Teenager in US deportation family nightmare

In what has been described as a living nightmare by the Suffolk couple at the centre of the issue, a teenage daughter is facing forced deportation back to the US by the Home Office.

19-year-old Kursten Dixon lives in St Edmonds with her brother, sister, mother and step-father. However, she could shortly be flying back to the US for good after a decision she made two years ago is coming back to haunt her.

Stepfather, 29-year-old Matthew Dixon, has advised of how he met Teresa, Kursten’s mother, in Oklahoma in 2001 where he was a football coach. The pair married soon after and lived for a short time in the US before deciding to make the move back to Britain. The family, including now 15-year-old Brooke and 12-year-old Gavin made the move in 2007. The reason for the move was out of safety for the schooling of the children as there had been a spate of violent attacks at secondary schools in America at the time.

However, Kursten chose not to travel to Britain with her family as she had a boyfriend in the States. The relationship ended some time after at which point she decided to join her siblings in the UK but as she had recently turned 18 years of age her right to a children’s visa had expired. She was forced to apply for a temporary visa instead to see her family.

On arrival at Heathrow she was interrogated for 15 hours about her previous decision not to take up a visa offer. Ultimately she was granted a six month stay but will soon be forced back to the US unless the ruling is overturned.

While the family spends thousands pursuing an appeal for Kursten the UK Border Agency has made it clear that she advised them on arrival that she only intended to visit for a short term and was issued with the tourist visa accordingly. They have said that they will remain committed to upholding visa regulations for Britain.