Baby girl born in the UK faces being deported after she was taken abroad by her parents before her status was confirmed

London: A baby girl born in the UK faces being deported after she was taken abroad by her parents before her status was confirmed – meaning she re-entered the country as a tourist.

Massah, who is 13-months old, was born in the Midlands in April last year to parents who are originally from Jordan.

Her father came to the UK in 2021 to study for a PhD with her mother joining him as a dependant.

However, when the family went abroad together for the first time in January, Massah’s status hadn’t yet been confirmed and she therefore technically re-entered the country as a tourist.

Now Massah’s parents have received a letter from the Home Office telling them their daughter ‘will be required to immediately leave the UK’, Sky News has reported.

The couple have also been told that they will have to reapply for her visa from Jordan and that the need to ‘maintain the integrity of the immigration laws outweighs the possible effect on you/your children’.

The deportation threat comes despite the couple trying to apply for a child-dependent visa for Massah from the UK.

Massah’s father, Mohammad, said he has had sleepless nights over his daughter’s visa situation and that he has tried to engage his MP but they have made no progress so far.

The couple are concerned about returning to Jordan due to the current instability in the Middle East and fear that Massah’s visa may still be refused.

Mohammad told Sky News: ‘I can’t imagine how I can tell her the story in the future that the country you [were] born asked you to leave while you [were] a year old.

‘I’m trying to fix everything. I don’t need to consider a one-year-old infant as an overstayer here.’
A Home Office spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘All visa applications are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with the Immigration Rules.

‘We are working closely with the parents of this child to ensure they receive the support and direction they require regarding the application.’
The deportation threat comes as the government pledged to cut down on both legal and illegal immigration into the UK.

Figures released on Thursday showed that overall net migration has fallen slightly.

Net migration – the number of people moving to Britain minus those leaving – dropped from a record 764,000 in 2022 to 685,000, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed.

Experts said it was driven by fewer foreign students arriving as well as more people emigrating, but noted that immigration remains ‘unusually high’ and above pre-Covid levels.

Further falls are expected this year after ministers restricted the number of family members that migrants can bring to live with them.

However, Rishi Sunak has said that the first flights to Rwanda will not take place until after the general election on July 4.