Carers could be deported
Three senior carers who have worked in Newport for four years face losing their jobs and deportation to their native Phillipines, it was claimed today. Three senior carers who have worked in Newport for four years face losing their jobs and deportation to their native Phillipines, it was claimed today. Malou Cortez, Casina Gabriel and Socorro Santos could lose their right to work in the country under a new Government system for immigrants. The three came to Britain in 2003 when the Government was actively recruiting carers from their country. They have since worked at The Cottage Christian Nursing Home in Newport. Their work permits run out in less than a month and they have been refused extensions. Read the full story in today's Shropshire Star
Malou Cortez, Casina Gabriel and Socorro Santos could lose their right to work in the country under a new Government system for immigrants. The three came to Britain in 2003 when the Government was actively recruiting carers from their country.
They have since worked at The Cottage Christian Nursing Home in Newport.
Their work permits run out in less than a month and they have been refused extensions. It would leave them without income, unable to claim benefit and the Government would be likely to seek to deport them - along with their families.
Mrs Cortez has two children, aged five and 11, who have grown up in Newport, while all three have husbands in the town.
"How do they expect me to feel?" said Mrs Cortex. "I have an 11-year-old daughter who is supposed to go to secondary school in September. Now we don't know what is going to happen."
David Edgar, a legal expert from the West Midlands, whose 79-year-old mother Ann is at the home, has taken up their case.
As well as sympathising with the situation, Mr Edgar believes care at the centre will suffer from losing them. It, along with hundreds of others in the UK, are likely to face a staff shortage if they lose thousands of Filipinos.
Mr Edgar said the women, who are in their 30s and 40s, were distressed at the prospect of having to leave.
He said Malou's children, although born in the Phillipines, are "practically English" having spent four years growing up and being educated in the country.
He believes, and leaked documents suggest, the refusal is down to a change in Home Office policy. He said the three were trained midwives and skilled workers.
Mr Edgar has submitted a request to the High Court for a judicial review.
Toby Nation, from the Home Office, said: "All work permit applications, no matter what the job title, must meet the work permit skills criteria set out in our business and commercial guidance notes for customers.
"Decisions on work permit applications are made on a case-by-case basis."
By Dave West
