London - A gay man threatened with deportation to South Africa has fought and won a battle against the British government to stay in the UK.
Brett Rice had been told to leave England to live in South Africa despite rarely living in the country, having been born and raised in his early years in Zimbabwe.
The British authorities had claimed he and gay partner Matt Mallinson did not earn enough for him to stay and issued a deportation notice. But Rice, who works in corporate hospitality, said he was not allowed to include tips in his overall income figure, which brought him under the legal threshold.
“I love South Africa and have family in Pretoria and Durban, but my life is here in West Yorkshire. This is where I want to stay with Matt. We were worried about what might happen and had started to make plans, but then our lawyer told us that the judge found in our favour – we were ecstatic,” said Rice.
After being told to leave the UK, Rice launched an appeal, heard last month. He has not yet received the official letter, but his legal team was informed last week that the judge had allowed the appeal.
He said: “We felt confident during the hearing because the judge kept asking questions in our favour. Even the Home Office lawyer said it was a technicality. They have five days to appeal but it’s unlikely. They should’ve allowed us to include tips in our income figure because it’s an accepted part of pay in hospitality.”
Independent Media Foreign Service