According to reports, a Kenyan expatriate working at Bristol University has had her kid, age six, denied a visa to accompany her to the UK.
The UK Home Office refused Dr. Doseline Kiguru's visa, citing "no compassionate grounds" for her daughter to accompany her. The Guardian brought attention to Kiguru's predicament.
Kiguru was reportedly "devastated" by the "horrific" decision and could not bear "to think about how alone and isolated she is feeling" in Kenya, according to the article.
“Of course, a child doesn’t understand these [visa] complexities. She thinks I left her,” Kiguru told the paper over the weekend.
Kiguru, a world literature specialist, initially moved to Bristol in 2021 as a research associate for an EU-funded study on literary activism in Africa, according to the Guardian.
She conducted the most of her study in Kenya, thus at the time, moving her daughter was not necessary.
This, however, changed in July when she received an offer from the university to become a permanent lecturer, which prompted her to see her daughter in Kenya.
"Expecting no problems, she had enrolled her at a primary school in Bristol from September and bought her uniform," the Guardian reports.
Kiguru learned in November that her daughter's visa application had been denied in October. The Home Office had informed the child that "it was your mother's personal decision to depart for the UK" in the letter of refusal.
According to The Guardian, Kiguru's coworkers called the decision "an act of unthinkable cruelty." Kiguru also stated that her daughter calls her every day to ask when she will be coming to pick her up.
According to the article, despite his desire to go to the UK, her husband—who is also an academic—cannot care for their daughter because he travels frequently for work.
Kiguru has one week to challenge the ruling, and in the meanwhile, GoFundMe is hosting an online fundraising to pay for the reapplication fees.
"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."
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