Visa delays crippling lives of hundreds of UK migrants – even when they have British children
Hundreds of migrants living in the UK are facing agonising delays in finding out if they can stay, despite some having British children.
Most immigrants in the UK have to apply to extend their stay every 30 months – before qualifying to remain indefinitely after either five or 10 years – paying thousands of pounds each time.
In many cases, the Home Office aims to respond within eight weeks, but figures obtained by Sky News show 902 immigrants seeking study or partner visas have been waiting more than a year.
Lengthy delays can cause applicants to lose their jobs, have their benefits suspended and leave them dealing with crippling debt, even if they already live in the country legally.
Independent migration policy researcher Zoe Gardner said the figures, which also show 167 cases have remained unresolved for at least 20 years, “point to a problem” at the Home Office.
“These delays can seriously impact people’s lives, even if it’s 900 people waiting over a year – this is potentially life-ruining for those people and it’s clearly systemic,” she told Sky News.
Applicants are charged £1,258 just to submit forms for what the Home Office refers to as Leave to Remain visas, £1,035 per year to use the NHS plus potentially thousands more in legal fees.
Parents of four children Ali and Sade, who qualified for spouse visas after visiting Britain, said they applied for a fee waiver to dodge an £8,000 bill for their third extension in May 2023.
Three of their children are British citizens – having been born in the UK and lived here for 10 years – while their eight-year-old daughter is part of their current application.
But more than 18 months later they are still waiting for an answer – a delay they told Sky News has cost Ali his job over the uncertainty, left them in debt and relying on food banks.
“Now my husband’s work is gone, we are relying only on my end, it’s not enough,” said Sade, who works as a carer and like Ali didn’t want to give her real name in the wake of the Southport riots.
“It’s taking food away from our children’s mouths, so we go back to food banks and this all impacts our health. It makes you feel like you’re in the wrong place, even with British children.”
‘How long can we do this?’
Ali said he lost his job in security when his contract was due for renewal in September after he couldn’t prove to his employers he has the right to work.
He fears they won’t be able to afford their next round of applications, adding: “How will I work and raise money while paying bills in just another two and a half years for three applications?
“Even if I work every month I can’t afford the fees. We don’t know if we will qualify for a fee waiver. We have to save now, but how long can we do this for?”
To make matters worse, Sade’s father died last month in Nigeria, but because she wouldn’t be allowed back in the country until her status is clarified she will miss the funeral.
The family had also planned to take the children, aged eight, 12, 13 and 18, on their first ever trip abroad over the summer – a holiday they had to cancel for the same reason.
Home Office ‘failure’
Since 2020, the Refugee and Migrant Forum Of Essex & London (RAMFEL) has been tracking how its clients have fared during 3C leave and claim 17% have suffered “serious detriment”.
If replicated on a national level, the groups estimates 40,000 people on 3C leave could lose their job each year – compounded by the Home Office’s “failure to respond to employment verification checks in a timely manner”.
RAMFEL’s head of campaigning, Nick Beales, told Sky News there are “crueller aspects” of the immigration system, but “nothing better evidences its dysfunction” than parents of British citizens waiting nearly two years for renewals.
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The figures obtained by Sky News show 346 partner visa applications have been unresolved for more than 10 years, which Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at Oxford University, described as “puzzling”.
“In theory, delays are a problem addressed with more resources, it is fixable,” she told Sky News, adding another option could be to simplify the process by requiring fewer applications.
A Home Office source acknowledged applications can “sometimes take longer to process”, but said they can “vary in complexity” depending on the individual circumstances.
They added employers can check an individual’s status with the department while the application is pending.
It means little to Ali, who said they have already spent a costly year and a half waiting for a process that will need them to go through the same applications again within 30 months.
“Sometimes the children look at us and ask why we are sad,” he said.
“Even if they give it today, it doesn’t make sense anymore… we will need to raise money again to renew.
“I don’t know how we are going to do it.”
A workman saved a seven-year-old boy from a burning car in the aftermath of a deadly crash caused by a suicidal ex-pilot, an inquest has heard.
