Getting the Edwards family back together
Donation protected
Today (21st August 2019) was the day that Dahlia was due to start nursery school in Aberdeen. However, the Home Office have decided that won’t happen for now.
Since the end of 2018 we have been preparing Mary and Dahlia’s applications for UK settlement. The 3 of us have been in Kenya since early March and we submitted the application in early May 2019. We waited 3 months, hoping that they would be accepted so we could begin our lives in Aberdeen. On the 9th of August we were informed that the applications were rejected for 2 reasons:
1. As part of the process I have to provide my tax return for the previous year. I included my 2017/18 tax return when we were ready to submit in March but due to delays in the next available required English test for Mary and also gathering other documents, we entered into a new tax year and I didn’t think to submit and then include my 2018/19 tax return.
2. In order to prove that Mary speaks English she sat an exam known as ‘IELTS: General’ which covers reading, writing, speaking and listening. She passed. However, the Home Office require applicants to sit a test known as ‘IELTS: Life Skills A1’ which only covers speaking and listening. This was our error and although the test which Mary sat is at a higher level than the ‘A1’ test, it doesn’t give the Home Office the reference number they require.
They were satisfied with our relationship and all other aspects of the applications. There is no chance of an appeal for us as they are only successful if you prove the Home Office’s reasons for refusal were incorrect. These reasons are unfortunately in line with the rules of their system. Appeals must be submitted within 28 days and can take 18 months.
The night prior to receiving the news of the visa refusal my dad was gravely ill and taken into hospital with pneumonia and a septic lung infection. These came about from his body not being able to handle new chemotherapy medication which he was taking to combat the multiple myeloma bone marrow cancer he has battled for 13 years. He is home now but seriously ill and requires 24/7 care from my mum. We want to be home to help them.
Throughout our application process we have had incredible support from the office of Ross Thomson MP. They have regularly been in contact with the Home Office to check on the progress of our applications and have made the process less stressful for us. Over the past 11 days Ross and his team have been appealing to the Home Office to overturn the decision based on compassionate grounds. They submitted my 2018/19 tax return as well as Mary’s university degree from an English speaking university and her secondary school certificate with an A minus score for English. The Home Office said they would make a decision within 5 working days but they waited until today (the 8th working day) to tell us that they won’t be overturning the decision. The full application process and associated expenses have cost us the best part of £8,000. I will now have to fly home alone this weekend at a one way ticket cost of over £1,600 (this is not included in the previously spent £8,000).
The Home Office have suggested that we apply for tourist visas in order for Mary and Dahlia to be with my dad. Mary has been to the UK twice and Dahlia once on a tourist visa. We will not be applying for a tourist visa for several reasons; Mary would not be allowed to work, Dahlia’s education would be hugely disrupted, we are not allowed to apply for settlement whilst on a tourist visa, it adds further cost to us/income to the Home Office and there is no guarantee it would be accepted.
Our only option is to begin the application from scratch, submitting all 2kg of documents again; some in Kenya and others in Sheffield, UK. Mary is required to take the IELTS: Life Skills A1 English test, with the next available test date not until 12th September. It takes 2 weeks after that to get the result/certificate. As a result of this we will not be able to submit our new applications until the end of September. Mary and Dahlia will be required to undergo second Tuberculosis vaccinations as they expire after 6 months. They will also have to relocate to Nairobi and rent a house due to the impracticality of currently being 8 hours drive away in Iten. With the assistance of a lawyer and fast tracking the application we should receive a decision by early November.
To share details of our situation, private lives and particularly my dad’s health is not a decision we have taken lightly, but the Home Office have left us with no choice. I appreciate that they have a very difficult job but they have let us down at the most desperate time in our lives. Working full time for a charity, it was a struggle for me to gather the funds for the first application. It is impossible to do so for a second time.
As a result of all of this we have set up the below GoFundMe page to try and raise the necessary funds to bring us all together as a family in the UK. We will be forever grateful to anyone who is in a position to support us. Below is a breakdown of the costs:
Visa application and priority fees: £4,493
English exam: £160
Tuberculosis tests: £176
NHS surcharge: £2,774
Legal fees: £600
Approximate GoFundMe processing fees: £340
TOTAL: £8,543
The NHS surcharge from our first application will almost certainly be refunded 2 months from now. At this point we will donate the full refund and any extra monies raised to a charity/organisation which supports families with immigration. This will possibly be ‘The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants’ but we shall do more research and update everyone with regard to our decision.
