UK Home Office denying visas to children of migrant mothers
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The UK Home Office is reportedly rejecting visas to the children of migrant single moms working in the health industry, citing "no compelling reasons" to give them.
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Former Home secretary Priti Patel speaks to an Afghan refugee who arrived at London Heathrow airport in August 2021.(AFP)
An investigation by the Observer indicated Saturday that the Home Office routinely prevents young children from joining their mothers in Britain, despite significant evidence that the women working in the UK are the children's primary caretakers, bearing "sole responsibility" for them.
Some of the women who moved from Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya, South Africa, and India, left their children, some as young as two, with relatives or acquaintances.
Although many were told their children could follow them in accordance with existing immigration laws that allow healthcare professionals to bring close family members, when the time came to file for visas, they were denied.
Read more: UK Parliament's Lower House approves bill to deport migrants to Rwanda
The Observer acquired denial letters in which the Home Office questioned why the children needed to travel and could not remain with relatives instead.
Some inquired why the child could not stay with their father, disregarding the mother's exclusive custody.
Other letters directly addressed the children blaming the mother for making the decision to depart to the UK.
Former UK diplomat Peter Ford told Press TV the policy was "discriminatory and inhumane" citing that many of the migrant women come from nations the UK and Western allies destabilized with invasions, proxy wars, and sanctions.
Under contentious restrictions set to be implemented this spring, care workers visiting the UK would be forbidden from bringing family members, while other health workers will be required to earn £29,000 per year, increasing to £38,700 in 2025, to do so.
However, several applications are already being secretly denied. According to the Observer, approximately 150 migrant women, all of whom are single moms, have had their child visas refused during the last 18 months.
A Home Office rule states that a child may only be granted a visa if both parents live in the UK unless the parent living here has "sole responsibility."
The regulation requires single parents to demonstrate not only that they have exclusive custody but also that the other parent is not active in their child's life, which experts say can be difficult.
One NHS nurse expressed she could not sleep at night knowing her two daughters, 4, and 13, could not join her due to lack of "serious or compelling reasons."
Sairah Javed, a solicitor at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants called the ruling "another form of assault on family values."
