‘It was like finding fresh water in a desert’
That’s how Victoria describes the moment she and her 11 year old daughter finally secured status in the UK last year.
Victoria first came to the UK when she was pregnant with the hope of building a better life with her partner and new baby. But when her partner left one night out of the blue, she was left destitute and alone.
‘I didn’t know what to do’, she says, ‘I knew my visa was going to expire but I had no money and felt like I had nowhere to turn’.
As a new mum, Victoria did everything she could to keep her and her little one going – working as a cleaner and home carer – determined to build a future for herself and her daughter.
One day, the care agency she worked for invited her to a ‘training’ which turned out to be an immigration raid. Fearing deportation, she turned to lawyers for help, eventually finding support through JCWI.
After 11 years, our lawyers helped Victoria and her…