obtained work as a flexible resourcing employee and was seconded to the Royal Mail in Birmingham.

'A 6 monthly income of over £10, 208.79 was not deemed enough to satisfy the Immigration Rules. He worked two jobs and as hard as he could but falls short of the financial requirement. His salary would have been different were he working the same jobs in London.

'Some weeks our client works more than 70 hours just at the Royal Mail and has another weekly job as support worker. The constant and long work hours have led to an exasperation of his medical condition.  Due to the torture he was subjected to in Sudan he had to have two discs removed from his spine some years ago.  He is now working so hard and resting so little that he is in a lot of pain and on constant painkillers. But he won’t stop. He is depressed, taking sleeping tablets lonely and anxious as the years slip by and he is separated from his family.

'We have appealed to the Tribunal against the decision to refuse a visa to our client’s wife and daughter. As our client said in his Witness Statement, “I have been made a British Citizen, I should be able to bring my wife and daughter to the UK so that we can live together as a family. Without them my life here is meaningless”. The case continues.'