A British resident stranded in Jamaica with her baby, who was told by the Home Office the boy could not come to the UK because he had an “established life” on the Caribbean island, has now been told by the Home Office that she can bring him, after the Guardian exposed the family’s plight.
Just 24 hours after the Guardian’s article was published, the Home Office granted the baby’s visa and informed his mother, Tiffany Ellis – who has indefinite leave to remain in the UK, where she has lived since the age of eight – that it was ready for immediate collection.
Ellis said she was so overjoyed when she received a call from a Home Office official on Tuesday informing her that she could collect her baby’s visa right away that she “lay on the floor and cried”.
“I called my husband who was at work to tell him the news and he cried too. The decision from the Home Office is long overdue. I will get the first flight home that I can. I can’t wait to hug my husband and my daughter.”
Tiffany went to Jamaica to marry her partner Zarren Ellis, 38, in January 2020, accompanied by their daughter Xianna, now five. The couple live in London. Covid lockdown followed by Tiffany, 28, getting pregnant and suffering from constant vomiting – hyperemesis gravidarum – so severe she was unable to leave the house had delayed the family’s return to the UK.
Tiffany gave birth to Xien on 30 April last year in Jamaica and has been trying to return to the UK ever since. She made a visa application for the baby but last December the Home Office refused it, stating: “You currently live and study with your mother in Jamaica.”
Officials wrote that the decision was “justified by the need to maintain an effective immigration and border control” and would not have “unjustifiably harsh consequences”.
The refusal letter added that the baby’s life can continue as it is now in Jamaica with financial support from his mother in the UK.
The Home Office refused Xien’s visa application on 22 December when he was almost eight months old.
Zarren felt he had to return to London last December so that Xianna could attend school. They had to leave Tiffany and Xien in Jamaica because of the Home Office visa refusal.
Father and daughter are at the family’s home in London, desperate to be reunited with Tiffany and Xien.
Karen Doyle, of Movement For Justice, who supported the family, welcomed the Home Office decision to give Xien a visa: “These kinds of unthinking inhuman decisions from the Home Office need to stop,” she said.
Home Office sources previously said the documents they requested were sent in an unreadable format. A spokesperson previously said: “Upon further evidence coming to light, we agreed to reconsider this application in May. We are awaiting additional information and once we receive it, we will consider the application carefully.”
On Tuesday a Home Office spokesperson said: “We are in contact with Ms Ellis and have now issued the child’s visa.”
