IMMIGRATION may well be a reserved matter, but SNP MPs have consistently said Scotland should have the power to devise its own policy to take account of its particular needs.
Now the Scottish Affairs Committee at Westminster is to consider if the immigration system does that.
Committee chair Pete Wishart told The National the Felbers’ case was similar to that of the Brain family and others, including a number in his own constituency.
“These are people who’ve given a good part of their lives to come and invest in Scotland, who are exactly the type of people we need to grow the economy, they’re welcome and active in their communities,” he said.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous that they’re even considering throwing people like this out the country.
“I think it demonstrates how ill-equipped these national UK immigration requirements are for Scotland.
“We’ll have to examine points like this in the inquiry.”
Wishart said he hoped the inquiry would help to resolve such matters, but as it would be “evidence-led” members would have to wait to see where it took them.
“I’d be very surprised if we didn’t see a few examples like this in the course of the inquiry and I’m pretty certain we’ll want to address some of the key features about all of this, because it’s happening too regularly,” he said.
“Couples like this who’ve invested so much into our country are finding all these difficulties with a real fear and worry of deportation.”
The Home Office response is that they don’t comment on individual cases but, when asked about the Felbers, a spokesperson said they would enforce the removal of people with no legal basis to remain here should they not leave the country voluntarily.
Wishart added that it demonstrated the “gross inflexibility” of rules that were not equipped to deal with personal situations.
“The failure to adapt policy to real-life situations of people who have so much to contribute to the country is the depressing feature of all of this.”
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