A widowed Dutch research scientist living in Britain with his British six-year-old daughter has had his skilled worker visa cancelled by the Home Office and received a notification that he needs to leave the UK within the next two months.
Bobby Stuijfzand received a letter from the Home Office this month cancelling his visa. The letter said his entry clearance had been removed “because you have stopped working for your sponsor”, despite Stuijfzand still being employed by them. The notification added: “You do not have a right of appeal or administrative review against the decision to cancel your permission to stay.”
Stuijfzand moved from Switzerland to England in 2021 after his English wife died from cancer, because he wanted his young daughter, who was born in Bristol, to be close to her British relatives. He was unable to apply for EU settled status – the immigration option for EU citizens after Brexit – because he was a few weeks short of accruing five years of residency when the family relocated to Switzerland in 2018. Instead he was granted a work visa when he moved back to the UK, sponsored by his employers, Behavioural Insights Team.
He switched visa to a parental visa to be sure he could remain in the UK even if he needed to change jobs. However, the notification that his company was withdrawing visa sponsorship – because it was no longer necessary for them to sponsor him – appears to have led to the visa cancellation.
Stuijfzand said he suspected an error had been made but it was not immediately clear how to alert the Home Office to their mistake. When he called the number on the letter it was answered by a computer saying it was no longer in use, he said. There was also a link to two long documents that did not make obvious how a complaint could be raised. He sent an email to the Home Office on Friday informing them that he believed they must have made a mistake.
“My initial response was that it must be a scam because it was so unbelievable,” he said. He was dismayed by the accusatory tone of the letter, which warned him that if he stayed in the UK without permission he could be detained, prosecuted, fined and imprisoned, removed and banned from returning to the UK, banned from working, and could see his earnings seized and assets confiscated if he worked illegally, and his bank account frozen.
He only realised it was a genuine letter when he verified that the Home Officer case number was correct. “I feel quite vulnerable raising my daughter as a single parent here. I felt the floor falling away from under my feet. I’ve worked incredibly hard to give my daughter an environment where she can grow up as a resilient girl … for that to be threatened by such arbitrary and very obscure process was a shock to the system,” he said.
When the Guardian contacted the Home Office to ask about his case on Monday, an official said a mistake had been made and that Stuijfzand would be contacted.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Unfortunately a visa cancellation letter was issued to Dr Stuijfzand in error. We have issued a retraction and we apologise for any inconvenience this has caused him and his family.”
Stuijfzand said he had paid about £8,000 in Home Office fees and NHS surcharge fees over the past two years. He was still waiting to hear confirmation directly from officials on Monday afternoon that his immigration status was not being cancelled.
He said he was concerned that Home Office errors had a very alarming impact on recipients. “I can survive this but what happens to people who are more vulnerable?” he said. “If you don’t have the financial means or the support network to check this then you’re screwed.”
