A Nigerian lady, who has been living in the United Kingdom since age seven, has expressed frustration over the poor treatment of legal immigrants in the country by the Home Office.
Queen Victory laments on her Tiktok page that she just lost a job she worked very hard to secure in the country.
She recounted that she went through four stages of screening and made a mind-blowing presentation to finally secure the appointment.
She was made an offer which she quickly accepted. However, when she was to submit her documents, the employers noticed that her leave to remain in the UK would expire in April of this year and voiced their concerns.
She explained to them that she had already applied for a renewal and that Section 3C of the immigration law allows her to enjoy all the benefits of her last document till a new one is issued.
Queen said her pleas fell on deaf ears because the employers said even though they were aware of the quoted section, there was no official document they could rely on in case the Home Office made trouble with them and therefore had no choice but to let her go.
She lamented that she had similarly lost many job opportunities and had had her education suspended at a point because of the same situation.
She said the Home Office would not allow you to apply for a renewal of visa sooner than 28 days before expiration and yet, does not process the documents in a timely fashion.
Queen said the earliest her past renewals had come was nine months after application, while it might sometimes take up to a year before it is ready.
In her case, she has to apply every two and a half years and pay application fees of roughly 5,000 pounds sterling (about N8.8m). She will be due to apply for permanent residency after doing that for 10 years.
While she waits for her renewal, she is unable to get a job worth her time and effort because employers do not want to risk running foul of Home Office rules.
She said thousands of Nigerians and other immigrants are caught in the web and are struggling to keep their heads above water, as they are not entitled to any social benefits as citizens and other legal residents.
Watch her full accounts here.
