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Highly-skilled Highly-skilled immigrants are being wrongly dubbed as terrorists so they can be deported allege MPs and experts in the latest scandal to hit the crisis-hit Home Office.

They say at least 1,000 highly skilled migrants are wrongly facing deportation for minor discrepancies in declared income or making amendments to their tax records.

MPs and immigration experts have slammed the use of the controversial section 322(5) of the 2014 Immigration Act to strip teachers, doctors, lawyers, engineers and IT professionals of their right to indefinite leave.

The Home Office’s own guidance to caseworkers specifies the rule should only be used in cases involving “criminality, a threat to national security, war crimes or travel bans” but officials can use their discretion to refuse applicants if their “character and conduct” make them undesirable to live in the UK.

Highly Skilled Migrants is a support group that represents over 600 workers and says it is in contact with over 400 more, most of whom are facing deportation under section 322(5), with the rest still waiting for a decision by the Home Office.

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

Critics claim Home Office staff are using the clause to go after applicants with minor tax discrepancies in a bid to meet targets.

Mark Symes, one of the country’s leading barristers specialising in immigration law, told the Guardian: “In the last couple of years, the refusal of the Home Office has become near-automatic for any applicant who declares higher earnings on their immigration applications than they subsequently – or at the same time – declare to the HMRC.

“The Home Office think this shows deliberate misuse of the immigration system: that these individuals have either downplayed their income for tax reasons or overstated their income for immigration purposes.”

“But small businesses may have up and downs on their incomes, and the tax year rarely equates perfectly to the immigration application year,” he said.

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Alison Thewliss MP, who is helping a number of her constituents in this position, told the Guardian: “It is clear that people are being unfairly targeted using this paragraph of the immigration rules,” she said.

“It is a truly wicked way to treat people that have lived here for so long, obeyed the law, and contributed a great deal.”

Afzal Khan MP, the shadow minister for immigration, said: “Driven by a misguided net migration target, the Home Office has gone after what they perceive as easy targets in the form of the Windrush generation and highly skilled migrants.

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“Going after NHS doctors, lawyers, teachers and engineers on the basis of tax errors is another example of the misguided injustice of the Home Office.”

A Home Office spokesperson: “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.”