Woman ordered to leave UK within days or face deportation despite coronavirus pandemic

Exclusive: 'It’s mind-boggling,' says Katie Collins, who has lived in UK with British husband since 2013

Related video: Coronavirus UK in numbers (Kate Collins)

A woman who has lived in the UK for seven years has been ordered to leave the country within days or face deportation, despite the government advising against all travel during ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

American-born Katie Collins, 60, said she felt “broken” and afraid after being told by the Home Office on Monday morning that she must return to US by Saturday or be deported to Thailand – the last nation from which she entered the UK.

The former cheesemonger, who has been settled in the UK with her Scottish partner since 2013, said she would be unable to live with relatives in the US as they are having to self-isolate and would also struggle to rent other accommodation during the lockdown period.

Speaking to The Independent hours after receiving the Home Office call, Ms Collins said: “I can’t stop crying. It feels like someone is doing their best to make sure I can’t have my life. I’m usually a very calm person, but this has pretty much broken me.

“I’m being told to take myself through an airport and get on a plane during this pandemic, and go somewhere in the States. Where do I stay? There are people still homeless on the streets who can’t find somewhere to go. Who’s going to rent at this time? Am I supposed to live at the garage at my sister’s house? It’s mind-boggling.”

The UK government’s guidance currently advises against all but essential travel to the US, and states that those who are able to enter the country from the UK by air would be asked to self-isolate for 14 days.

Hours after The Independent contacted the Home Office on Monday, a Border Force agent called Ms Collins to tell her the date by which she must leave the UK had been pushed back to mid-May. However, she remains fearful of being forcibly separated from her Scottish partner Alan Gibb.

The 60-year-old moved to the UK to live in Aberdeen with Mr Gibb in 2013 after the pair met the previous year while he was working at the same venue as her in Houston. She applied for, and was granted, leave to remain in the UK on a partner visa for a five-year period in January 2016, after paying more than £1,700 for the application.

A problem emerged when Ms Collins visited the US for 11 weeks in 2018 to care for her younger sister, who had been diagnosed with blood cancer, during which she inadvertently missed the renewal date for her visa.

She said she had been told she could still renew it on her return to the UK, but on arriving at Heathrow Airport she was detained for five hours and had a visit visa stamped in her passport, which in effect cancelled her previous partner visa.

Katie Collins moved to the UK in 2013 to live with partner Alan Gibb (Katie Collins)

The Home Office subsequently refused her application to renew the visa in January 2019, stating that she was not eligible to do so as a visitor. Ms Collins and Mr Gibb have since been fighting to appeal the decision.

Mr Gibb, who is now retired but formally worked in the oil and gas industry, said: “I’m gobsmacked. It’s incredulous, the whole thing. It’s a completely nonsensical situation from start to finish. I cannot comprehend it, especially under the current circumstances.

"Katie has nowhere to go. It’s bad enough deporting anyone any time – unless they’ve committed a heinous crime of course – but under the current circumstances it beggars belief. It shows how much is wrong with this system. We’re dumbfounded.”

Stephen Flynn, the couple's local MP, said: “You have to seriously question the motivation behind this UK government when it appears willing to deport individuals during the middle of a global pandemic.

“I’ve been in direct contact with Katie and the Home Office and will continue to try and press for this deportation threat to be dropped and for a full review of her case to be undertaken – it’s only fair that this happens.”

Caroline Coombs, co-founder of Reunite Families UK, a charity which has been supporting Ms Collins, said: “Serving a deportation order on Easter Monday is quite frankly unbelievable. We know officials are working every hour God sends at this time, but ministers will surely want their officials to look again at this case.

“Deporting an innocent 60-year-old woman who has a family in the UK during a global pandemic makes no sense. Especially when the last immigration minister admitted the department had made mistakes. Everybody’s time would be better spent if the home office halted this action and not break Kate and Alan’s hearts over a technicality."

A Home Office spokesperson said they did not routinely comment on individual cases, adding: “We have been clear that individuals lawfully in the UK will not be penalised for circumstances beyond their control, which is why we are extending their leave until 31 May 2020.”