Home Office keeps NHS fee for visa applicant who died before arriving in UK

A grieving husband has criticised the Home Office for holding on to thousands of pounds in visa fees he paid for his wife to come to the UK, despite the fact that she died before she was due to arrive in the country.

- Diane Taylor

Ubah Abdi Mohamed, 25, from Kenya, was granted a spouse visa to join her husband, Mohamed Jama, 47, a British citizen of Somali heritage who lives in north London.

UK visa fees usually include an immigration health surcharge (IHS) to fund any NHS care the person applying for the visa may need while they are in the UK.

As his wife's sponsor, Jama paid the visa application fee of £1,938, plus a £3,105 IHS.

In March last year, Abdi Mohamed was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer. Jama travelled with his wife to India to arrange treatment, while their three-year-old daughter, Ikran, stayed in Kenya with her grandmother.