A Highland pensioner recovering from major surgery is being deported after she divorced her British husband amid allegations of domestic violence.
The 72-year-old Canadian, who cannot be named for legal reasons, came to the UK on a fiance visa and subsequently married, but the couple later split up.
She wrote to the Home Office to alert them to her changed circumstances and in February received a reply indicating her right to remain in the UK had been curtailed.
Her original visa was due to expire in October this year, but the letter said her leave date had been brought forward to April.
An initial application to remain in the UK indefinitely was refused, but the woman – who has four pensions and owns her home which is mortgage free – has tried again and is awaiting a decision.
She said she was too frightened to go to the police at the time, but has since given them a statement. Her ex-husband denies the claims made against him.
She could not comply with the April deadline having undergone a major operation in January.
And she hopes to be able to stay in the UK on the basis she is self-supporting and a net contributor, having paid income tax since arriving in the UK.
Meanwhile, she has put her property on the market and given away most of her furniture to charity. The Home Office has her birth certificate and passport, which she has been told will only be returned to her at the airport en route to Canada.
She claimed the UK Government had also contacted the DVLA to have her driving licence revoked.
The pensioner said: “I’m being treated like a terrorist. I can’t take much more.
“I have just given my whole life away. I have never heard of anything so ridiculous; I didn’t break the law.
“I just divorced.”
Her MP, the SNP’s Paul Monaghan, criticised the “unfair and harsh” treatment and has written to the home secretary asking that the original decision be reviewed.
A Home Office spokesman said: “All applications are considered on their individual merits and in line with the Immigration Rules.”
