Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Grandmother could be deported ‘at any time’
control in Ukraine, and any money she would be entitled to, like state pension, is lost,” he said.
“We have engaged in every step with the Home Office, they have been particularly blunt in their response. They have shown little understanding to our situation.
“They said because she was over the age of 18, she was not dependent.
“There is a great risk in sending her back to Kharkiv. It is entirely unlikely she will have access to her pension and if she did, it would not cover her bills. She has no one else in the world and we have been left completely in the dark.”
North East Fife MP Wendy Chamberlain has raised Mrs Yakovleva’s plight with the Home Office. The Lib Dem has also called for all deportations to be stopped while the pandemic rages on.
She said: “I disagree with the Home Office decision to deport Valentyna and I think many will agree that deportations are the wrong priority for any government in the middle of a pandemic.
“All parts of the UK Government should be fully focused on fighting the virus, administering the vaccine roll out and supporting our recovery, not deporting 70-year-old grandmothers to countries where they no longer have any family.
“While I would like to see the Home Office allow her to stay permanently, the least they could is allow her and others in her situation to stay until the pandemic is over while the government has more important things to attend to.”
Mrs Yakovleva was granted several visitor visas between 2001 and 2011 but her application for Indefinite Leave to Remain on compassionate grounds was rejected in late 2011.
She tried again in 2014 under 10-Year Family and Private Life conditions but was again refused with no right of appeal.
In September 2015 she was served with a notice stating she was a person liable for removal as an “overstayer” and despite another application for Leave to Remain under the European Convention on Human Rights, she was again refused and served with another notice.
A Home Office spokesman said: “Not all removals are enforced.
“The Home Office operates the Voluntary Returns Service as we recognise there will be people who have no right to remain in the UK who wish to return to their home country, but who need assistance to do so depending on their personal circumstances.
“In these circumstances we work with the individual to return them to their home country.”