Fisayo’s story

I was a rising star in my home country. I had a great education and was working at a top company. I came to the UK with a high-skilled migrant visa.  BUT because of the complexity and hostility of the migration system, the Home Office stopped granting me leave to remain in the UK after I had been here for a few years. 

When this happened, I was working as an NHS nurse while managing my own company, and I had two children born in the UK. I had paid thousands in home Office fees, getting into debt to meet the department’s ever-increasing visa costs for myself, my husband, and my children over the years. Yet, when the Home Office refused my leave to remain on a technicality, it expected me to pack up my life and move back to Nigeria. Taking my children along, who had only ever known the UK as their home. 

Without a visa, I couldn’t work anymore and had to rely on food banks to feed my children.

When I came to Praxis looking for legal advice on how to reinstate my visa, the caseworkers put together an application for me and my children. They gathered lengthy documents proving our right to live in the UK. With their help, I was able to get my visa reinstated, and with it, my right to work. 

Now I am back on my feet. Despite all the challenges I faced because of the hostile immigration system, I am back working for the NHS, and my children are thriving.

I am raising my voice against the injustice my family and I had to go through by joining Praxis’ campaign for shorter, more affordable routes to settlement, and publishing a piece in Metro calling for a fairer immigration system.