Under an opaque policy condemned as discriminatory and “inhumane”, the government has refused dozens of visas for children of migrant single mothers, many of whom came to work in the NHS or social care, saying there are “no compelling reasons” to grant them.Do they really 'come to work in the NHS or social care', or do they come to get a foot in the door?
The women left their children – some as young as two – in the temporary care of relatives or friends while they moved to Britain from countries including Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya, South Africa and India. Before leaving, they say, they had been reassured by their employers that their children would be able to follow, in line with current immigration rules permitting healthcare workers to bring close family members.
We are continually told the NHS needs these people, as workers. But are they workers, or the vanguard of an invasion?
In refusal letters seen by the Observer, the Home Office questioned why the children could not stay permanently with their grandparents or other relatives. In other cases, it said there was no reason why they could not go to live with their fathers, even though their mothers had sole custody or the fathers had not seen the children for years. Many of the letters, addressed directly to the children, conclude: “It was your mother’s personal decision to depart for the UK and you have not provided sufficient evidence to grant your visa on serious or compelling grounds.”
Yes, it was. She gambled. She lost.
Patricia Chinyoka, chief executive of the Women of Zimbabwe project, which is supporting many of the women, described the refusals as “absolutely appalling”. “Some of the women have supplied an amazing array of proof and then they still get a letter saying: ‘We don’t believe you.’ They have sold properties, left jobs – they’ve sold up and come here and this is what they are now faced with,” Chinyoka said. “They don’t know what to do.”
Go home to raise their families in their own countries.
