All Articles Tagged "visas"
Visa Troubles and Mounting Debt Leads Woman to Start Kilt Business
Seven years in the UK comprised of study, work and marriage wasn’t enough to convince UK officials to allow Namibian native Jessica Austin to stay in Britain. The Advertiser reports that in 2008 she faced expulsion from her home and family as the government argued she was no longer eligible to stay in the UK. After years of fighting the accusations, Austin won, and recently launched her own kilt business.
Jessica married her Scottish husband Steven Austin in 2007 and shortly after, she renewed her paperwork to stay in the country. But a year later, the government declared she had failed to renew her visa due to a timing and payment issue. The couple was shocked as Jessica faced separation from her husband and five-year-old daughter Milan. She was told she would have to start her visa process again–from Namibia.
Jessica was determined not to go without a fight. With the help of local newssource the Advertiser, the family won. In 2010 Jessica secured an indefinete leave status from Britain. Unfortuantely, the battle did not end without leaving devestating scars.
“We lost our house during the 10 months of fighting for my paperwork and I had to give up my job, but we had to pay our immigration lawyers,” Jessica told The Advertiser.
Jessica and her family didn’t let their finanical woes stop them. To help pay for their legal fees and mounting debt, the couple began to export Scottish tartan to her native homeland, where it is considered a luxury.
“At first we made eight at a time to see if they’d sell, but now we’ve launched a website and have already had 3000 hits from all over the world since it launched just weeks ago,” Jessia said.
Together the couple created Kahere Kilts, which now sells Scottish kilts for men and women in various fabrics and materials.
“We’re both still working and putting in long hours with the kilt company,” she said. “It’s amazing that we’ve found a new business out of everything that happened.”
Rushed from Haiti, Then Jailed for Lacking Visas
(NYTimes.com) – More than two months after the earthquake that devastated Haiti, at least 30 survivors who were waved onto planes by Marines in the chaotic aftermath are prisoners of the United States immigration system, locked up since their arrival in detention centers in Florida.
