An NHS doctor who has lived most of her life in Britain is due to be deported and stopped from becoming a GP after making a small error in her application for a new work visa.
Dr Mu-Chun Chiang said the Home Office’s decision to remove her had left her “shocked and devastated”.
“They seem very keen to get rid of me. To have someone just kick you out is a pretty nasty feeling. I want to stay and train as a GP. I really enjoy working as a doctor and in the NHS.”
The Home Office based its decision to remove Chiang on her making a minor mistake in the paperwork she submitted with her application. Those seeking a tier two visa must be able to prove they have held at least £945 in their bank account for 90 consecutive days up until a month before they submit their application.
But while Chiang had enough money in her savings account, she submitted statements relating to her current account, the balance of which dipped below £945 for some of the 90-day period.
The Home Office initially refused to consider the evidence about her savings account when she later submitted statements and explained her mistake, because she had not included them in her original application.
Taiwan-born Chiang, a 27-year-old trainee GP in Liverpool, has been given 14 days to leave the UK, despite working and being educated in England and Scotland for 18 years.
She is at risk of expulsion despite the fact that Health Education England, the NHS’s medical training agency, is sponsoring her and paying for the three years of her training to become a family doctor.
The Home Office has refused to grant Chiang a tier two visa from now until 2022 to cover the duration of her GP training.
It has banned her from working, meaning she has had to stop doing shifts in a Liverpool hospital as one of the first “rotations” through different medical specialities as part of her training to be a GP.
Critics claim the Home Office’s treatment of Chiang is inhumane and shortsighted, given that the NHS in England is experiencing a serious and worsening shortage of GPs. It is also alleged that her deportation shows the government’s “hostile environment” approach to immigration has continued, even though Theresa May – its architect – has left office.
The Royal College of GPs criticised the decision as “ludicrous”. It has written to Priti Patel, the home secretary, protesting against Chiang’s deportation and warning patients will suffer if overseas doctors are banned from working in the NHS because of “red tape or minor administrative errors”.
Chiang has been put on “immigration bail”, which means she cannot study or claim benefits. She could be jailed for six months if she does not comply with her deportation, she was warned in a letter received last Friday from the Home Office.
EveryDoctor, which campaigns on issues affecting medics’ working conditions, warned Chiang’s deportation could deter overseas doctors from coming to work in the NHS.
“At a time when the NHS is short of 10,000 doctors, the treatment by the Home Office towards the 81,000 doctors on visas in the UK is frankly unbelievable.
“The NHS is actively recruiting doctors from abroad, and these doctors have uprooted themselves, and often their families too, to offer the UK their hard-earned skills. These doctors are committed to working in the NHS. The treatment these doctors are faced with is appalling,” said Dr Julia Patterson, EveryDoctor’s lead.
Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard, the chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: “It’s ludicrous that at a time when the NHS workforce is in crisis and the skills and expertise of GPs are so desperately needed, the Home Office is still willing to deport a doctor that this country has already invested in, who has lived here for most of her life and studied medicine here.
“We should be welcoming Dr Chiang to the NHS with open arms, not deporting her.
“Unfortunately, her case is not the first, and we suspect it is just the tip of the iceberg and that there could be many more cases where red tape or minor administrative errors are preventing our trainees and fully qualified GPs from working in the NHS when our patients and our profession are crying out for them”.
Dr Samantha Batt-Rawden, the chair of the campaign group Doctors’ Association UK, criticised the handling of Chiang’s case as “ludicrous and nonsensical”. She added: “Telling a young doctor to leave the country within 10 days or else face prosecution over a technicality is inhumane and shows a flagrant disregard for Dr Chiang’s contribution to society and the NHS.”
A spokeswoman for the Home Office, which is under mounting pressure to reverse its decision, said: “We are reconsidering Ms Chiang’s application now that further evidence has been provided.”
