An asylum seeker who found work as a nurse after spending three years training for the job at a British university is to be deported, her lawyer confirmed last night.
Melissa Reid was denied a visitor's visa and asylum when she arrived from Jamaica five years ago.
But she appealed against the decision to reject her asylum claim and studied nursing at the University of Central England in Birmingham while her case was being processed.
The 30-year-old graduated in March and found employment at the Nuffield Hospital in the city in July.
The hospital successfully applied for a work permit but when Miss Reid contacted immigration to have her passport stamped, she was detained and threatened with deportation to Jamaica last Wednesday.
Miss Reid said she received a letter asking her to report the week before last to an immigration office in Solihull, West Midlands, where she was arrested and told her appeal had failed.
Her lawyer Oluwole Osibona said: "I chased the Immigration Service, asking them to review her case and asking that she be released.
"They wrote back saying they had reviewed her case, that they had not changed their minds and that Melissa was due to be deported on Wednesday. Within the law, you cannot say they are wrong. However, if you take it from a rational point of view, I don't think I agree with the decision.
"We had been hoping, as she's lived in the UK for five years and trained as a nurse with taxpayers' money and what with the obvious shortage of nurses in the UK and the Government still recruiting nurses from foreign countries, that immigration would let her stay exceptionally. That's not happened. She's coping as best as she can under the circumstances. She would have wished to stay here to put something back into the community which trained her."
The Home Office said it did not comment on individual cases.
In a statement released last week, a spokeswoman said that immigration rules made it clear that those who wished to come to the UK to study or work needed to go through the proper channels, which often meant applying from overseas for entry clearance.
She said: "It is important that people wanting to come to the UK for economic reasons should not be allowed to abuse the asylum system, to the detriment of genuine refugees.
"However, we recognise the contribution that migrant workers make to the economy and that far from being a burden on our public service, they can help deliver them."