Thank you to all of our family, friends, legal advisors and the office of Ross Thomson MP for your incredible support during this challenging time for us.
Since the end of 2018 we have been preparing Mary and Dahlia’s applications for UK settlement. The 3 of us have been in Kenya since early March and we submitted the application in early May 2019. We waited 3 months, hoping that they would be accepted so we could begin our lives in Aberdeen. On the 9th of August we were informed that the applications were rejected for 2 reasons:
1. As part of the process I have to provide my tax return for the previous year. I included my 2017/18 tax return when we were ready to submit in March but due to delays in the next available required English test for Mary and also gathering other documents, we entered into a new tax year and I didn’t think to submit and then include my 2018/19 tax return.
2. In order to prove that Mary speaks English she sat an exam known as ‘IELTS: General’ which covers reading, writing, speaking and listening. She passed. However, the Home Office require applicants to sit a test known as ‘IELTS: Life Skills A1’ which only covers speaking and listening. This was our error and although the test which Mary sat is at a higher level than the ‘A1’ test, it doesn’t give the Home Office the reference number they require.
They were satisfied with our relationship and all other aspects of the applications. There is no chance of an appeal for us as they are only successful if you prove the Home Office’s reasons for refusal were incorrect. These reasons are unfortunately in line with the rules of their system. Appeals must be submitted within 28 days and can take 18 months.
The night prior to receiving the news of the visa refusal my dad was gravely ill and taken into hospital with pneumonia and a septic lung infection. These came about from his body not being able to handle new chemotherapy medication which he was taking to combat the multiple myeloma bone marrow cancer he has battled for 13 years. He is home now but seriously ill and requires 24/7 care from my mum. We want to be home to help them.
Throughout our application process we have had incredible support from the office of Ross Thomson MP. They have regularly been in contact with the Home Office to check on the progress of our applications and have made the process less stressful for us. Over the past 11 days Ross and his team have been appealing to the Home Office to overturn the decision based on compassionate grounds. They submitted my 2018/19 tax return as well as Mary’s university degree from an English speaking university and her secondary school certificate with an A minus score for English. The Home Office said they would make a decision within 5 working days but they waited until today (the 8th working day) to tell us that they won’t be overturning the decision. The full application process and associated expenses have cost us the best part of £8,000. I will now have to fly home alone this weekend at a one way ticket cost of over £1,600 (this is not included in the previously spent £8,000).
The Home Office have suggested that we apply for tourist visas in order for Mary and Dahlia to be with my dad. Mary has been to the UK twice and Dahlia once on a tourist visa. We will not be applying for a tourist visa for several reasons; Mary would not be allowed to work, Dahlia’s education would be hugely disrupted, we are not allowed to apply for settlement whilst on a tourist visa, it adds further cost to us/income to the Home Office and there is no guarantee it would be accepted.
Our only option is to begin the application from scratch, submitting all 2kg of documents again; some in Kenya and others in Sheffield, UK. Mary is required to take the IELTS: Life Skills A1 English test, with the next available test date not until 12th September. It takes 2 weeks after that to get the result/certificate. As a result of this we will not be able to submit our new applications until the end of September. Mary and Dahlia will be required to undergo second Tuberculosis vaccinations as they expire after 6 months. They will also have to relocate to Nairobi and rent a house due to the impracticality of currently being 8 hours drive away in Iten. With the assistance of a lawyer and fast tracking the application we should receive a decision by early November.
To share details of our situation, private lives and particularly my dad’s health is not a decision we have taken lightly, but the Home Office have left us with no choice. I appreciate that they have a very difficult job but they have let us down at the most desperate time in our lives. Working full time for a charity, it was a struggle for me to gather the funds for the first application. It is impossible to do so for a second time.
As a result of all of this we have set up the below GoFundMe page to try and raise the necessary funds to bring us all together as a family in the UK. We will be forever grateful to anyone who is in a position to support us. Below is a breakdown of the costs:
Visa application and priority fees: £4,493
English exam: £160
Tuberculosis tests: £176
NHS surcharge: £2,774
Legal fees: £600
Approximate GoFundMe processing fees: £340
TOTAL: £8,543
The NHS surcharge from our first application will almost certainly be refunded 2 months from now. At this point we will donate the full refund and any extra monies raised to a charity/organisation which supports families with immigration. This will possibly be ‘The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants’ but we shall do more research and update everyone with regard to our decision.
Thank you to all of our family, friends, legal advisors and the office of Ross Thomson MP for your incredible support during this challenging time for us.
Organizer
Myles Edwards
Organizer
