A FORMER refugee from Syria who fled to Scotland almost 10 years ago has launched a petition to allow her dying father to come to Scotland so they can be reunited before it is too late.
Violet Hejazi says her father Ali has been hiding in various places since they left their home in northern Syria when it was ravaged by civil war. She lost her mother and set off on a series of dangerous journeys to get to “safe Scotland” at the age of 16.
Now she is studying for a law degree at Stirling University, despite the worries about her father, who is now 73 and has had a series of strokes, and her stepmother, who are in Kurdistan Iraq.
As a refugee here she applied to be reunited with her father and stepmother, but they lost contact when her family were under siege in their home village of Al-Fu’ah.
Hejazi says: “While working on my college dissertation in 2020, I read a case about family reunion whereby the judge had criticised the Home Office family reunion rules, making it possible to apply for other family members.
“I was aware that it was a risk … but at least we could bring it before a judge. More importantly, the Home Office family reunion policy says in black and white that if you do not meet the immigration rules, they can still grant the application outside of them if compassionate factors can be shown. My father is dying, I thought that itself would be enough.”
She says her father has suffered three strokes since their first visa application last November, which have left him unable to walk or talk properly. However, the Home Office said that since they were able to provide medical reports, it showed her father was receiving the health care he needs.
“After many attempts by my MP and an article in The National about our struggle, they refused father’s application in July 2022 but not my stepmother’s yet,” says Hejazi.
“I have not seen my father in over 10 years. He survived the war in Syria but he is very unwell. The doctors said he has got a limited time to live, and I fear the worst.”
Hejazi says she has been told it is not in the public interest for her father to be allowed to come here, but adds: “I am fluent in English, I have fully integrated and I am doing a law degree at the University of Stirling.
I won the CDN Student of the Year Award in 2021, I do not receive benefits and I have contributed to Scotland in so many ways. How could it be in the public interest to refuse my father?”
Her lawyer, Usman Aslam, says the Home Office family reunion policy clearly sets out that beyond family life there can be compassionate factors that may result in a grant of an entry clearance visa.
“I have lost count of the number of times that I have had cases less strong granted first time round,” says Aslam, from Mukhtar Solicitors in Glasgow.
“The issue here is that this elderly man may not make it until any future appeal. What does this tell us about the thinking behind the decision-makers, when a Syrian national, who has integrated in Scotland, won awards at college for best student, is studying law, has become fluent in English and works for a living, cannot see her father before the inevitable happens?
“The rules are not fit for purpose. We look forward to try and achieve a positive outcome for this daughter and father”.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “All visa applications are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with the immigration rules.”
Violet Hejazi’s petition can be found at: https://www.change.org/p/help-me-be-reunited-with-my-father