The schoolboy’s rescue came following the collision on the M6, which killed former RAF man Richard Woods and four others, in October last year.
Last week a coroner ruled that Woods, 40, took his own life by deliberately driving his Skoda the wrong way down the motorway while drunk and hitting a Toyota Yaris head-on.
The driver of the Toyota, Jaroslaw Rossa, 42, was also killed, along with his two sons, Filip, 15, and Dominic, seven, and his partner Jade McEnroe, 33.
Cockermouth Coroner’s Court heard on Thursday that Ms McEnroe’s son was also in the car but survived after workman Gavin Walsh came to his rescue at the scene, which was near Tebay services in Cumbria.
In a statement to the inquest, Mr Walsh said he was a passenger in a transit van travelling to Scotland when he witnessed the crash.
He jumped out of the vehicle and used a jack to smash the rear windscreen of the Toyota and pulled the boy out of the burning vehicle.
Mr Walsh said: “We really did try, I can assure everyone we did our best. We only had minimal time.
“I saved a life that day and I hope never to witness anything like that again.”
He added that he has never stopped thinking about the boy, and said: “I hope we will meet again one day and I will give you a massive hug.”
At the time, the family were returning to Glasgow from a trip to Legoland in Windsor, Berkshire.
The inquest heard that Wood, who was travelling at a speed of at least 65mph, would have been charged with manslaughter had he survived.
Recording conclusions of unlawful killing, Cumbria assistant coroner Margaret Taylor said: “I found that Jaroslaw, Jade, Filip and Dominic died as a consequence of the unlawful acts of another driver.”
The inquest heard how Mr Woods, from Cambridgeshire, had served a distinguished 14-year career in the RAF and was a flight instructor for BAE Systems at the time of his death.
Jade McEnroe. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
Dominic and Filip. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
In Ms Taylor’s record of inquest, Mr Woods was said to have been experiencing “a number of stressors in his life” and had a “history of harmful use of alcohol”.
Following the crash, he was found to be nearly four times over the legal drink-drive limit and a two-thirds empty bottle of gin was found in his car.
On the day of his death, concerns had been raised over his behaviour at a work conference near Preston in Lancashire.
Mr Woods failed to return to his seat after lunch and was later spotted driving erratically and swerving across three northbound carriageway lanes on the M6.
After pulling onto the hard shoulder, he then proceeded to U-turn and drove southward on lane three.
Filip, Dominic and Jaroslaw Rossa. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
Detective Sergeant Deborah Story, from Cumbria Police, told the inquest that Mr Woods would have been prosecuted on four counts of manslaughter had he lived.
She said hypothetical charges of murder were considered by detectives but not thought appropriate because of a lack of information that Mr Woods knew the family or anything that provided a link between them.
Ms McEnroe’s parents, Marie McEnroe and George McNellis, told the coroner they thought it was “murder”.
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A statement from the mother of Filip and Dominic, and the ex-wife of Mr Rossa, Kamila, was read out at the inquest.
She said Mr Rossa, known as Jarek, was born in Poland where they became a couple and went on to have three boys.
He loved playing computer games and had “lots of friends”, she said, and worked at the Wagamama restaurant in Silverburn, Glasgow.
She said she was “devastated” over the deaths, adding: “Our lives will never be the same.
“I am heartbroken at the passing of my beloved angels Filip and Dominic.”
Marie McEnroe said her daughter, a spa therapist, had been in a relationship with Mr Rossa for about two-and-a-half years.
She said Jade had been a “brilliant mother” to her only child, was “really happy” with Mr Rossa and it was “lovely chaos” when all the boys were playing together.
Ms McEnroe added: “Life changed forever that day”.
Ms Taylor praised the “selfless acts of bravery” from those in the aftermath of the collision, including Mr Walsh, who she said went towards the burning car “without hesitation for his own safety”.
The coroner added: “Without his swift response, Jade’s child would also have perished.”
Addressing the bereaved family members, she said: “Your loss is unimaginable but you have conducted yourself with dignity and I thank you for that. I wish you strength for the future.”
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
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