Community hero Matt wins right to stay a Scot
Home Office lifts immediate deportation to China threat
A COMMUNITY hero who was threatened with deportation by the Home Office has won the right to stay in Scotland.
Matt Freeman had been ordered return to his native China after 17 years in the UK.
He has been instrumental in helping his local community, in Lossiemouth, Moray, volunteering to help people with mental health issues and is a former director of the Moray Wellbeing Hub.
In January, the Home Office told Matt, an engineer with a PhD, to return to China straight away, removed his right to appeal and warned him that failure to comply could see him jailed.
Matt was born in Hunan and raised in Gansu. But both his parents have been dead for more than 20 years.
Appeals were made on his behalf from local MSP Richard Lochhead and MP Douglas Ross.
Now Matt has revealed that the Home Office have given him right to stay for at least 30 months. On social media last night, he said: “Thank you all my dearest friends. This morning I received an email from Home Office and was granted limited leave to remain.”
Matt said felt he had been accepted by the UK authorities in 2010 when he was allowed to register under his British name. He had arrived in the UK to study in 2003. But the Home Office insists a short spell in China from 2010-11 meant his 17-year stay in the UK has not been continuous.
Lochhead said: “This is great news for Matt and I know the local community will be so pleased for him. Hopefully, this breathing space will provide him with the time he needs to further make his case to the Home Office”
The Home Office said it did not comment on individual cases.