A one-year-old baby girl, Massah, has been told to leave the UK immediately through her parents, despite being born in the country. The child’s parents, who are both in the UK legally, are having “sleepless nights” after officials told them that Massah would need to leave the UK and re-apply for a visa from abroad after they took her out of the country earlier this year.
Massah was born in the Midlands in April last year, and her parents, Mohammad and her mother, have been living legally in Britain since 2021. They have been trying to apply for a child-dependent visa for their daughter, but this month, they received a letter from the Home Office telling them that Massah “will be required to immediately leave the UK” and will have to re-apply for a visa from abroad.
The letter states that the need to maintain the integrity of the immigration laws outweighs the possible effect on Massah’s parents. “In the particular circumstances of your case, it has been concluded that the need to maintain the integrity of the immigration laws outweighs the possible effect on you or your children,” the letter reads. According to Sky News on Thursday, May 23, 2024, at 11:37 PM.
Massah’s father, Mohammad, is devastated by the news and is urging the Home Office to be flexible with how it enforces visa rules. He believes that his daughter’s relationship with Britain will be forever changed if she is forced to leave the country. “I can’t imagine how I can tell her the story in the future that the country you were born in asked you to leave while you were a year old,” he said.
The family is facing sleepless nights due to their uncertainty about their future. They are worried about taking their baby to Jordan in order to re-apply for a visa, as they are concerned about the current instability in the Middle East. Even if they do manage to re-apply, they are concerned that their application could still be refused.
Mohammad has accumulated reams of paperwork in an effort to find a solution. “I’m trying to fix everything. I don’t need to consider a one-year-old infant an overstayer here,” he said.
The Home Office spokesperson told Sky News that all visa applications are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with the immigration rules. “We are working closely with the parents of this child to ensure they receive the support and direction they require regarding the application.”
The tightening of the UK’s immigration policy has been a core commitment by the government in an effort to reduce the number of people coming to the country. The recent statistics released on Thursday showed that the net migration figure has dropped slightly, but it comes as the prime minister confirmed that the removal of asylum seekers to Rwanda will not take place until after the general election.
The Rwanda plan remains a central Conservative pledge, but voters will just have to trust that planes will start going without seeing any evidence before polling day. The election campaign will be fought in part over the future of asylum seekers.
