Academic’s husband granted residency after campaign

The Home Office has granted a residency permit to a Newcastle academic’s Australian husband, who was previously told he could not stay in the UK.

Sunderland-born Alison Atkinson-Phillips moved to Australia as a teenager before returning to the UK to take up an academic job as an oral history research associate at Newcastle University in January. Her husband Jeff followed her to the UK a month later with a tourist visa that expired in August.

He applied for ‘leave to remain’ to the Home Office and accompanied it with a human rights claim, saying he had to stay in the country as he is the primary carer of Mia, the couple’s 13-year-old daughter. Both Mia and the couple’s other child are dual Australia-UK citizens.