Taxpayers fund £77,000 hotel bill for migrant and daughter to stay for FOUR YEARS
A MIGRANT mother and her child have spent nearly four years in hotels at the taxpayer’s expense after delays by Home Office staff to verify her immigration status.
Furious Lucille Wanjiru, 32, last night accused officials of wasting a fortune, revealing it has taken seven years to sort out the shambles and grant her the right to work in Britain again.
The fiasco, which has dragged on since 2007, is thought to have cost about £77,000 in hotel bills alone.
Lucille, who lives with her six-year-old daughter, who she does not want named, said: “It’s simply unbelievable. I have proved time and again I have the right to stay here – but they’ve done nothing.”
Kenyan-born Lucille and her child have called the
Holiday Inn Express in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, home since January 2012. It costs £59.99 a night. The pair also spent a year at the £45-a-night Ibis Hotel in 2009. The bills have been paid by Hertfordshire County Council’s cash-strapped children’s services team, funded by local taxpayers.
Lucille came to Britain in 1994 and was granted indefinite leave to remain in 1999.
She had various jobs before losing her passport, which had a stamp proving her special status, in 2006.
Kenya reissued her passport in 2007 and she has applied three times for another stamp so she can earn a living.
All we’ve ever wanted is for me to get another job and pay our own way in this country
But the Home Office repeatedly rejected her claim, saying she hadn’t provided “sufficient proof” of her status – until this Tuesday. Without the stamp, Lucille has been unable to get a job and got no benefits apart from support for her child at £80 a week.
She said: “All we’ve ever wanted is for me to get another job and pay our own way in this country.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “We will issue a residence permit in the next week.
"Miss Wanjiru was unable to provide sufficient proof she had a stamp in her original passport and, since it was issued 15 years ago, it was difficult to track down the paperwork.”
Hertfordshire County Council said: “There is a small number of families awaiting decisions about their ability to remain in the UK.
“Under the Children’s Act, we have to make sure children have their needs met. Sometimes that involves funding accommodation and living expenses.”
