I really hope that this does not go against any forum rules and, if so, I apologise in advance.
I hope that this may spark some discussion regarding current immigration rules, especially towards dependents who rely
physically,
emotionally and
financially on British nationals living in the UK.
My family and I lived in Dubai as expatriates due to the nature of my father's work and, in 2006, my grandparents moved in with us from South Africa as, after multiple burglaries of their home in a span of a month, they were afraid for their safety and they had nothing left to stay for in South Africa.
In 2012, my grandfather died and so my nan now has nobody left to take care of her apart from the family unit she has lived with for so long.
In 2013, my father was made redundant and so my family made the decision to move to the UK (my dad, me and my sister are all British nationals) so that my sister and I could begin to settle down in a country we could call home.
But, since 2012, the
immigration rules have made it almost impossible for British citizens to bring their elderly parents to the UK to care for them even when the family do not expect any government or taxpayer's funds to support the elderly dependent.
The Home Office refused my nan's application to reside in the UK and she now risks being removed back to South Africa where she has nothing left there. No family. No friends. No home. No job. It's not a fair and just life for a vulnerable 71-year-old who is reliant on her family for day-to-day care to live.
We have submitted substantial medical and humanitarian evidence to justify our application to keep my nan in the UK as well as financial proof that she would not be a burden on the British taxpayer yet we have received nothing but a hostile approach from the Home Office.
We have a parliamentary petition that went live yesterday which will fight for my family to stay together and not get torn apart by the current immigration rules. I really hope that if you believe that the new immigration laws are absurd for families who only wish to take care of their elderly dependents, you could help my family as well as other families like mine by signing the petition and sharing it around to people you know so that we can get parliament to hear us out.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/219993I will be forever grateful if you could help me and my family attempt to change the law back to pre-2012 Immigration Rules which will help many elderly dependents who want nothing more than to be emotionally, physically and financially supported by their families.