Today’s Abroad Life talks to us about moving to the UK when he was 13 and being sent to a detention centre once he needed a visa to continue staying in the country.

When did you move to the UK?
I was 13 when my parents sent me down to live with my aunt. Their aim was to give me a better life.

Soon after, the UK became my home. I was planning to go to university when it dawned on me that I needed a visa. I was 18.

So you were talking about trying to get a visa?
That’s how my battle with immigration began. I sent in an application to the home office, and they denied it over and over again. One time they said, “Oh, you know, you’ve been here for so long. You’re older than 18. You can look after yourself. You can take whatever it is that you’ve learned here to your home and started a new life.”

But the UK was my home. I didn’t have any ties in the country they wanted to send me to. At that time, I wasn’t really even in touch with my parents.

I showed proof that I wasn’t lying. My school records showed how long I had been there. We went back and forth until they told me to report. If you don’t have the right status, papers or the visa to stay, you have to go to a centre to show them you haven’t absconded, then they mark you present. That’s what reporting was. My appointment was once in two weeks, and I did this for over a year.

Then what happened?
I was taken. I went to do my report and was detained.

The lady reporting me told me, “Oh, you have an interview today.” And as soon as she said that, I knew that there was something wrong. They took me into another room, took off everything I had on me and told me to wait. I sat down for a while and an immigration officer came and went, “We’re ready for you.” He took me into another room, and she started asking some questions. After a while, she said, “Unfortunately, we’re not going to be letting you go today.” I just started crying. It felt like my spirit left my body. I thought that was the end for me.

I was taken into a van. I didn’t know where we were going or what was going on. They don’t tell you anything. We were driven for about an hour. Then we stopped somewhere that looked like a prison. They took our fingerprints then put us in a cell. It was at about 1 a.m.

I called my aunt once I knew I was at a detention centre. She knew something had happened because I left home at 3 p.m. the day before, but she couldn’t get in touch with me because my phone had been taken. I used the centre’s phone to tell them about the situation I was in.

I’d never committed a crime, I’d never been to prison in my life, but there I was. After two weeks, they transferred me to a different centre, where I spent about two months and some weeks. I was in detention for about three months.

During all of this, did they explain why they were doing this?
No. I had a few solicitors representing me. But the Home Office kept telling them that I had no rights to be in the UK. I had no legal documentation, so they were processing my deportation.

My solicitors said, “Okay, he doesn’t have these papers, but it’s not that he doesn’t have the right documentation. He’s tried.”

Continue: https://www.zikoko.com/citizen/i-was-in-detention-for-three-months-abroad-life/

Nice piece

Well done OP. God bless you. Can you please inform us how the problem was eventually resolved?