Helen approached RAMFEL in a state of extreme distress. Like other elderly victims of the Windrush scandal, she was struggling to prove her status and was facing the possibility of being removed from the UK and torn away from her friends and family.
Helen came to the UK aged 13 in 1958 from Nigeria. She entered the UK as a Commonwealth National and therefore did not need a visa. She returned to Nigeria in 1969 for what she had planned to be a short visit.
However, soon after arriving, some of her elderly relatives fell ill. With no one else able to care for them, Helen became the sole carer for her family members. During this time, Helen lived between the UK and Nigeria, returning intermittently to the UK before finally moving back in 2005.
Despite having a British child and husband and first entering the UK as a Commonwealth National, her applications for status were continually refused. In 2013, the government sent Helen a letter telling her they would forcibly remove her to Nigeria. Helen tried to appeal but the government refused her application. Once the Windrush scheme was introduced, Helen also tried applying again under this scheme. However, this application was also refused.
In 2019, Helen was referred to our service. By this time, she was 74 and extremely unwell with bowel cancer. We helped Helen reapply under the Windrush scheme, arguing she’d pursued every legal route to obtain status, had status before returning to Nigeria and her health should be considered. Helen was eventually granted indefinite leave, though without expert legal representation there’s a strong chance the government would not have done this. We helped Helen naturalise as a British citizen the following year.
Helen can now get on with her life and enjoy time with her children and grandchildren.
