“Tell me, do you think my English is difficult to understand?” said Muhammad Ali.
Mohammed studied in the UK between the ages of 18 and 26, but his visa was canceled in 2014 after the Home Office accused him of cheating in an English exam. He is one of 35,000 students whose visas have been cancelled.
His domestic appeal was dismissed and he returned home to Pakistan. He lost his career and was unable to travel, and a decade later some of his family members still believe the Home Office is more important than him.
“Who can take my time back? How long will I have to endure being labeled a liar or a liar?”
amelia gentlemanjournalist and author of “High Wind Betrayal,” told in “Exposing a Hostile Environment” Nosin Iqbal How the government dealt with the original allegations that came to light in a BBC Panorama investigation in 2014, and explores why nothing has been done since to help those wrongly swept away in the aftermath.
another former student Shana Shaikh He has remained in the UK, but has been unable to clear his name.
“Our rights have been taken away. We can’t travel, we can’t work, we can’t enjoy life like normal people,” she said. “Every day, we have stress, we have anxiety, what’s going to happen?”
Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian
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