A FAMILY who face being “ripped apart” by the Home Office are living in fear, they say.
Glasgow Central MP Alison Thewliss, who today challenged Amber Rudd to resign, raised the case of Amaiman Gul Shaikh at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
READ MORE: Calls for Rudd to quit as it emerges Home Offices DID have deportation targets
The 32-year-old woman gave birth to son Aziz just four months ago. Her daughter Mariam, five, was also born after she moved to the UK from Pakistan and both children have been granted British citizenship and passports.
But while their status is secure and their father Shujauddin Shaikh, 38, has been granted indefinite leave to remain in Scotland, Amaiman has not.
She has been ordered to report to an immigration centre every two weeks as the family and their solicitors seek new avenues to prevent her from having to leave the country.
The decision came 366 days after the paperwork was submitted.
The case has emerged just weeks after that of Olya Merry, the Belarusian mother told to leave her husband and toddler daughter in Coatbridge. She told The National how the situation was taking a toll on her health.
READ MORE: Deportation of Scottish toddler's mother put on hold
Yesterday Shujauddin revealed how his family had spent around £3600 on applications and legal fees.
The accounts assistant said: “She’s devastated. She’s saying, ‘will I leave you, will I leave the kids?’ She has so many questions.
“How can she leave Scotland when she has children here?
“I’m just so worried. I want it to be sorted out.”
After submitting her documents to the Home Office as part of her application, Amaiman was unable to travel back to Pakistan for her brother’s wedding.
Her parents have settled in America and it is unclear where she would live if she returned to her country of origin.
Shujauddin says the uncertainty, cost and lengthy wait have caused them “stress” and “worry”.
In her exchange with May, Thewliss said the family’s case is part of “the results of the Prime Minister’s ‘hostile environment’ on immigration.”
She went on: “My constituents, Shaikh and Gul, applied for leave to remain on the same day, 27 March 2017. His was granted, but hers was refused on 28 March – a full year later.
“The couple’s five-year-old and their four-month-old are both British citizens, but Gul has been told that she should be ready to leave the UK. Why does the Prime Minister want to separate this family, and will she intervene?”
May replied: “The honourable Lady knows full well that those who work in the UK Visas and Immigration section of the Home Office look at every case very carefully.
“She has made her point in this House, and I am sure that the Home Office will look again at that case.”
Commenting further afterwards, Thewliss stated: “The Tory government has now told the mother of two British children to pack her bags and prepare to leave the country. Theresa May today had an opportunity to intervene in this case and to protect this family from being ripped apart, yet her response and her outright refusal to intervene – or at the very least, look into the case – was utterly shameful.”
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