Junior doctor raised in UK told to leave within a week
‘Misinterpretation of the rules’
A JUNIOR doctor who has spent most of her life in the UK received a letter giving her a week to leave the country or face deportation.
Mu-Chun Chiang, 27, is seeking legal advice after the shock news – and thousands of people are supporting her right to stay.
She has lived in the UK since 2006, when she moved to Cambridge from Taiwan, and lived in Glasgow with her parents between 1997 and 2002.
Dr Chiang said: ‘When I went back to Taiwan, it was a different environment and a little bit tricky for me – I was quite young and really wanted to get back to the UK.
‘My family is in Taiwan, but I’m more in tune with what’s going on in the UK, it feels like I’m at home.’
After completing her GCSEs and A-levels in Cambridge, she gained a medical degree from the University of Liverpool and an MA from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. She is training to be a GP and works at Aintree University Hospital.
But her plans are in tatters due to a monetary misunderstanding on her visa application.
After Dr Chiang’s student visa expired in June, her application for a new working visa was rejected in August – because of her bank balance. A Home Office rule states that an applicant’s balance cannot drop below £945 during the 90-day period of their application.
Dr Chiang said she had more than that saved. She added that the bank account on the application held the correct amount by the end of each month, but had dropped below for a few days in one of them.
She added: ‘I failed to realise they
Legal advice: Mu-Chun Chiang meant at no point, not even one hour of the day, was my money allowed to drop below the £945.’
She added: ‘This was a genuine misinterpretation of the rules.’
Dr Chiang appealed, sending details of a savings account to show she had the money required – but this was declined as the details were not provided initially.
She said she received a letter on Friday from the Home Office telling her the application was unsuccessful, and that she ‘must leave the UK now’ or she would ‘be liable to be detained and removed’.
She said: ‘It feels like they are treating me as a criminal. I have had to stop working – I am meant to be on call and my employers are trying to get cover. With how the NHS is, I don’t know why they won’t take into consideration my appeal.’
More than 10,000 people have signed a petition asking the Home Office to reverse its decision.
In a statement, a Home Office spokesman said: ‘All visa applications are considered on their individual merits and in line with the immigration rules. Ms Chiang did not provide the evidence required to be granted a visa but we are in contact with her and are discussing the options available to her.’