MP contacts Home Secretary regarding Bangladeshi chef’s appeal to stay in UK

MP Paul Bristow is taking Bangladeshi chef Saiful Islam's case to the House of Commons after receiving a negative response from the UK Home Office. Saiful Islam is facing deportation after his application for extension was refused by the Court of Appeal on October 8, 2020. On November 3, Paul Bristow MP met with Kevin Foster, Minister for Future Borders and Immigration, about Saiful's case. On November 18, the Home Office informed the MP, that they would not change their decision. Paul Bristow MP has informed Saiful that he will raise his issue to be debated at the House of Commons. In the meantime, Paul Bristow MP has written directly, dated December 8, to the British Home Secretary Priti Patel asking her to intervene in this case as errors were made by the Home Office.

In 2003, Saiful Islam, aged 27, came to the United Kingdom from Bangladesh with a visa to work as a chef at a Thai restaurant. In 2005, he contacted the police and the Home Office to inform that his employer was exploiting him by withholding the bulk of his wages, forcing him to work 18-hour shifts, and beating him.

The Home Office allowed him to move to a different employer, but a catalogue of problems followed, resulting in him being threatened with removal from the UK. As he was approaching his expiry date of work permit, he applied for Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK. Unfortunately, his application was refused on the grounds of errors made by the UK Home Office, which he pointed out to them. The Home Office had inaccurately recorded that Saiful Islam was a registered sex offender. In addition, the Home Office incorrectly recorded that he had entered the UK unlawfully and as a result had been served a curtailment notice in 2005.

Following a long drawn battle, in 2019, the Home Office admitted that they had made serious errors and offered him initially £5000, plus another £1,000 as compensation, which he has refused to accept. As a result of the incorrect information, Saiful Islam was incorrectly refused Indefinite Leave to Remain following his application in 2011, which was upheld in the High Court and Court of Appeal on an incorrect basis because of the inaccurate facts put forward by the Home Office.

He is currently living in Peterborough where his MP Paul Bristow and a pro bono legal advisor, Andy Cave, is helping with his case. Andy Cave said due to significant errors by the Home Office Saiful Islam's case has not been dealt with fairly by the Home Office. Saiful bows to fight his case and has not given up.