Couple with two children split up by Home Office income requirement ruling

Emigrating is fine if it’s voluntary, but not if it’s a choice between becoming a single parent or compromising your children’s health and education.

At present resident in Scotland, Tugrul Keseli and his partner Lyndsey Burke are to be split up by order of the Home Office’s controversial new law on financial support for a non-EU partner. The couple met in Turkey and continued their relationship after Lyndsey returned to the UK through visits and the internet until Lyndsey become pregnant.

An application was made for Tugrul’s visitor visa so that he could be at the birth and, after an initial refusal, a holiday visa was granted on appeal. However, later in the year the new Home Office rules came in, with Lyndsey’s wage set too low, even although her parents were helping with childcare during the working week.

In October 2012, Tugrul arrived on a second visitor’s visa, and the couple applied for his leave to remain on the basis of his British-born daughter, Alara, and the fact that they were living as a family. Their formal application was again refused, and Tugrul’s visa expired in mid-April this year.

By this time, Lyndsey was pregnant again, and praying she would give birth before Tugrul had to leave. Luck was on their side, and he was able to welcome his new daughter into the world, but is heartbroken that he can’t stay and care for his family.

They’re both fighting for the right to stay together, but the Home Office’s only suggested options were for Lyndsey to become a single parent or for the family to move to Turkey. Lyndsey is concerned about heathcare and education for her girls should she be forced to emigrate, but is desperate at the thought of losing her partner.

The couple’s lawyer has made a final appeal, based on the human rights of those involved and not subject to any financial requirements. Lyndsey and Tugrul have also started a petition urging a change in the law as regards income requirements.