🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Scotland didn’t ask for this — yet families here are paying the price.

Across the UK, visitor visa rules are hurting people we love by denying NHS access   — leaving PARENTS AND CHILDREN OF BRITISH CITIZENS and FRONTLINE NHS WORKERS unable to visit or support their loved ones WHEN THEY FALL ILL AND UNABLE TO AVAIL NHS TREATMENT when they visit for holidays. 

Frontline NHS workers, students, and single parents — many of them Scottish and British citizens — are left completely bereft when their families abroad are denied even the most basic right to help or receive care through the NHS while visiting.

Many visiting relatives would even be willing to pay a health surcharge, just for peace of mind — to ensure they can access care without leaving their British family member or international student burdened with huge bills. How ironic that NHS doctors and nurses, who dedicate their lives to saving others, must pay tens of thousands for their own parents or children to receive treatment when they visit.

These are skilled, contributing members of our society — the very people who keep our health service and communities running — yet they are punished by a system that blocks compassion and common sense.

💁🏽Across the UK, visitor visa restrictions are tearing families apart and leaving women and children without vital care. These rules, combined with “No Recourse to Public Funds” (NRPF), are a clear form of systemic racism in practice.

They stop relatives from helping families in times of crisis. NHS workers, students, and single parents are left isolated, without the family support networks others take for granted. The result? Hardship, inequality, and risk to children’s wellbeing.

This is not an abstract issue — it’s happening right now.

👉 One case we are supporting shows the reality:

A young Black nursing student, a new mother of twins, is fighting to finish her degree and secure her NHS job offer.
Her mother travelled to the UK to help, but is in severe pain with urgent kidney problems. Because she is on a visitor visa, the Home Office will not allow her NHS treatment — not even simple pain relief.
The student herself has NRPF, meaning no access to public childcare or financial support. Without help, she risks losing her degree, her career, and her family’s stability.

This is not just about one family. Families across the UK face the same impossible barriers. The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants has shown how NRPF rules force parents into impossible choices between work and caring for their children.

We demand that the UK Government:

Review and reform discriminatory visitor visa restrictions.
Ensure families, regardless of ethnicity or immigration status, can receive support from relatives in times of need.
Remove systemic barriers that harm ethnic minority women and children disproportionately.

Why It Matters

The UK says it wants to attract international students and staff, especially for the NHS. But unless these unjust barriers are removed, we are failing the very people we need most.

No woman should be punished for becoming a mother while studying.

No children should be left unsafe because of unfair visa rules.

No family should have to choose between survival and education.

What You Can Do

Sign this petition to demand urgent reform of visitor visa restrictions.
Contact your MP/MSP and urge them to support affected families.
Share widely to shine a light on this injustice.

Together, we can end systemic racism in immigration policy and protect families across the UK.

We at Aberdeen Ethnic Minority Women’s Group CIC care!