British academic and his Nigerian wife say the Home Office has “ruined Christmas” after refusing a visa for their cousin, a student of prosthetics and orthotics at a top-ranking university.

Dr. James Pickering and his wife Chioma had booked a return flight for their eighteen-year-old cousin and had stated that they could financially sponsor her visit.

However, the Home Office denied the visa, saying that their cousin Chizaram had not provided evidence of an “ongoing and genuine relationship” with Pickering and his wife, which “damages the credibility of [your] application”.

They added: “I am not satisfied that you will leave the UK at the end of the visit.”

“Chizaram has never left Nigeria and never been on a plane, so we were really hoping she could have her first ‘white Christmas’ in the UK,” said Pickering.

“We sent all the evidence we could – WhatsApp messages, call logs, bank statements, photos – really belts and braces – but they still refused the visa. My wife has spent days in tears. They’ve really ruined Christmas for us.”

In May the Home Office launched a crackdown on student visas from countries it deems “high-risk”.

Whitehall officials claimed that students from Nigeria, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were more likely to overstay their visas and claim asylum. Official data at that time showed that people from those countries were the most likely to enter the UK on a work or study visa and then switch to the asylum system.

The cuts to international student visas were announced as part of a package of measures in the government’s immigration white paper, which followed a series of losses to Reform in the local elections in May. Labour vowed to reduce overall immigration figures and tackle what former Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described as “abuses in the system”.

Last year a large number of family members were unable to attend the couple’s wedding following repeated rejections. The family have only once managed to have a “particularly egregious refusal” overturned following intervention from their local MP Neil O’Brien.

“My wife Chioma is completely cut off from her family here,” said Pickering. “It’s difficult for her to maintain a relationship with those she loves, especially when the power and connection go down. We just want to be able to spend time with her family.”

Pickering believes that the recent increase in the use of AI to assess visa applications could be the cause of the repeated visa rejections.

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“I believe they approach applications looking to refuse them rather than trying to assess them fairly,” said Pickering. “We sent through a hundred pages of evidence. At no point did they ask for more information and we have no right to appeal. It feels like they just bank on the fact that if they refuse it, most people wouldn’t have the time or money to reapply. I don’t think they’re looking at these cases in good faith.”

The Home Office says that it uses AI technologies for administrative support, screening and risk assessment and not to make decisions on visa applications.

Last year the department took part in a trial to simplify decision-making using AI to summarise interview transcripts and summarise third-country information. The Home Office said that these tools were designed to support caseworkers rather than replace the decision-making process.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “It is our longstanding policy not to comment on individual cases.” (Byline Times, but headline rejigged)

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