A YOUNG Syrian woman who came to Scotland as a refugee nine years ago has been refused a visa to be reunited with her dying father before it is too late.
But Violet Hejazi’s lawyer said they are preparing to mount an appeal and claimed the Home Office are not following their own procedures.
“He’s got a very limited time to live,” Hejazi told The National. “The doctors aren’t even sure he’ll make to next month.”
The 28-year-old is studying law at the University of Glasgow, after fleeing the family home in northern Syria in 2013 when her home village was ravaged by war and terror attacks.
She first applied for a family reunion visa for her father, Ali, who has had several strokes and is seriously ill. He and his wife were evacuated to another part of Syria and his daughter paid for them to be relocated in Kurdistan (Iraq).
Hejazi used a legal precedent she discovered during her studies to use the family reunion route, but now she has British citizenship, the Home Office say that is no longer open to her. Yesterday they rejected her application.
“My father is still in Kurdistan and he’s very bad,” said Hejazi. “He had a third stroke last month and as a result he had to stay in hospital while they monitored him to make sure everything was functioning OK.
“They’re trying different medicines and waiting to see if they work, but they’re not sure of anything. It’s very worrying because we can’t do anything. All I can do is help them financially and that’s not easy.”
Her father’s medical treatment has taken its toll on her finances and she is behind with rent and other payments, but she said: “His life is a priority, medical attention for him is a priority and that’s all we can do.
“The Home Office said I should withdraw the family reunion application and apply for a family dependant’s visa instead because I am now a British citizen and don’t qualify for family reunion, which is only for refugees.
“I want to ask them when does someone stop being a refugee? I know that I don’t meet their very strict rules, but their own policy states that a family reunion is available when there are compelling or compassionate circumstances.
“I did not choose to be separated from my family. And when my dad has a very limited time to live, I don’t know how this is not compassionate enough for them.”
The Home Office won’t discuss individual cases, but a spokesperson told The National: “It is still open for the sponsor/applicants to make an adult dependent relative’s visa application should they wish to do so given the sponsor’s status in the UK.”
However, Hejazi’s lawyer, Usman Aslam, said this was an expensive undertaking in a case that illustrated the “true heartache” the Home Office caused.
“I wrote to [SNP Shadow Home Affairs spokesperson] Stuart Macdonald last year and made representations to correct the procedure in Family Reunion applications, but the Home Office never substantively dealt with it,” said Aslam.
“It never helps when a policy is produced by the Home Office, and then they don’t follow it. It is even more surprising when they create different applications for family reunion, for those who cannot meet their restrictive rules, demand fees, then provide decisions on a completely different route.
“We have had various applications granted first time round by the Home Office over the past few years using the same approach – in fact several over the past seven days.
“They asked us to use an application that has nothing to do with family reunion. Yet, they refused the application based on that route they wanted us to go down. You could not make this up.
“What we have in this case, is a refugee who had to flee persecution and war. She had no choice but to be separated from her family.
“Despite going through a war, she now speaks fluent English, has integrated in Scotland, and is studying to become a solicitor. Her father has been given a short time to live and they simply want to be reunited. We do not intend to give up this fight.”
