Visa snub for Deputy First Minister in row over Mull Gaelic teacher hopeful
AN APPEAL by Scotland’s Deputy First Minister to allow a Gaelic teacher from Canada to work at Bunessan Primary School has been snubbed by the UK Immigration Minister, writes David McPhee.
Sìne Halfpenny from Nova Scotia, who studied at the Sabhal Mór Ostaig on Skye, was the only applicant for a teaching post at a new Gaelic unit on the Ross of Mull, to which children from three families have already been enrolled.
Sìne was offered the job subject to her visa application, but parents learned before Christmas that the Home Office had rejected her visa for a second time, because ‘she did not meet the salary requirements as stipulated by the UK government’.
Argyll and Bute Council is re-applying for the ‘ideal’ Gaelic speaker to teach on Mull, but will be forced to re-advertise if it is third time unlucky. Parents are worried no-one else will apply.
John Swinney, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education, wrote to the UK Home Secretary, Conservative MP Amber Rudd.
‘We have experienced great demand for Gaelic education and are looking at ways in which we can increase our teaching capacity,’ he said, urging Ms Rudd to look into the case urgently.
However, Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes responded: ‘As immigration is a matter reserved for the Westminster Parliament, engagement with Westminster MPs on constituents’ immigration cases is the most appropriate route to follow. The Home Office currently receives in excess of 45,000 letters and 16,000 phone calls from MPs per year on immigration matters and this is, by far, the biggest recipient of constituency case correspondence in government. Responding to these requires significant resources from within the department that would otherwise be deployed to resolve cases, and this approach to inquiries from devolved administrations reflects the need to improve efficiency by reducing the duplication of inquiries.
‘I will not reply in my capacity as Immigration Minister to any immigration matters about individuals you might raise.’