Care worker fears being parted from unborn child and family after Home Office ‘go home’ letters | Immigration and asylum
A heavily pregnant mother living and working legally in the UK fears the Home Office may try to separate her from her unborn baby after “go home” letters were sent to her husband and her first child.
Sachintha Warnakulasuriya lives in Scotland with her husband Indika Kumara and their six-year-old daughter Heily. Warnakulasuriya, 36, has a visa allowing him to work as a care worker in the UK and is sponsored by his employer. Her husband and daughter, who is also 36, have the legal right to live in the UK as dependents.
The Guardian revealed earlier this month that under a new visa restriction, five-year-olds living legally with their parents in the UK were being sent letters by the Home Office encouraging them to return to their country of origin.
Warnakulasuriya qualified as a doctor in his native Sri Lanka and holds three degrees. Her husband has a degree in archeology. After she lost her baby in Sri Lanka, her pregnancy was deemed high risk and an appointment was made for a planned caesarean section at a local hospital on June 16.
“I thought giving birth would be a happy and comfortable time for me. The medical team tried to make me feel safe about giving birth after my previous experience of losing a baby,” Warnakulasuriya said.
“I saw the article in the Guardian about ‘go home’ letters being sent to the family but I never thought the same thing would happen to me. Then on June 4 we received a letter from the Home Office saying my husband and six-year-old daughter had to leave the UK but I could stay. I don’t know what will happen to the baby.
“I’m so stressed about everything now. I don’t know what to do. We pay our taxes, we don’t get anything from the government. We’re trying to provide our services to England and we’re trying to do everything legally. We haven’t told my daughter what happened. She’s very happy and settled here. She speaks English with a Scottish accent.”
In a separate case seen by the Guardian involving the sending of a Home Office letter to a two-month-old baby, the letter was sent on June 4 and was addressed directly to the baby rather than to his parents.
The statement included the following: “We have considered the information you have provided and are not satisfied that you have put forward compelling or compassionate reasons that would warrant granting permission outside the rules. None of the reasons stated can be considered exceptional.”
The government began imposing restrictions on family visas for care workers after the Home Office estimated that around 120,000 family members would be in the UK by 2023, with 100,000 care worker applications taking part.
Since March 2024, care workers have not been allowed to bring their partners or children with them to the UK, and the recruitment of care workers from abroad is also banned. introduced From July 2025.
However, the children to whom letters were sent in recent weeks arrived in England before various bans and restrictions came into force.
After the case of Rasika Samarasinghe, her husband Chamila Dilrakshi and their three children was first reported in the Guardian, the family’s constituency MP Victoria Collins is calling on the Home Office to reconsider their letters of return home.
He said he received more than 40 emails from constituents in the 24 hours after the Guardian article expressing concern about the family’s treatment.
Collins, MP for Harpenden and Berkhamsted, said: “It is appalling that my constituents Chamila, Rasika and their three wonderful children, who are hard-working pillars of the community, have been so cruelly separated by the Home Office. “Chamila works as a teacher’s assistant and volunteer at the local church, while Rasika works as a carer and the three children are settled and thriving here.
“I have urgently escalated this case directly to the Home Office minister and will continue to raise this issue for this family with the government and many others who work hard for our communities.”
Naga Kandiah, an MTC lawyer representing the families, said: After approving similar applications under the same rules for over two years, the Ministry of Home Affairs appears to have suddenly changed course and rejected families without explanation.
A government spokesman said: “The government’s attitude has not changed. We will always welcome those who come to this country and contribute to our national life. But the privilege of living here forever must be earned, not automatically.
“But between 2021 and 2024, this country experienced levels of immigration it has not seen historically in four decades. We must be honest about the scale and impact of hundreds of thousands of low-skilled immigrants reaching settlement.”
“The government will double the path to resolution from 5 years to 10 years. As announced in November, we are consulting to apply this change to those living in the UK today but have not yet achieved settled status. We are currently reviewing 200,000 responses and will summarize our response in due course.”
