Home Office inflexibility dents UK’s reputation, says Corbyn

The Home Office is damaging the UK’s reputation for higher education and research by refusing to grant visas to foreign academics married to British citizens, according to Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Corbyn, MP for Islington North, has written to the Home Office in support of an American academic whose application for indefinite leave to remain in the UK was refused.

Jennifer Wexler, who has a British husband and has lived in the UK for the last 11 years, had her settlement application denied and was told she must return to the United States to apply for a spousal visa instead. Wexler said that the reason given was the number of days she spent outside the UK conducting academic research during her 11 years of residence in the country, according to an article in The Guardian on 4 December.