A Brazilian fine art student has said her “dreams are on hold” after being left in limbo for seven months due to Home Office visa errors.
Júlia Couto, 25, came to the UK five years ago to study at UCL’s Slade School of Fine Art and hoped to stay and work in London on a graduate visa. Such a visa allows a foreign student to stay in the country for at least two years after they complete their course.
But the Home Office refused her application last October, saying she had not completed her course at UCL – although she had – and told her to leave the country within days. After this error was rectified by the university, Ms Couto applied for a second time but was again rejected in December after officials relied on the end date of her physical residency card rather than her visa.
Ms Couto applied for a review but, six months on, has not had a decision. She is now jobless, struggling for money and unable to make any plans for her future, including seeing her family.
She told The Independent : “It has been a very emotionally difficult period in my life, maybe the hardest point in my life. Applying for a review means waiting and waiting and hearing nothing back.
“I’ve had to give up on so many dreams and I feel lost in the system. Now I can’t work and I can’t leave the country. I was going to go and spend Christmas with my family in Brazil but now I can’t do that. The plane ticket I had for Christmas I’ve pushed back to July, but I can’t see myself pushing it back for much longer.
“I have gone through all my savings and now I am relying on my parents supporting me.”
After graduating last summer, Ms Couto had started an internship at a leading London art gallery. “I really remember thinking my life is in the right place now, I have this amazing job, I just need this visa confirmation so I can finally relax,” she said.
Describing how she felt after receiving her initial rejection, Ms Couto told The Independent: “It was terrifying. My life was going along so well and suddenly it felt like my whole world was crumbling. I felt so alone and so hopeless. I just remember crying in Oxford Circus. The message says you have ten days to leave the country so I was just thinking, what do I do now?”
She carried on working at the gallery’s offices in Mayfair as her visa was valid until the end of November. Her biometric residence permit expired in early October but her online eVisa account showed that she still had her student visa until 26 November 2024. The government has been moving to an electronic visa system, meaning people’s physical residency permit cards have expired but their status is now proved electronically.
Ms Couto added: “My dream is to make work here and exhibit, and work in art galleries. But I have been left completely unable to make any plans, unable to plan any next steps in my career or in my relationship. Leaving would mean giving up on many relationships I have built here in London”.
Jeremy Corbyn, Ms Couto’s MP for Islington, north London, said: "Júlia has been treated abominably and has now been left in limbo while officials correct their own mistakes. She faces a wait of up to 12 months for a judicial review decision and in the meantime she cannot move forward with her career or even visit her family in Brazil without jeopardising her application.
“Sadly, her case is far from unique. Many of my constituents are left waiting in limbo for years by a department that seems intent on preventing them from living their lives and contributing to society."
Vitoria Nabas, Ms Couto’s solicitor, said: “This case highlights a growing concern among international graduates who contribute significantly to the UK’s academic and economic landscape and are being failed by systemic inefficiencies and a lack of procedural clarity. We urge the Home Office to act swiftly and justly, ensuring that administrative errors do not result in life-altering consequences for compliant and capable individuals who have abided by the law at every step.”
Andreea Dumitrache, at the3million, a non-profit rights group, said: "Júlia’s story is heartbreaking and unfortunately all too familiar. We stand with Júlia and others like her who are caught in bureaucratic nightmares, denied justice because the system itself is broken."
A Home Office spokesperson said: “It is our longstanding policy not to comment on individual cases.”
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