After being granted leave to remain until 2024, Myrtle has now finally also been granted pension credit and attendance allowance which takes the immense financial pressure off her and her daughter Mary and will hopefully keep destitution at bay (in the face of rising bills and the current cost of living crisis).
Here a thank you letter from Mary, Myrtle's daughter:
"We have finally had wonderful news: my Mum has been granted pension credit and attendance allowance and both her and I feel delighted and very relieved!
I want to take this opportunity of thanking all the wonderful people who stood by this campaign, who made vital donations to help us and for the beautiful messages! A million thanks to you all! You managed to get us through the hard times!
I also want to thank my barrister Jan Doerfel for the endless hard work and dedication over the past eight and a half years which he put into trying to keep my mother in England with me. He stopped the Home Office from removing her back to South Africa. Jan, my mother and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts for everything. In the end the Home Office eventually granted my Mum 2 ½ years’ leave to remain with access to public funds and the DWP finally approved pension credit and attendance allowance. This is again the wonderful work of Jan.
Jan you are a wonderful Barrister, your work is impeccable and I personally recommend you to everyone. Thank you again!
We also want to thank Dr Ben Robinson, a huge thank you for your dedicated hours of assessing my mother’s mental state. We appreciate all you did. Thank you! To All our love, Mary and Myrtle".
Update
Having first been granted leave to remain in 2016, Myrtle will finally be able to apply for indefinite leave to remain in 2026 (but will have to make another application for another 2 1/2 year visa when her current visa runs out).
We have also drawn the petition (which has now been going for nearly 7 years) and its demands to the attention of the Justice and Home Affairs Committee which is undertaking a consultation on family migration. We very much hope that it will be taken into account to devise a more humane immigration system to allow British citizens and those settled in the UK (like Mary) to look after their elderly relatives in their declining years without facing the difficulties that Mary and Myrtle have faced.
With best wishes from Mary, Myrtle and Jan