The Home Office has agreed to issue a UK visa to the brother of a man who had been refused permission to come to London to provide a life saving bone marrow donation.
Following pressure from MP Helen Hayes and agreement by Immigration Minister James Brokenshire, Patrick Aganozor is coming to Britain to donate his bone marrow to his brother Isaac who has leukaemia.
Patrick, from Nigeria, had been refused a UK visa on economic grounds and over concerns he would not return home at the end of his stay. He works as a bicycle courier and earns just £2.30 a day but Isaac said there was no danger of his brother remaining in Britain because he is the carer for his ill mother and his daughter.
Isaac works as a caretaker for top public school Dulwich College, which had offered to sponsor Patrick’s visit and pay for his flight. However, he was still refused permission to come to London for the procedure. No British matches were found to provide the bone marrow needed for the transplant.
Patrick will arrive in London this week and the operation is due to be carried out next week at St Bart’s Hospital, where Isaac is being treated. Isaac thanked those who had lobbied on behalf of his brother.
He told the Evening Standard: “It is wrong that immigration officers only considered the economic case. The Government should do what is necessary to make sure this never happens to anyone else. My delay was two months, I am still here, but that might not be the case with someone else.”
A spokesman for Dulwich College said it was “delighted” that Patrick had now been granted a visa and would be coming to the UK for the vital operation.