By David Clegg

A BROUGHTY Ferry family is facing up to being torn apart after a mix up over immigration rules resulted in the eldest daughter being ordered to leave the country.

Josie Pasane (25) has been told by Home Office officials she will have to return to South Africa after seven years in Scotland, despite being a graduate of Abertay University who has recently embarked on a promising career here.

The family believe incorrect advice given to them by immigration officials in 2004 is to blame for the devastating fact that one sister is now scheduled for deportation while the other has been granted indefinite leave to remain.

Last night Josie and her distraught mother and sister told The Courier of the nightmare scenario that could see the family “decapitated.”

“The prospect of going back to South Africa is devastating to me,” said Josie.

“I would get off the plane at the airport and have no home.

“I am estranged from my father and haven’t spoken to him for years. My other sister who lives there is married and has her own life now.”

The family arrived in the UK in 2001 when mum Catherine moved here to work as a charge nurse.

They soon settled in Broughty Ferry and began a new life.

Josie enrolled as a student at Dundee College, eventually going on to obtain a BA (hons) in marketing at Abertay University.

Younger sister Mammie (22) attended Grove Academy and is studying for a degree at Edinburgh University.

Catherine Pasane is a charge nurse at South Grange Care Centre in Monifieth.

In 2004 the family decided to apply for permanent residence in the UK.

They claim officials advised them that if Catherine and Mammie went through the expensive £500-per-person application process immediately, Josie could wait until her initial visa expired in February this year.

But when she made her application in January it was refused as she is neither “wholly or mainly financially dependent” on a relative settled in the UK.

Ironically it appears permission would have been granted if Josie had not gained a job as a sales assistant at H&M in Edinburgh—where she was employee of the month for March—and was still dependent on her mother.

And a Home Office representative has said that had Josie applied at the same time as the rest of her family she would likely have been granted indefinite permission to stay.

On hearing the bad news the family appealed the decision to the independent Asylum and Immigration Tribunal.

But despite immigration judge David Clapham describing Josie as “an excellent member of society” who had “evidently integrated well into Scotland” the appeal was dismissed this week.

Mr Clapham said he had no legal grounds to grant her permission to stay and it would require Home Office “discretion” to allow her to remain. This has not been granted.

The family are now due to meet Josie’s lawyer on Monday in a last-ditch effort to reverse the decision and keep them together.

In the meantime they are left with the dreadful prospect Josie could be forced to leave the country within a matter of weeks.

Speaking from her Brook Street home last night, Catherine told The Courier, “It will be devastating for me and my other daughter if Josie has to go. The family will be decapitated. I can’t imagine the impact it will have on me.”

And economics student Mammie (22) spoke of her disgust at the way her sister has been treated.

She said, “I am very, very angry because Josie got off the exact same plane as I did and we have been in the country together for the exact same time.

“It makes me angry that I am allowed to stay but my sister has to leave. It makes no sense at all because all along we took the advice we were given by the Home Office.”

Josie also believes she has been unfairly treated by the immigration process.

She said, “I haven’t done anything wrong. I just filled out the form I was advised to use and I am being punished for doing so. I have always done it the way you are meant to.”

The news of the family’s problems has also provoked outrage in the local community, where the family are well known for their involvement in the Broughty Ferry New Kirk Church.

A petition organised by the Rev Catherine Collins generated more than 150 signatures in one day.

“In speaking to the congregation about it everyone who knows the family is up in arms about it and very angry,” she said.

Josie is also getting support from Dundee East MP Stewart Hosie.

He told The Courier last night, “I have written to the Home Office supporting her and I am backing the church and her family and friends in their fight to keep her in the country.”

A spokeswoman for the UK Border Agency—which now deals with immigration matters for the Home Office—said “All applications for further leave to remain are thoroughly considered by expert case-workers, taking into account all the individual circumstances.

“Where a person has been refused further leave to remain, there is a full right of appeal against the decision to the independent Asylum and Immigration Tribunal.

“An immigration judge will fully consider all aspects of the case.

“Applicants who do not meet the requirements for leave to remain in the UK will be expected to return home. This is an essential element of a fair and controlled immigration system.”