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To: Sajid Javid MP, Home Secretary

Please save my wife Pauline Taylor-French

02/05/18 A message from Grahame:

Thanks so much for signing Pauline's petition.

I am really pleased to let you know that Pauline has just been granted 30 months leave to stay! So people power really can work!

We still have some mountains to cross but we can at last relax a bit now and admire the view!

Over 100,000 signatures in less than 10 weeks is amazing. Knowing there are so many good people out there has given us great strength. Apparently the Home Secretary received some 16,000 tweets from petition signers over just the past 2 days (LOL!).

Thanks also to 38 Degrees who have been brilliant! Without this support I'm sure Pauline would have been just another case to brush under the carpet!

Whilst the decision does not mitigate for the injustices Pauline has suffered (as clearly described by our barrister) it will at least allow the long recovery process to begin. We can now start planning the rest of our lives - including a long-awaited honeymoon!

I really hope that lessons can be learned so others don't have to go through the same nightmare. I for one will one work tirelessly to this end.

Keep well and thanks again.

Grahame (& Pauline) x

Reverse the decision to refuse Pauline's human rights application whilst threatening her with 6 months imprisonment and a 10 year re-entry ban to the UK.

Why is this important?

Pauline and I have been together for 3½ years and happily married for 16 months. Pauline, a Jamaican national, has lived in the UK for over 17 years under a series of home office approvals. All her family are here with settled status. Pauline has British grandmothers and her grandfather fought with the Royal Navy in World War 2.

A cheerful and likeable person who always puts others first, Pauline has contributed positively to British society, including previously as a qualified carer for the elderly. Voluntary care she has provided has allowed my aunt to continue living in her own home following a serious car accident.

Our application for a spouse visa was refused in September 2017 despite meeting all the eligibility criteria and Pauline was immediately taken to Yarls Wood Immigration Removal Centre. She was held there for 24 days until we managed to secure bail with help from the charity Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID). Just 3 weeks beforehand the Home Office had given us the go ahead to get married! The matter has been front page news in the local press (first “Shrewsbury bride’s hopes dashed” and then “Wife loses battle to stay in UK"). We were finally able to get married a week after Pauline’s bail.

Pauline was subject to serious abuse as a child and has been diagnosed with some debilitating mental health conditions though she always puts on a positive face. Whilst in detention she lost 1½ stone and was placed on suicide watch. The G4S medical team did nothing.

Our solicitor submitted a further human rights application which was recently refused and Pauline was told to immediately leave the UK or face severe punishment. They said no new information had been submitted and there was nothing to stop us from living together in Jamaica, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Their decision relied on a previous decision more than 5 years out of date. It completely ignored clear advice from NHS professionals and the fact that my specialist work helps add millions to the regional economy!

Our solicitor immediately recommended a Judicial Review. Pauline's GP is so concerned at her poor treatment that she has referred the matter to the British Medical Council. Dozens of people are being profoundly affected, including vulnerable children and adults.

As the wife of a British citizen Pauline in theory meets all the requirements for a spouse application submitted from Jamaica but like her previous applications this could take another 16 months to determine with no guarantee of success. Given her current condition I doubt she would last a single day in Jamaica, isolated and cut off from her home and loving family. Is this the way to treat someone with the potential to make such a positive contribution to the UK?

Immigration rules must be interpreted with flexibility and compassion. Forcing Pauline out of the country and potentially destroying so many innocent lives is a very severe punishment for someone who has committed no real crime. It has absolutely no regard to human rights.

We call on the Home Office to stop interfering with the lives of the thousands of normal people targeted by the indiscriminate hostile environment policy and to reverse this cruel and inhumane decision.

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Updates

2019-05-03 16:36:23 +0100

Petition is successful with 100,179 signatures

2019-05-02 11:06:58 +0100

We have just had the great news that Pauline has been granted 30 months leave to stay! This follows further information and a Judicial Review letter we sent them last month.

She still has to apply every 30 months for the next 10 years but we are incredibly thankful and relieved that we have got this far. A massive thank you to everyone who has supported our petition. I am certain that this has been a major factor in securing a positive outcome.

We are considering challenging the decision on the basis that Pauline's eligibilities should have conferred indefinite leave to remain rather than just 30 months, but are feeling incredibly relieved to have got this far.

2019-04-30 08:47:55 +0100

100,000 signatures reached

2019-04-26 17:58:48 +0100

Here is the link to the video of Pauline by 38 Degrees. Thanks Beth, Mia & team for your brilliant support!:
https://www.facebook.com/peoplepowerchange/videos/435667147182393/

Thanks also Unison for your support and for placing an article about us in your Spring newsletter (circulation 1.3m)

2019-03-31 22:05:51 +0100

After 3 weeks the Home Office has just responded to our further information submission and our letter advising of the intention to submit a Judicial Review. Their response :- ... to demand another 6 weeks in order to respond! This would take us to within a couple of days of the 3 month submission deadline for a Judicial Review, giving us no time to respond! Their armed guards were however able to act very quickly indeed when they detained my poor clinically depressed wife in 2017. They did so without any prior notice, before they had issued her with a refusal notice of our previous application and the day before our 90 day period of notice to get married expired......

2019-03-22 13:36:19 +0000

We are hopeful of a decision shortly on further supporting information we have submitted to the Home Office.

2019-03-12 08:11:12 +0000

50,000 signatures reached

2019-03-11 22:20:52 +0000

Pauline and I are humbled by the support we have been receiving. it has moved us to tears. Thank you so much

2019-03-11 22:20:10 +0000

Here is a link to an article published about Pauline today on the Unison website:
https://www.unison.org.uk/news/article/2019/03/please-help-stop-another-cruel-right-stay-refusal/

2019-03-11 17:19:32 +0000

20,000 signatures reached

2019-03-11 16:43:10 +0000

10,000 signatures reached

2019-03-11 15:30:39 +0000

5,000 signatures reached

2019-02-26 14:56:44 +0000

Here are links to 2 news items on Pauline which were published today. We were also on BBC Radio Shropshire this morning:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-47361498
https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/local-hubs/shrewsbury/2019/02/26/husbands-bid-for-wife-to-stay-in-uk/

2019-02-25 19:35:24 +0000

Pauline’s petition has has now passed 1500 which is great and she has another petition on facebook with @700 signatures in the US. We had some positive news this morning from our barrister. Pauline’s solicitor is on BBC radio Shropshire at 7am tomorrow (26/02/19) and I am on at 8am. There will be an article in the Shropshire Star about Pauline and then in the afternoon tomorrow there should be an article on the BBC website. We have had contact with some other national media organisations and anticipate more press coverage. Pauline is starting to eat and drink a bit now though she has lost a lot of weight and is still having nightmares. We attended two uplifting church services at the weekend in Birmingham which has given us both strength.

2019-02-22 17:21:46 +0000

Wow, over 1000 signatures in under 2 days! Awesome! Thanks so much for your fantastic support! This is really giving us strength. We are hoping Pauline will be in the national media next week so watch this space! Grahame (Pauline's husband)