{"id":1354,"date":"2024-09-27T11:59:02","date_gmt":"2024-09-27T11:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gregrussell.scot\/?p=1354"},"modified":"2024-09-27T11:59:02","modified_gmt":"2024-09-27T11:59:02","slug":"this-behaviour-with-the-home-office-needs-to-stop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregrussell.scot\/?p=1354","title":{"rendered":"‘This behaviour with the Home Office needs to stop’"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE National published this story at the beginning of this week but I didn’t post the link because it was behind a paywall. It’s yet another tragic and disturbing example of how people are suffering because of the UK Home Office and their hostile environment, which is worse than it has ever been.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

A LEADING immigration lawyer has pilloried the UK Home Office over their delay processing a visa for the terminally ill mother of a Syrian student in Scotland.<\/strong>
\nUsman Aslam was speaking after Hoda Eid died in Syria two months after her son Obada won an appeal for the family to be reunited here.
\n\u201cThe court initially expedited this tragic case, but the Home Office failed to review it urgently as they were ordered to,\u201d said Aslam.
\n\u201cWe won our appeal nearly two months ago, and since then they have been sitting on their hands.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s as if they are immune to the heartbreak they cause people. They are not fit for purpose.
\n\u201cAll Obada wanted was to see his mother one last time after she was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer in December and he has been denied that through the Home Office\u2019s inaction.
\n\u201cHe is, understandably, completely distraught, especially since he can\u2019t get to his mother\u2019s funeral, given that burials in Syria are usually arranged as soon as possible after a person\u2019s death.\u201d
\nAslam, a senior associate at Mukhtar & Co in Glasgow, added: \u201cThis is yet another case of ours that should reiterate to the public that safe routes to come to the UK are being made increasingly difficult.
\n\u201cAs soon as the Home Office appeal period allowance finished, our office made contact with [Glasgow East MP] John Grady\u2019s office who helpfully made contact with the Home Office through parliamentary channels to expedite the issuing of the visa.
\n\u201cThis behaviour with the Home Office needs to stop. At a high price they find the staff to issue visas within a few days on other visa routes yet no explanation as to the delay here.\u201d
\nIt was nearly five years ago when Obada, who lives in Glasgow\u2019s Saltmarket, came here to study at a time when more than half of Syria\u2019s population of 24 million were displaced by the decade-long civil war that has ravaged the country.
\nHis mother wanted to see him one last time and for him to be reunited with his brother and sister. She struggled to the Lebanese capital Beirut to deliver paperwork to the nearest UK consular office which would enable her to come to Scotland. However, the documents became caught up in a Home Office logjam before they eventually rejected the application.
\nTwo months ago the family won their case on appeal, but news was of the decision was withheld in case the Home Office contested it.
\nAt the time, Obada told this newspaper: \u201cI do feel excited and happy but unfortunately, my mum\u2019s situation is getting worse. I am not sure yet when they\u2019ll arrive as we are waiting for the Home Office to expedite the visa process.\u201d
\nNow he is too distraught to speak.
\nHis MP Grady told me: \u201cIt is devastatingly sad that the family\u2019s visas were not issued in time before they could spend time together as a family before Hoda, their mum died \u2013 and say their last goodbyes together.
\n\u201cI asked the Home Office to speed up consideration of the application because Hoda had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and it was clear that she had little time to live. I am very disappointed that the visas were not granted in time.
\n\u201cThere are terrible delays in the UK immigration system \u2013 and each delay has a human cost.
\n\u201cThese delays are because the Tories focussed on expensive gimmicks rather than making the system work fairly and efficiently. The new Labour government is working incredibly hard to get the system back on its feet.\u201d
\nA Home Office spokesperson said: \u201cOur thoughts are with Hoda’s family and friends during this difficult time. We work hard to ensure families are reunited as soon as possible, in accordance with our immigration rules.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE National published this story at the beginning of this week but I didn’t post the link because it was behind a paywall. It’s yet another tragic and disturbing example of how people are suffering because of the UK Home Office and their hostile environment, which is worse than it has ever been. A LEADING […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregrussell.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregrussell.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregrussell.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregrussell.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregrussell.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gregrussell.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1354\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregrussell.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregrussell.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregrussell.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}