Home Office sends letters to children as young as five saying they must leave UK

Children as young as five who are living legally in the UK are being told by the Home Office they must leave the country even if their parents have been given permission to remain. The Guardian has seen five letters sent to children by the Home Office telling them they must leave the UK. A sixth letter has been sent to a woman who is six months pregnant and lives in the UK with her husband, telling her she must leave him and return to her country. The children have parents on care worker visas, which until March 2024 had allowed them to bring partners or children with them to the UK. “We are completely shocked by the family receiving these letters,” said Varuni Arachchige, a care worker based in Perth, Scotland with her husband, who works in a factory. Their two children, aged eight and five, are thriving at school and settled in their community. Arachchige has a degree in chemistry and a postgraduate qualification in analytical chemistry from the family’s home country, Sri Lanka, and an MSc from the University of Dundee in sustainability and water security. Her husband is a graduate in physical science and double maths. He and their children are dependents on her care worker visa. The family paid the Home Office thousands of pounds for their visa applications, pay taxes and do not claim any benefits. …