Owais Raja, who used to train MoD engineers, had right to work removed by the Home Office

A minor tax amendment made by an engineer has forced him to withdraw his son and wife from life-saving NHS treatment because he cannot pay for their care.

Owais Raja, from Pakistan, trained engineers in Plymouth for eight years and his profession is on the government’s “shortage occupation” list. Because of a mistake in his tax return, however, which he says was the fault of his accountant – who was later sent to prison for a £1m tax fraud – the Home Office removed his right to work, to rent property, or for him or his family to receive NHS treatment under the controversial section 322(5) of the Immigration Act.

The Guardian has reported that at least 1,000 highly skilled migrants seeking indefinite leave to remain (ILR) in the UK are facing deportation because of the application of section 322(5)..

Pharmaceutical specialist loses job and home due to tax error Read more

Raja paid the £1,200 he owed HMRC within 24 hours of being alerted to the mistake. HMRC accepted the amendment without charging him a fine or interest, but the Home Office said it was proof that his character is “a threat to national security” under section 322(5).

Raja’s oldest son, six-year-old Ayaan, was diagnosed at six months with a hole in the heart. He is under the care of two specialist teams, at hospitals in Plymouth and Bristol, who see him every three months for observations and analysis.

Hina, Raja’s wife, has a pulmonary embolism which is at constant risk of travelling to her heart or brain, causing a heart attack or stroke. She has been taking daily blood-thinning tablets since 2012, which the family can no longer afford.

“I received a bill for £400 last week for my wife’s hospital visits between March and April, which I just can’t pay,” said Raja. “All our furniture, including my youngest son’s cot bed, and my wife’s jewellery is on sale on Gumtree. This month is the crunch point. I should have paid our rent on the fourth but I’ve now literally no money left.”

Raja trained British engineers from the Ministry of Defence at City College Plymouth before his right to work was removed in 2016. He wrote the training programme himself and was promoted every year he was there. He was earning £32,000 when he applied for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) in 2016.

'Credible and honest': the company director facing deportation to Pakistan Read more

After paying £2,400 for a visa premium service at the Home Office in March 2016, Raja was told an error in his 2012-2013 tax return meant he owed the HMRC £1,200. “I tried to get in touch with the accountant I used that year but emails bounced back and his telephone wasn’t working,” said Raja. “Then I Googled him and found he’d been jailed for three years for a £1m income tax and VAT fraud.”



Raja paid the £1,200 within 24 hours but the Home Office refused his ILR application in April 2016 on the basis of the amendment. When his administrative review was rejected on 28 May 2016, Raja and his family lost the right to work, to rent property or to use NHS services.

His treatment, and that of others facing deportation in similar circumstances, has echoes of the Windrush scandal. Potentially thousands of members of the Windrush generation, who have the right to be in the UK, have been wrongly targeted by measures aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration under Theresa May’s hostile environment policy.

“I am ashamed how I have been treated by the Home Office,” Raja said. “I have been branded as a threat to national security and undesirable, even though I have paid taxes, NI and trained so many engineers who end up working in one of the most secure MoD facilities, the Devonport dockyard in Plymouth. Still I am classed as undesirable.”

Raja has now filed another ILR application, but does not know how much longer he can wait for the Home Office’s decision.

“I am truly scared for the health of my oldest son and wife,” he said. “My son once collapsed while he was playing at home and we had to get an ambulance to hospital where they saved his life. My wife has been close to death in hospital herself. I’ve paid taxes and NI for the past 11 years but now the life-saving NHS treatment two of the dearest people to me in the world need to stay alive, is being refused to them.

“I have spent £20,000 on Home Office fees and legal advice over the past two years and have nothing left,” he said. “I have gone from being a respected and constructive member of society, to destitute with no money, no right to work and two kids to feed.

“ I can’t go home because I have no links there any more, no savings, the healthcare for my wife and son isn’t suitable, and my children only speak English. My occupation is on the shortage list in lots of countries but I can’t travel with a 322(5) on my passport.”

The Home Office said it did not routinely comment on individual cases but did say: “It is vital that the correct decisions are made, particularly with complex tier 1 applications that require detailed consideration and verification of evidence with HMRC. These robust checks are essential to avoid the potential abuse of our immigration or tax system.

“Where we identify discrepancies between the income declared to the Home Office and to HMRC, we give applicants an opportunity to explain them before making a decision.

“Where abuse is identified, we will act accordingly.”