SNP: devolve immigration to stop families being torn apart

‘We are people, not numbers’ ... migrant families fighting to stay in Scotland SPECIAL REPORT

IMMIGRATION powers should be devolved to the Scottish Government to stop families being broken up through “unfair and unworkable” visa restrictions, according to the SNP. The call comes from Anne McLaughlin MP, the party’s shadow spokesperson on civil liberties, as the party’s Westminster justice and home affairs team prepares to launch new research on the suffering that income restrictions on family visas are inflicting on UK citizens across the country. The study, to be released on Thursday, follows the controversial deportation of Singapore national Irene Clennell, 52, who was separated from her British husband, children and grandchild despite being a long-term UK

AFEW months ago Irene Clennell might have spent today making a Sunday roast dinner. Instead, the 52-year-old Singapore national, who had been caring for her British husband of 27 years, and who has two British children and a grandchild, is back in her country of origin sleeping on the sofa in her sister’s cramped flat, worrying herself sick about her future.

She had spent the last month in Dungavel detention centre in South Lanarkshire – her indefinite leave to remain lapsed after she spent several years living in in Singapore caring for her dying parents. In 2013, she came back on a six-month visa and started caring for husband John but her applications to remain were turned down.

Last Sunday, while her family made desperate calls to empty lawyers’ offices, she was restrained and put on a plane with four security guards. “I have so many questions but no answer to anything,” she says by text to the Sunday Herald from Singapore. To most she is a wife, mother, granny, neighbour, friend. To the Home Office she is an “over-stayer”.

It is a case that has shocked the public. But, according to recent research, cases of British citizens suffering family separation due to harsh immigration rules are far from unique. Stories of those deported leaving behind children and partners, even where legal or asylum cases are pending, are worryingly common.

For someone like Michelle Gatti, 26, originally from Argentina but now living in Glasgow with her Scottish husband and their two young daughters, cases like Clennell’s are frightening. She and her husband, Mark McLauchlan, were both living in Spain when they met and married. In 2015, she moved to Scotland so McLauchlan, a mechanic, could find work and she applied for a residence permit through what is known as a Surinder Singh application [after the Indian man who had lived with his British wife in Germany]. But, to her horror, it was refused twice. resident. The research found that children were sometimes denied seeing a parent for months or years because they were unable to secure leave to remain in Britain.

Others were forced to meet in a third country because even visitor visas were

She sought advice and was told that even though her husband was now earning over the income threshold – £18,600 for a couple or £22,400 if you have a child, with an additional £2,400 for each extra child – her best option because she was an “over-stayer” was that she should leave the country and apply for a spouse visa from Spain, which would take a month.

“My lawyer told me in no uncertain terms that I would be considered an over-stayer and would face a year’s ban from the UK.” She falters, still overcome by the thought of being separated from her young children. “Now I am appealing but my life is in limbo. When I got the second refusal I felt so stuck. I was just walking around crying all the time. It’s like the story from a Hollywood movie except it’s too ridiculous.”

There are echoes of the Clennell case, too, in Carolyn Matthew’s situation. The 55-yearold returned home to Bo’ness, southwest of Edinburgh, after 30 years in South Africa to be with her elderly parents. Her South African partner of 16 years, George Flanagan – a skilled boilermaker –was confident of finding work.

Matthew came ahead but her job in admin pays just short of £17,000 so does not meet the income threshold.“We thought the situation would be straightforward,” she said. “We just want to make our life here. It seems very unfair.”

The couple are appealing but will have to wait for up to 48 weeks for a hearing. Flanagan is currently in Scotland, two months into a six-month visitor’s visa and may have to return before they get a date.

First-year medical student Paul McMillan, 25, says he is now planning to leave the UK as soon as he qualifies due to the immigration rules. He and his American girlfriend want to get married and live in Glasgow together while he studies and she continues working as a social worker. But as a student he has no way of meeting the income requirement.

“It’s made me ashamed to be British and I don’t think I want to live in a country with these xenophobic rules,” he says. “The government says the purpose of this restriction is to stop people claiming benefits but I couldn’t claim any because I’m a full-time student and one of the stipulations of the visa is that you can’t claim benefits for

When I got the second refusal I felt so stuck. I was walking around crying all the time. It’s like a Hollywood movie except it’s too ridiculous