A family facing being split apart in a wrangle over immigration rules yesterday said they were living through a “nightmare”.
University graduate Josie Pasane, 25, has been ordered to go back to South Africa, despite making a new life for herself in Scotland during the past seven years.
Her mother and sister have been granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK and the family blames the advice given to them by immigration officials for the mix-up.
The devastated family, backed by people in the Dundee area where they live, now hopes the Home Office will look again at their case.
Josie said she was “completely devastated”.
“I wish there was a word I could find to describe the emotions,” she said. “It’s a nightmare, but I’m living through it.
“I’m trying very hard to keep my head above water and keep hope and faith.”
The family arrived in the UK in 2001 and they settled at Broughty Ferry where mother Catherine Pasane works as a nurse with the elderly.
Josie went on to get a degree from Abertay University and her younger sister, 22-year-old Mammie, is studying at Edinburgh University.
In 2004, the family decided to apply for permanent residence in Britain.
They claim officials advised them that if Mammie and her mother went through the £500-each process there and then, Josie could defer her application until her visa ran out in 2008. Josie’s application was refused in January this year.
The family took their case to a tribunal in Glasgow last month but the judge found he was not in a position in law to allow the appeal.
He did acknowledge that Ms Pasane had proven herself to be an “excellent member of society” and said it would take Home Office “discretion” to allow her to stay.
At the tribunal, a Home Office representative acknowledged that if she had made her application at the relevant time, it was likely it would have succeeded.
Josie, who has been unable to continue her job with a high street store because of the legal row, said she was “ill-advised” in 2004.
“I feel that it was a mistake, an error on their behalf. I took it on good faith,” she said.
“It’s very, very hard. I’m wanting to be strong for both my mum and my sister. We’re a very close family.”
The family met their lawyer for talks yesterday.
Catherine Pasane believes Josie would have been allowed to stay if she had not got a job and been dependent on her mother.
She said: “My daughter didn’t do anything. She didn’t commit any crime.
“She has been punished for growing up, she has been punished for going to school, she has been punished for getting a job.
“I put 110% into being a charge nurse to care for the elderly. You feel that you’re not appreciated for the service that you’ve given.”
All three women are active members of the Church of Scotland congregation at Broughty Ferry New Kirk where the Rev Catherine Collins has organised a petition in their support.
She said: “They are a hardworking, decent, committed, caring family, yet Josie, simply because she got the wrong advice from a Home Office official, is being threatened with deportation.
“It’s extremely hard – they’re a very close family.”
The UK Border Agency would not comment on individual cases but a spokesman said: “All applications for further leave to remain are thoroughly considered by expert case-workers, taking into account all individual circumstances.
“Where a person has been refused further leave to remain, there is a full right of appeal to the independent asylum and immigration tribunal.
“Applicants who do not meet the requirements for leave to remain in the UK will be expected to return home. This is an essential element of a fair and controlled immigration system.”