‘This country has been our home’: US family in UK threatened with detention over visa mix-up

. UK edition

A boy and girl aged 8 and ten and a man and woman sit on a bench. The boy is sitting on his dad's knee, and the man has his arm around him.
Tim and Christine Bass say they have not given up challenging the Home Office as their children were largely raised in the UK. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

Tim and Christen Bass are barred from working and facing homelessness after indefinite leave application rejected by Home Office

An American family who have brought their children up in the UK are facing the threat of homelessness and detention due to confusion over a Home Office application form.

Tim Bass, a data and technology consultant, and his wife, Christen, an autism specialist, have lived in the UK since arriving on a skilled worker visa in 2019. The couple have lived with their two children, aged 10 and eight, in south London since then.

The family’s problems started on 9 June last year when the Home Office rejected their application for indefinite leave to remain, which people on this visa can currently apply for after five years. It is unclear whether the application was rejected because the family used the wrong form to make the application or because the Home Office made an error in the way the application was processed.

As a result the family are now on immigration bail, the parents are barred from working and have been threatened with detention by the Home Office.

The family have been surviving on savings, which are almost exhausted, and say they may be forced to sofa surf in the near future. Tim has been offered a job in a senior leadership role at a data and technology consulting company but due to the Home Office work ban is unable to take up the position.

They say that the main reason they haven’t given up is for the sake of their children, who have lived most of their lives in the UK and are happy and settled at school here.

“We are so angry about this. We have done nothing wrong. I was taught my whole life to follow the rules and have done so with the Home Office,” said Tim.

Christen said the experience was taking a toll on the family and that she felt as if they had slipped through the net. “Quite often I don’t feel like a human any more because of all this. It’s hard to sum up the experience of being stuck in this nightmare. It’s nearly broken me. We’ve fallen through a giant crack in the system, and it feels as if no one cares.

“Our children don’t understand why this has happened. That has been the hardest part, watching how this experience has changed them. They have learned to stop asking for things. They know the answer is always ‘no’ now. They are hesitant to tell us when they need things like new shoes or even shampoo. I hate that they’ve had to take on that burden.”

Tim said: “This country has been our home in every way that matters. Our children were raised here. We gave everything to build a life here. To be failed by it now, after all of that, is a grief I don’t have words for. Since the decision, we’ve been unable to work, our passports have been held, and we’ve been stuck in limbo for months. The financial toll on our family has been severe, especially because we were previously working and contributing to the community. We simply want the Home Office to review the case properly and put things right.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “All applications are considered on their individual merits and in accordance with the immigration rules. The onus is always on the applicant to demonstrate they meet all of the requirements of the visa for which they are applying.”