AN American woman who has lived with her partner in Scotland for seven years has been given a last-minute reprieve from deportation.
Katie Collins Fennen, who lives in Aberdeen, was told by a Border Force officer in a phone call on Monday morning that if she did not book a flight back to the US within days, despite Covid-19 travel restrictions, they would do it for her.
The deadline was then extended to the end of May, but last night Collins – who lives with partner Alan Gibb in Garthdee – was told her passport, which was retained by immigration officials, had been stamped with a six-month visa.
She told The National: “While the original complaint dating from November 2018 is still not resolved, I am now considered a visitor and as such I can stay as a visitor.
“I don’t know what the start date of the six months is, but it means I can try and calm down about being deported, that Alan and I can worry about life in general for a while, like everyone else.”
Stephen Flynn, the couple’s SNP MP, told The National that he had urged the Home Office to scrap the deportation order. He said last night that common sense had prevailed: “I’m glad the Home Office have listened and extended Kate’s visa for the time being – but let’s be clear, there should never have been a threat of deportation in the first place.
“It’s good to see that common sense has been applied, but it should never have taken so much pressure – what we need now is a full and proper review into Kate’s case and I expect that to be undertaken as soon as possible.”
The National revealed last November how the couple, both 60, had been looking forward to enjoying the home they set up in Scotland in 2013 after they met in Houston the year before.
Collins was granted her Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) in January 2016 and partner visa which would take her on a five-year route to gaining leave to remain (LTR).
However, her problems started after she returned to the US in 2018 to care for her younger sister, who was seriously ill, and inadvertently missed the BRP renewal date. Since then she has been detained for hours at UK airports and refused permission to renew her five-year visa, a decision they are appealing against.
Collins told The National how she “fell down” during Monday’s phone call from Border Force telling her she had to leave Scotland.
“We only have a landline so we can get broadband and the phone never rings, but this very brusque woman from Border Force came on and I thought it was to tell me not to come for my appointment because the coronavirus testing is being done at Aberdeen Airport.
“Instead she asked me if I had booked my flight yet and I said I didn’t understand because there are no flights, people aren’t supposed to be going anywhere.
“But she said there was a flight from Aberdeen to Houston ... and she said something about if you don’t make your flight, we’ll book them … and I just kind of fell down on the floor.
“Alan took the phone and talked to the agent and she apparently was telling him the same thing in a very rude tone ... she was downright nasty.
“Alan asked to speak to a supervisor, our phone was on speaker, and I could hear them saying ‘we’re not discussing this anymore’, and he finally just told Alan ‘I’m hanging up’ and he did.”
Stuart McDonald, the SNP’s shadow immigration secretary said: “The visa rules for families are atrocious and absolutely Draconian and I think this case is a perfect illustration of that. There is no way that she should be required to leave the country ... it’s just absurd.
“At this particular time the Home Office should just stop this absolute brutal nonsense. It’s making itself look even worse in the eyes of the public than it already does, which is hard to believe.
“Their behaviour it totally unconscionable.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: "Ms Fennen has been granted six months leave to remain in the UK during which time she can apply for further leave through the right and proper channels.”
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