Wut der schottischen Familie, nachdem Mutter daran gehindert wurde, aus dem Libanon zu fliehen

Scottish family upset that their mum with no right to stay in the UK wasn’t just allowed to enter the UK. I’m not sure what they expected?? That you can just marry a Brit, have kids and get instant access to the UK without a passport or even a visa??

>He said: “I just don’t understand it. We paid for the three seats, she went to the airport, and she was told that she can’t get on the flight because she didn’t have a visa.

They must be very unworldly not to know this.

>Mr Hardie also criticised the cost of the UK government flights out of Lebanon, which were £350 per person.

I know of someone who paid $2500 for a one-way flight out of Lebanon to Morocco recently. I’m sure the family did look at commercial options and saw the prices so this particular complaint seems bizarre.

“Rebecca organised everything and she may have been told before she left the house (that Ms McCulloch would be unable to board the flight), but she thought she would just go and try because she wanted to go with the kids, but she was told categorically, no.”

Looks like they have never lived together as a family in Scotland. You’d think the parents would’ve made doubly sure everything was in place to enter the country before they left home.

So they’ve been living in Lebanon since 2002 and the wife has no UK passport or Visa? But because they’ve been married for 20 years he feels she should be considered one even though the rules for applying for British Citizen through marriage is that you have lived in the UK 3 years before applying and have settled status.

Sorry if this comes across as insenitive and I can’t imagine what a horrible situation it is for all of them and the kids being seperated from their Mum in all this but they must have known deep down there would be issues?

Lots to unpick from this. In terms of morality it seems harsh to separate a family despite some having legal status and others not.

There is a certain element of cake and eat it as well. The father of the family is clearly an expat and knowing a little about the ‘Middle Eastern dollar’ he is likely very well recompensed for his job; which admittedly requires a level of courage uncommon amongst people.

This has been simmering for over a year now – more than enough time to arrange a Visa. FCO advice has never, to my knowledge, given a green rating to Lebanon so to reside there is to understand the risk. It’s difficult to find a great degree of sympathy when bullets start flying around and suddenly people are angry they cannot leave the country.

Objectively these people have taken a high risk high reward strategy of living somewhere below the normally accepted safety threshold in order to enjoy a standard of living higher than average were they to reside in the UK and now appear to be upset that they aren’t being availed of the entire horsepower of the British state to bail them out.

I think, because I am a moral human being she probably should have been evacuated with her children despite lack of entitlement but yep – pay the £350 for each of you and smile broadly about it. They can probably afford it.

Its shocking to me that these people, trying to do it right with a fairly valid reason are turned away, and yet so far this year 23,000 have arrived by boats without passports or visas. Pick one or the other, allow people to come here, or don’t, but don’t deny one and allow the other. In my opinion, that I’ve no right to anymore.

I can understand their frustration as I would want to do everything to make sure my family was safe given the situation over there. I was ready to think the UK was being very harsh and its unfair to leave her behind but then I read the article.

The flights are for British nationals only and she is not a British national. It seems she has never lived in the UK so doesn’t qualify for citizenship here. She does have a connection to the UK through her children who are British nationals through birth but thats all it is, a connection and doesn’t give her any rights.

When they booked the flights they knew she wasn’t eligible and couldn’t book her on it but quite understandably decided to take a chance. They were told no as they would have expected and are now trying to play the sympathy card. There are several thousand that need to be evacuated so I can only assume that the flights are full so she would have been taking a seat away from someone who was actually entitled to it.

One thing that strikes me as odd is that the bombing has been going on for a week now. The dad is in Iraq and says he will be flying back later in October. It all seems rather leisurely as if I were in his position I would be trying to get back as soon as I could. Perhaps there is a good reason for this but it does seem strange.

However I do hope she gets to safety and is reunited with her family soon.

This one is on the Fam. They have had 22 years to get their immigration affairs in order. Any immigrant and emigrant owns the responsibility of staying abreast of the laws/processes/requirements – of the host/home countries – and acting accordingly. Laws and policies change constantly and it’s incumbent upon you to stay current and plan ahead.

This responsibility doubles if living in countries where conflict is an ever-present threat. Lebanon has long been one where multi-national families such as this need an exit plan, suitcases packed, visas/passports current, and a Go Bag.

You would think if your wife is Lebanese which is a completely unstable country you would make sure she gets a British passport, especially having British kids. Lebanese people know the place will be a warzone sooner or later. On the other hand we let anybody into this country so it is a bit shitty.

I agree they should pay for their flight since it’s a charter but it is ludicrous that people come to the country illegally and get everything handed to them.

“All non-British nationals requiring a visa will need to make an online visa application and submit their biometrics at a Visa Application Centre, prior to travel to the UK.”

Mr McCulloch, who has lived in Lebanon since 2002, said the couple were evacuated with Thomas during the 2006 Lebanon war and had “no problem whatsoever” on that occasion.”

-Get evacuated from a volatile dangerous country once.
-Move back.
-Require reacusing by the British state again.
-Make no effort to follow the guidance for foreign nationals.
-Attempt to get into the UK with no visa or British passport.
-Expect that because something was allowed nearly 20 years ago it’ll be the same now.

I hope she gets out but some forward thinking would have been rather helpful here. It’s certainly not cause for a woe is me story critiquing the British state for not just allowing a foreign national into the country without following the due process.

It’s morally wrong to abandon this women there. That’s all you need to know.