Woman faces deportation

An MP has intervened to try to help a Highland mother who was threatened with immediate deportation.

The SNP’s Ian Blackford is holding urgent talks with theHomeOffice after being informed that constituent Gloria Macleod was told thisweekthatshecouldnot return home.

The Indian passport holder, whose husband Robertwas bornandraised in Dingwall but currently works in Dubai, was refused entry into the country at Inverness Airport on Monday.

Mr Blackford said she has a UK C–Visit passport, issued by the British Consulate in Abu Dhabi in 2009, which is valid for 10 years.

The couple’s children Siobhan and Meaghan are British citizens, and in July the family returned to Dingwall and the girls were enrolled in the local primary school so they could receive an education in Scotland.

The family made an application to enable Mrs Macleod to remain in the countrywhile her husband continued toworkin Dubai to support the family, and she was advised by the Visa Office that it had to be lodged in person in Dubai.

Onher return, after lodging the appropriate application, theMPsaid she was refused entry, and only allowed into the country on “temporary admission”, on condition she is deported to Dubai tomorrow.

Mr Blackford has asked that the removal order be suspended until he and the family receive a full explanation.