Stranded in Pakistan: why did the Home Office deny a baby a visa?
Nina Saleh, a British resident for 20 years, travelled to Pakistan to adopt a baby and was then repeatedly denied a visa, leaving her trapped abroad for months on end. Plus: Zoe Williams on what her time as a waitress taught her about being a good diner
In 2018 Nina Saleh, a British resident, travelled to Karachi, Pakistan, to adopt a child, Sofia. Direct adoption from Pakistan to the UK is not allowed as there is no inter-country adoption agreement in place. Instead, couples or individuals coming from the UK use an established route of getting legal guardianship of the baby and then travelling back to Britain, where the authorities formalise the adoption process. Nina was aware of this and had gone through a stringent and lengthy adoption process in the UK with British authorities’ involvement.
But Nina found herself being repeatedly refused a visa to return home with Sofia and unable to get any answers from the Home Office about why she was being denied. Eventually, after months of being stranded in a city where she knew no one, she contacted the Guardian. Within 48 hours of the story being published, the visa decision was overturned. Nina talks to Anushka Asthana about the experience, and Iain Halliday, an immigration lawyer, discusses how Nina’s case is typical of the faceless bureaucracy of the Home Office.