Immigration officials are reviewing a decision to deport an asylum seeker who found work as a nurse after spending three years training for the job at a British university.

The Home Office refused to comment on the case of Melissa Reid, a 30-year-old who was denied a visitor's visa and asylum when she arrived from Jamaica five years ago.

But Miss Reid 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.

She graduated in March and found employment at the city's Nuffield Hospital in July.

The hospital successfully applied for a work permit but when Miss Reid contacted immigration to have her passport stamped last week, she was detained and threatened with deportation to Jamaica.

Speaking from Yarl's Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire, Miss Reid said: "All I wanted to do was stay and give something back to the society which paid for me to go to university.

"It seems mad that the Government will pay for me to study for three years and then when I get a job ask me to leave.

"This has come as a great shock. As far as I knew, I was assured that if you study and work here you can stay legally.

"I understood that once I had a work permit I could stay but at no stage have they given me a reason why I cannot - or a chance to say goodbye to my friends and family."

Ms Reid said she received a letter asking her to report to an immigration office in

Solihull last Thursday where she was arrested and told her appeal had failed.

Her lawyer Oluwole Osibona said: "The Home Office has sent through a short letter saying they've cancelled removal directions set for today.

"They've not given any reasons why or said what's likely to happen.

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"I'm going to speak to them to find out what's going on. We're interested in whether or not she's going to be able to stay and work as a nurse in Britain where she's be trained.

He added: "It's stupid, the Government is paying a fortune to bring in nurses from abroad, yet here's one it has paid to train, who has a lot to contribute, and it is threatening to deport her."

A Home Office office spokeswoman said she could not comment on individual cases but stated that immigration rules made it clear that those who wished to come to the United Kingdom 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.

"However, we recognise the valuable contribution that migrant workers make to the economy and that far from being a burden on our public services they can help deliver them."