I never imagined that the pursuit of my dreams in the UK would lead me to a place of uncertainty and despair. I came to the UK to complete a Master's in Public Relations, with hopes of building a better future for myself and my family. I am set to graduate in November 2024, and my student visa was valid until October 30, 2024.
My last assignment submission was in May 2024, and so I decided to visit my parents in India after submitting my final assignment. I hadn't seen them in 1.5 years, and as their only child, I was concerned about my mother’s health, as she suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure, and hypertension. On 8 May, I communicated my plans with (FOR CONFIDENTIALITY, NAMING THIS PERSON Y) Y and received a signed permission letter which allows my to visit India for a month and come back on a specific date.
However, on May 9, I received an email from the university's immigration team stating that my visa has been curtailed and that they had informed the Home Office. The email did not mention any consequences or implications of the visa curtailment, nor did it advise against traveling outside the country. I immediately emailed them back to understand why my visa was curtailed, because it was valid till October and my assignment is due to be submitted on 16 May. How does my visa gets curtailed even before my assignment submission?
Shocked and under immense stress, I contacted Y to get more clarity into the matter. Y reassured me that it could be a system error, as many students were receiving similar emails, and Y would rectify the situation.
My flight to India was on May 14, and I submitted my assignment on May 13. Despite staying in constant touch with Y, I received no clear information about the visa curtailment email. Believing everything was resolved, I travelled to India and arrived on May 15. I wanted to surprise my parents, but destiny had different plans. On May 17, I received a Zoom call from the International Experience Team (IET) of my university, explaining the consequences of the visa curtailment. I questioned why this explanation was only given on May 17, after the curtailment email on May 9.
During the zoom meeting, I was informed that I cannot enter UK on my student visa. This is because during visa curtailment if a student steps out of the country, then his/her visa gets cancelled immediately.
ALL MY DREAMS WERE SHATTERED. Imagine being all excited to meet your parents and suddenly you cannot go back to pursue your career and dreams. I had planned to apply for Graduate Route Visa also known as PSW Visa which students are eligible to apply after completing their course and this visa allows them to work and stay in UK for 2 years.
Everything I had planned was going down right in front of my eyes and I was not able to share it with my parents. I am sure all the international students could relate to this point. Imagine you fight all the circumstances to travel to a different country to complete your studies and achieve your goals. All shattered just because I visited my parents.
For a month, I was constantly having panic attacks and anxiety, not even a day passed by when I didn’t cry myself to sleep.
Despite my persistent inquiries for a month with the university on how to get back to UK, which team should I talk to, who can actually help me out, I had millions of questions. But the university decided to misguide me at every step. No one from the university provided clear guidance or acknowledged the permission letter I had. My return ticket to the UK was for June 18 and so I travelled back to the UK.
I was denied entry when I landed in the UK. I was detained at the airport for 24 hours and interviewed. After 24 hours, I was given a bail to enter and pack my stuff and be deported back to India.
Words cannot describe how and what I went through those 24 hours. The people from Border Force were nice to me but trust me nobody needs to go through this feeling like a criminal and being questioned on your purpose while you are just an international student taking a fall because your university decided not to support at all and you are on your own out there.
After entering, I went straight to the university and imagine what the receptionist told me that my permission letter doesn’t exist in their database. It came as a shock, I was told that Y was supposed to send it to respective authorities but since Y failed to do so even the university didn’t inform Home Office about my travel plans.
The university is supposed to keep a track of every international student and inform every activity to the Home Office.
But just to hide Y’s mistake, the entire blame game started and I was being blamed for traveling. NOBODY helped me and so I had no choice but to file a judicial review on 22nd June to extend my stay with the last of my funds, paying 2.5 lakhs of my hard-earned money which I saved for my PSW Visa.
MEANWHILE MY PASSPORT AND BRP WAS WITH UK BORDER FORCE AND I HAVE NO RIGHT TO WORK.
Waiting for a happy ending? Not yet, after all the harassment from May till August my lawyers told me they have filed the case in the court but no idea when the hearing will begin. It means it can take months to get an outcome on my case.
How long should one wait to get justice? I decided to share this ordeal with External Affairs Minister of India. I got luck, within few days one of the officials contacted my university but guess what? The university even denied that Poulami is not a student of our university. I had to proof with all the documents I had that yes I am unfortunately a student of this very reputed university. Within few days I got the permission to apply for PSW, I should be happy right. I am but then now I do not have money because all of it exhausted while filing a case and to survive.
I am in the UK, unable to work, unable to feed myself, staying with friends, and unable to pay rent. I am mentally stressed, experiencing panic attacks and anxiety. I have developed hypothyroid due to loads of stress.
I have received a decision from Home Office which states that I can now apply for working visa but the deadline is 19 October 2024. Please help me raise 3000 Pounds for my Graduate route visa an d fulfil my dreams.
Thank you for taking time to read this through. Any contribution small or big would be a great help.
Sincerely,
Poulami Bhattacharyya
Contact- +447831825164