Mum’s plea: Let me stay (From Dorset Echo)

Mum’s plea: Let me stay

12:00pm Friday 6th October 2006 in

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A FAMILY fears being torn apart after immigration officials refused a mother permission to stay in the country.

Juna Brookes, 32, has been told by the Home Office that she must leave Weymouth and return to Azerbaijan, despite her son and husband being UK citizens.

A ruling by the Nationality and Immigration Service says the couple missed the deadline for extending her stay in the country by two days and she must go back - with no right of appeal.

The devastated family now face the prospect of living their lives thousands of miles apart despite Juna being in regular employment since she came to the UK two-and-a-half years ago.

She said: "I never thought the British Government would do something like this - I love this country but they are destroying a family with a wave of their hand.

"We have done everything by the book and now we have been told that I can't even say anything in my defence.

"I gave up my life to be with my husband, my beloved, and now I feel like they are tearing my heart and my life apart."

According to the couple, officials have refused the extended visa on the grounds that they received important personal documents two days late.

Officials asked for documents to prove the couple were legitimately married and still living together in the UK happily.

Juna's husband, Peter, 34, said: "We prepared a half-inch thick pile of documents giving them as much evidence as we could about our married life.

"We thought the application date was August 4, based on two years since Juna entered the UK, but it was actually July 25, based on when the visa was issued in Azerbaijan.

"We thought we had sent the forms in early but in reality we missed the deadline by two days."

Peter, an IT worker at Blandford School, met Juna Amirovar three years ago and they spent a year living together in the Azerbaijan capital of Baku.

During that time they married and Juna gave birth to their son Daneel.

They decided to move back to the UK in 2004 and applied for a married couple visa.

"We had no problem getting it and they told us that if we could prove we were still together after two years they would grant Juna indefinite leave to stay," Peter said.

"But the new the visa has been refused with no right to appeal because Juna is classed as an illegal alien.

The only legal channel open to the couple will cost around £3,000 and even then an appeal hearing is not guaranteed.

"We have done everything legitimately and tried to go through proper channels.

"There are god knows how many people not bothering to do anything and disappearing into the country and they have just picked on us as an easy target to keep up with their deportation targets."

A Home Office spokesman said it could not comment on individual cases.

But he added: "Each application is treated on its merits on a case-by-case basis and the onus is on the applicant to apply in time for leave to remain.

"It is also important they present all the supporting evidence on time.

"We have a system which allows people to stay on the basis of marriage so it is important we have a robust immigration system with laws to prevent abuses."