Sign up to FREE email alerts from Liverpool Echo - Weekly Politics Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A seven-year-old boy from Merseyside could to be split up from his family and deported.

Jamie Leung who has lived in Crossens, Southport, with his mother Sara, since June last year, is Canadian by birth – and could be “forcibly removed” from the UK.

The mum of the Larkfield Primary School pupil, who has duel British and Canadian citizenship, said she is “horrified, angry and upset by the whole thing.”

On arriving in the UK from Germany in 2012 Sara said it was shock when the Border Agency said her son could not legally enter the UK.

Sara, 37, said she did not think she would need a visa for Jamie to her home country just because he is Canadian by birth.

Jamie was issued a six month visitor visa and Sara was told to resolve the issue with the Home Office.

Given a number of costly options, Sara said they were not in a position to pay up to £1,000 for a special visa for her son.

Acting on advice they decided that Sara’s German-born finance Hieko Dietz would apply for a residency card and then have Jamie registered as his dependent.

Sara said that a letter sent by the Home Office rejected the bid and says that her young son will now be forcibly removed from the country.

With three-year-old Quinn and 11-month-old Elisha to also care for, she said: “I do not know if I have any other options.

“They have his birth certificate and passport. I have two other European born children here, I can’t just pick up and leave it is ridiculous.

“I have been told that he should have a visa, this had just never occurred to me.

“No one ever asked me any questions about his passport when we went to other European countries.

“Then to come to one of my home countries, I would never have considered it. They have not said how long it will be before he is removed.

“They just said that he will be forcibly removed, they have not given any options. I don’t know what will happen,” she added.

The letter landed at the family’s Drewitt Crescent home on Saturday – which was in a cruel twist also Sara’s birthday.

Sara said she is yet to explain to Jamie – who has learning difficulties – what is happening.

“I have not attempted to tell him. I am worried about his mental state, I do not want to upset him. What mother would want to explain to their child that their government wants them out,” she added.

The family’s plea to keep Jamie in the UK has been backed by Southport MP Dr John Pugh.

He told the ECHO: “You would have thought that the immigration department had better things to do than harass a seven-year-old child.

“This is one of those situations which the rules and regulations clearly do not properly cater for.

“They wouldn't even know which country to send him to. So it is farcical to carry on like this. It is a no-brainer, they will resolve it.

“There is no court in the land that is going to split up a mother from her child. The whole thing is ludicrous bureaucracy."