An eight-year-old girl left destitute in Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa has been barred from coming to the UK to join her parents.
The Guardian reported on the case of Lati-Yana Stephanie Brown after the hurricane. Her mother, Kerrian Bigby, a carer, moved from Jamaica to be with Lati-Yana’s British father, Jerome Hardy, a telecommunications worker, in April 2023, leaving their daughter to be cared for by her grandmother.
The couple married this year and after saving up for the £4,000 visa application fee for Lati-Yana to join them, applied in June. After Hurricane Melissa, the couple urged the Home Office to expedite their visa decision, saying “an urgent situation had become an emergency”.
The hurricane destroyed the house Lati-Yana was living in with her grandmother, who Bigby said was no longer physically able to look after her, in Cash Hill, Hanover, which was badly damaged by the storm.
Unicef has launched an appeal to help an estimated 1.6 million children in the region get access to essentials such as clean water, education and nutrition supplies.
Officials at the Home Office have now rejected the visa application.
In its refusal letter to Lati-Yana, Home Office officials state: “While it is acknowledged the effects of the natural disaster have significantly affected you and the wider population of Jamaica, I am also aware that you continue to reside with family members. Stating that your grandmother is unable to provide care, evidence of this has not been demonstrated. It has therefore not been demonstrated that you could not be cared for by relatives in the country you currently reside.”
Lati-Yana’s parents said they were devastated by the decision and would appeal against it. However, their lawyer said an appeals backlog of 106,000 cases meant it could take up to two years for the case to be heard.
Bigby said: “As her mother, being separated from my daughter is incredibly painful. I cannot sleep at night knowing she is far away and not receiving the care and support that every child needs. The emotional toll on both of us is significant. Reuniting with my daughter is not just a wish, it is a necessity for her development and my ability to fulfil my responsibilities as her mother. I am so distressed, I can’t eat or sleep.”
Naga Kandiah, of MTC Solicitors, who is representing the family, said the Home Office appeared to be taking a stricter view of such cases.
“The Home Office’s approach demonstrates a troubling lack of compassion and understanding for a vulnerable young girl who is currently separated from her parents,” he said.
Kandiah urged the Home Office to urgently reconsider its decision, “ensuring that Lati-Yana’s welfare and best interests are properly safeguarded”. The Home Office had a statutory duty to make the child’s best interests a primary consideration, he added.
About half of the visa fee is paid to the Home Office and the other half is an NHS surcharge to cover any health service costs Lati-Yana might incur in the future. The surcharge is refundable if a visa application is rejected but the rest is not. The couple will have to pay several thousand pounds more for their appeal.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “All visa applications are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with the immigration rules.”
