Mum with three children given 14 days to go away UK pleads: ‘Don’t tear my household aside’
EXCLUSIVE: Teaching assistant Chamila Dilrakshi has called on the Home Office not to tear her family apart after she and her three children were ordered to leave – despite her husband having permission to stay
A mum has pleaded with the Home Office not to tear her family apart after she and her three children were given 14 days to leave the UK.
Teaching assistant Chamila Dilrakshi and her children face being deported to Sri Lanka, even though her husband is allowed to stay. The family has lived in the UK since 2022, but changes to visa rules that came into effect under the Tories mean they face removal from the country.
Chamila, 45, told The Mirror she was horrified to be told that she and her children Thedara, 12, Vivas, nine, and Hiran, eight, must leave despite coming to the UK legally. She said: “It’s a shocking moment. My children have got their friends and they got all the relationships here. It’s a big stressful moment for them. I feel like it’s now my children’s home is the UK because we never been to Sri Lanka after we arrived in 2022.”
And she continued: “My husband can work here and stay here, it’s only me and my children has to leave. So how can I separate my children from their father?
“It will cause harm for their mental well-being. We are legal migrants, we did everything in a correct way.” Chamila urged the Home Office to consider the contribution she and her family has made to the community before removing them.
The family’s MP, Lib Dem Victoria Collins, told The Mirror her office had been flooded with messages of support for Chamila and husband Rasika Samarasinghe, 46.
She described them as pillars of the community and said: “The community have absolutely rallied around. We talk about the need to have an immigration system that’s fair, that supports our nation. This is absolutely not what this system needs to be.
“I have never been so angry.” And Ms Collins, MP for Harpenden and Berkhamsted, continued: “The Home Secretary has to review how this has become a hostile environment which is pushing away people who are helping our elderly, who are helping our kids.
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“We have three wonderful children who are now thriving in this community. This is not the immigration system that is supporting our country, and it’s certainly not supporting our communities either.”
The family moved to the UK four years ago when Rasika came to study a Master’s at Northumbria University. He has since started a job as a care worker at a home near their home in Hertfordshire. He was granted a visa in March this year after finding a care home to sponsor his stay, but has since found out his family does not have permission to remain.
At the time they arrived in the UK, Rasika was permitted to bring his family. But a visa crackdown to drive down net migration has seen stricter rules put in place around dependents.
Chamila’s colleagues have called for her to be permitted to stay, and the family is appealing the decision. Until March 2024, people with care worker visas were allowed to bring their partners and children to the UK. But that changed under a Tory shake-up before the general election when dependents were barred from obtaining visas.
One message sent to Ms Collins, which she shared with The Mirror, said: “Chamila is a hard working, kind, caring person – exactly the type of person we need to be attracting to work with our young children in schools.
“I cannot understand why a family that came to the UK legally, applying correctly in advance of arriving here, following all the rules on renewing their visa when necessary, working hard, being law abiding and contributing towards the UK economy are being treated so appallingly.”
Migrant support groups have voiced anger over visa changes affecting care workers. Fizza Qureshi, the chief executive of Migrants’ Rights Network, last week told The Guardian: “Migrant care workers continually bear the brunt of this government’s disdain for migrants. Nobody should be forced into a decision to either leave their livelihood or be separated from their families. The government really needs to grow a heart and treat migrant workers who are the foundations of our health and care systems, with more respect.”
The Home Office said it cannot comment on individual cases. But a spokesman said: “We will always welcome those who contribute to this country and wish to build a better life here. But we must restore order and control to our borders.
“We have set out plans for the biggest legal migration reforms in a generation, addressing the challenges caused by unprecedented levels of migration under the previous government.
“It is a privilege not a right to settle in the UK and it must be earned, rewarding contribution and those who play by the rules.”
