A Kenyan expatriate working at Bristol University has reportedly been denied a visa for her six-year-old daughter to join her in the UK.
Dr Doseline Kiguru's plight was highlighted by the Guardian which reports that the UK Home Office denied her the visa on grounds that there are ‘no compassionate grounds’ to allow her daughter to join her.
The paper reports that Kiguru was “devastated” by the “horrific” decision saying she could not bear “to think about how alone and isolated she is feeling” back in Kenya.
“Of course, a child doesn’t understand these [visa] complexities. She thinks I left her,” Kiguru told the paper over the weekend.
According to the Guardian, Kiguru, an expert in world literature, first went to Bristol in 2021 as a research associate on an EU-funded project on literary activism in Africa.
She spent most of her research work in Kenya which did not necessitate the relocation of her daughter at the time.
However, this changed after she was offered a permanent job as a lecturer at the university prompting her to return to Kenya for her daughter in July.
"Expecting no problems, she had enrolled her at a primary school in Bristol from September and bought her uniform," the Guardian reports.
Kiguru discovered this November her daughter's visa application had been rejected in October with the Home Office saying in the rejection letter addressed to the minor that, “It was your mother’s personal decision to depart for the UK”.
The Guardian reports that her colleagues termed the decision “an act of unthinkable cruelty” with Kiguru saying her daughter asks her on the phone each day when she will be coming to collect her.
The paper said her husband, who is also an academic, cannot look after their daughter as he travels a lot for research even though he hopes to relocate to the UK.
Kiguru has a week to appeal the decision even as GoFundMe runs an online fundraiser to cover the re-application costs.
"As a consequence of this unjust and horrific decision, Doseline is now in a position where she must re-apply for the visa not just for her daughter but for her husband as well, who is now forced to relocate to the UK in order for the family to remain together," the appeal reads in part.
"As Doseline's close friends and colleagues, we are therefore fundraising these costs so that she and her daughter can be reunited."
