A Jamaican former banker has won his right to remain in the UK after being unlawfully detained by the Home Office. James Matthews, 34, was held at Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre in May 2022 and labelled an overstayer while awaiting the outcome of his application for leave to remain.
Matthews, a former employee of Jamaica National Bank, applied for leave to remain based on his relationship with a British citizen in July 2020. The Home Office said the application was refused in February 2023, but Matthews claimed he was not notified. His legal team at MTC Solicitors argued he was still lawfully resident, and the government failed to appear at a court hearing to argue its case.
Matthews described the ordeal as the most difficult time for him and his family. He said: 'I was a happy and carefree man before immigration officers barged into where I sleep. Now I don't like seeing planes flying overhead because of how I used to see them while detained.'
His fiancée, an NHS doctor, said: 'It feels like a weight has been lifted. I felt as though I was being punished for falling in love with a non-Brit. He is not a criminal and yet he was detained like one.'
Matthews came to the UK on a visitor's visa in October 2019 and was unable to return to Jamaica when his visa expired in April 2020 due to Covid travel restrictions. The Home Office extended his stay to July 2020, and he applied for leave to remain from within the UK. He would have been deported last year but for a last-minute judicial review injunction obtained by MTC Solicitors.
Solicitor Naga Kandiah said: 'There is a hostile environment marketed by the Home Office. Mr Matthews did everything in his power to comply with the rules, yet the Home Office failed to justify their inhumane decision to detain him.' The matter of legal accountability for his detention remains ongoing.
