A junior doctor who has spent more than half her life in the UK says she has been told to leave the country within a week or face being de...
A junior doctor who has spent more than half her life in the UK says she has been told to leave the country within a week or face being deported to Taiwan.
Mu-Chun Chiang, 27, has lived in the UK for over 13 years but, her application for a new visa was rejected and the Home Office told her to leave the UK or risk up to six months' imprisonment.
She has been in the UK since 2006, when she moved to Cambridge from Taiwan to study, and before that had lived with her parents in Glasgow between 1997 and 2002.
After receiving the letter, Dr Chiang's friend Mina Mesri set up a petition calling for her to be allowed to stay in the UK, which has received over 25,000 signatures in a matter of days.
The 27-year-old, who is now seeking legal advice, said: 'When I went back to Taiwan, it was a different environment and a little bit tricky for me - I was quite young and really wanted to get back to the UK.
'My family is in Taiwan, but I'm more in tune with what's going on in the UK, it feels like I'm at home. I enjoy helping people, always enjoyed biology and science at school, and since pursuing that path have never looked back.'
Dr Chiang has lived in the UK since 2006, when she moved to Cambridge from Taiwan to study, but has now been told to leave the country by the Home Office (pictured)
Mu-Chun Chiang (left), 27, and her friend Mina Mesri (right), who has set up a petition calling for her to be allowed to stay in the UK, which has received over 25,000 signatures in a matter of days
After completing her GCSEs and A-levels in Cambridge, she moved to the University of Liverpool to gain a medical degree and then obtained an MA at The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
She completed a two-year foundation programme at Cheltenham General Hospital and Gloucester Royal Hospital, and recently moved back to Liverpool for GP training, while also working shifts at Aintree University Hospital.
But those plans are in tatters because of a misunderstanding over her visa application.
Miss Chiang had been on a student visa from 2006 until earlier this year, but needed to apply for a working visa to remain.
Her application began in June and included receiving a sponsorship certificate from Health Education England, but the issue that stands to cost her the right to stay did not emerge until August this year.
The Home Office set a threshold to prove she was self-supporting, which was to have at least £945 in a bank account during the 90-day period of her application.
Mu-Chun Chiang (left) as a child playing in the snow in the UK. She has now been asked to leave the UK
While the balance on her current account had fallen below £945, she says she did have more than this amount in her savings account.
However, she only submitted the current account statements, as she was under the impression that the threshold only needed to be met at the end of each month.
The Home Office rejected her application, but she appealed within days with statements proving her savings account did have enough money in it throughout the 90 days.
Miss Chiang said: 'I failed to realise they meant at no point, not even one hour of the day, was my money allowed to drop below the £945. This was a genuine misinterpretation of the rules.'
Despite this, she picked up a letter on September 27 informing her that she was facing deportation within seven days.
Mu-Chun Chiang (pictured as an infant) has lived in the UK since 2006, when she moved to Cambridge from Taiwan to study, and before that had lived with her parents in Glasgow between 1997 and 2002
It was dated 19 September and was delivered on 25 September, but Miss Chiang missed it because she was working shifts in hospital. The Home Office now insists she doesn't face removal.
She said: 'It feels like they are treating me as a criminal. I have had to stop working - I am meant to be on call and my employers are trying to get cover.
'With how the NHS is, I don't know why they won't take into consideration my appeal.'
More than 10,000 people have signed a petition calling on the Home Office to reverse its decision, attracting support from fellow doctors in the UK and abroad.
Miss Chiang said: 'Never have I really thought of myself as a really valuable asset with the right to stay. But I really enjoy my job, and everybody knows there is a shortage of GPs.
'These sorts of rules from the Home Office need to be revisited - I am meeting a lawyer on Monday to see what my options are, but a lot of doctors will just give up and go home.'
Satbir Singh, chief executive of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants said: 'At a time when our NHS is under immense strain and crying out for more doctors, kicking out a young doctor trained to work in the NHS just defies basic common sense.'
'Our immigration system is dysfunctional, complicated and inhumane.
'That someone can be threatened with detention and removal because of a small technical mistake in a visa application highlights the urgent need for the system to be rebuilt from ground up so that people who move here are treated fairly and with humanity.'
In a statement, a Home Office spokesman said: 'All visa applications are considered on their individual merits and in line with the immigration rules.
'Ms Chiang did not provide the evidence required to be granted a visa but we are in contact with her and are discussing the options available to her.'
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