A U.K. mom is headed home after being stuck in Jamaica with her newborn son.
The British government has changed its mind about allowing a married mother and her child entry into the European nation, after a year of refusing their petition because her child was born in a foreign country during a visit. A member of parliament who advocated for the family, called the Home Office’s previous treatment of her constituents, who happened to be of Caribbean descent, “utterly unacceptable.”
The Home Office, the ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for immigration, security, and law and order, has granted Tiffany Ellis and her youngest child Xien a visa and told the woman she may come to collect the document as soon as possible.
The decision came overnight after an exposé about the ban was published by The Guardian, a British newpaper.
A spokesperson told the outlet, the agency has already been “in contact with Ms. Ellis and have now issued the child’s visa.”
The mother said she was so elated that “she lay on the floor and cried.”
“I called my husband, who was at work, to tell him the news, and he cried too,” she said. “The decision from the Home Office is long overdue. I will get the first flight home that I can. I can’t wait to hug my husband and my daughter.”
Ellis has lived in the United Kingdom for 20 years, her home since she was 8 years old.
However, over the past year, the now-28-year-old was embroiled in immigration red-tape —stopping her from returning from Jamaica to her home in London. The reason for the delay was because her new baby was born on April 30, 2021, on the Caribbean island, the Guardian reported.
Before this week, the U.K. government wouldn’t let her and her baby enter the country. Technically, the baby is Jamaican (having been born on the island), and would be required to go through the proper immigration channels.
Under the U.K. immigration laws, Ellis, who has indefinite leave to remain in the U.K., would have had to leave her child if she wanted to be reunited with her husband, Zarren Ellis, 38, and their other child, Xianna, a 5-year-old little girl.
U.K. immigration policies have been criticized recently for having a history of being particularly harsh and unfair to people of color, oftentimes using nationality or ethnicity to impact decisions on letting them in the country. In May of 2022, a leaked document showed that politicians used immigration to frame the racial population within the kingdom. The media is calling this the Windrush Scandal.
Dating back to the 30 years between 1951 and 1981, the report says, “Every single piece of immigration or citizenship legislation was designed at least in part to reduce the number of people with Black or Brown skin in the UK.”
The 52-page document also said there are “dysfunctional relationships between Britain’s institutions and Black and minority ethnic people,” and contends that “the politics of Britain’s borders, which have been administered for more than a century by the Home Office, are now inextricably connected with race and with Britain’s colonial history.”
In January 2020, Zarren and Tiffany went to Jamaica for a destination wedding. The couple’s daughter, and only child at the time, also accompanied them to the island.
It took over half a year for the marriage documents to be processed on the island and the Ellises finally had their nuptials in August of that year.
In addition to the red tape that held up their marriage, the global coronavirus pandemic shut down the world. Strict quarantine rules and a natural fear of traveling also stopped them from returning to their home in London.
This was especially true for the family traveling with a toddler and infant. Global wellness agency UNICEF stated in 2020, that traveling with children at the height of the pandemic was “risky.”
A month after they were married, the couple conceived a child. The pregnancy was hard on Tiffany. She was diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum, a condition that makes one severely nauseous and vomit incessantly.
The woman hoped that after her first trimester her condition would ease up and she would be able to fly back to the U.K. With this plan in mind, she booked a flight to come back in the first month of the new year, January 2021. However, to her chagrin, she remained ill, with her condition worsening, causing her to remain in Jamaica until after Xien was born in April.
Officials said when they rejected the baby’s visa application on Dec. 22, 2021, when the baby was only 8 months old, their decision is “justified by the need to maintain an effective immigration and border control,” believing their actions are absolved of “unjustifiably harsh consequences.”
According to the Home Office, the parents could send money from the U.K. to Jamaica to assist in the support of the child from an ocean away.
After the baby was refused a visa, the father decided to at least bring Xianna back so that she could start school, leaving his new bride and son in Jamaica.
Tiffany told The Guardian, “There’s not a day goes by that I don’t cry about this.”
“My husband is my rock and he’s holding everything together. The whole situation is so heartbreaking,” she continued. “How can I explain this to my daughter? She thinks I’ve abandoned her. I’ve never been apart from her before.”
What made the matter more traumatic for the family was the fact the baby was born with a kidney condition and requires pediatric treatment from a specialist. The doctor is needed to not only improve the quality of his life but possibly save it.
The mom lamented, “Xien tries to hug his dad on the screen when we do video calls. I just want to get Xien home before his health worsens.”
Now, the Ellises’ prayers have been answered and family will be reunited.
