“Go to India”: UK Tells Blind Nigerian Woman to Wait 20 More Years for Settlement

A 67-year-old blind Nigerian woman who has lived in the United Kingdom for 26 years has been told she may have to wait another 20 years before qualifying for permanent residency under proposed changes to the country’s immigration settlement rules, and was mistakenly told by the Home Office that she could return to India for medical treatment.

The case was reported by The Guardian and Vanguard on Sunday, November 15, 2026, ValidViewNetwork reports.

THE CASE

The woman, identified as Comfort, arrived in the UK in 2000 but lost her sight shortly afterwards after developing acute glaucoma.

After spending 20 years in the country, she was granted permission to remain in 2022 under the long-residence immigration route. Under the arrangement, migrants are required to renew their visas every 30 months for 10 years before becoming eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain, which allows them to live permanently in the UK.

However, following new settlement rules announced by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Comfort is likely to face an additional 20-year wait before qualifying for permanent residency, meaning she could be in her 80s by the time she becomes eligible .

THE MISTAKE

Concerned about her age and disability, lawyers at Refugee and Migrant Justice applied to the Home Office for her to be granted indefinite leave to remain immediately under provisions that allow exceptional cases to be fast-tracked.

The application was rejected.

The Home Office initially told her that she could return to Nigeria because services for blind people were available there.

However, the refusal letter concluded: “Your circumstances are not so severe or lacking in potential treatment in India that it would warrant indefinite leave to remain in this case”. Comfort has never visited India and has no connection with the country.

COMFORT’S PLEA

“In 2022, I got my permission to stay here based on long residence in the UK,” she said. “I’m very disheartened that I may now need to wait nearly 20 years to get indefinite leave to remain”.”I have been living in this country for 26 years. I have found my home here and settled well. I have my friends, my church and do voluntary work. I’m a good citizen, not a law-breaker and am begging the Home Office to have mercy on me and grant me indefinite leave to remain now, rather than making me wait 20 more years” .”I don’t know why the Home Office said I could go back to India. It’s a country I have never visited and have no connection with”.

THE CRITICISM

Nick Beales, head of campaigning at Migrant and Refugee Justice, criticised the government’s handling of the case. “This woman is blind, in her late 60s and has lived in the UK for a quarter of a century. She meets the rules to remain here and there is no public interest in making her continue to renew her visa,” he said.

“Rather than viewing these vulnerable people as human beings, the government is fixated on appearing tough. Shabana Mahmood’s plans to double settlement routes will clearly make these problems even worse, especially as her decision-makers cannot even differentiate between India and Nigeria” .”Government data shows that people over 80 are applying to enter these settlement routes. While it’s unlikely many of these people would survive a 10-year period, Mahmood has not explained what she hopes to achieve by making these octogenarians and older wait two decades before having settlement. The government should admit that their earned settlement model is cruel and counter-productive and scrap these plans once and for all” .

WHY IT MATTERS

This is a story about a woman who has spent more than half her life in Britain. She has paid taxes. She has volunteered. She has built a life. And now, at 67, blind, she is being told that she may have to wait until her 80s for the right to stay.

The Home Office’s mistake, telling a Nigerian woman she could go to India is almost comical in its incompetence. But the underlying policy is not funny. It is cruel.

The “Earned Settlement” model announced by the Home Secretary ties the waiting period for permanent residency to income, employment, and immigration history. Those who have claimed benefits or breached immigration rules face a 20-year wait. Comfort, who is blind and unable to work, falls into that category.

The government says it wants to appear tough. It has succeeded. It has also succeeded in appearing heartless.

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Comfort has not been deported. She is not in a detention centre. She is in a kind of limbo, a citizen in all but name, waiting for a piece of paper that may never come. ValidViewNetwork reports.