The guardian of a disabled Dundee man whose Pakistani parents are being refused the chance to visit him claims immigration chiefs are “fobbing” them off.
Last spring, Mohammed Hussain and Saffia Bibi Hussain applied to the Home Office to visit their son Tubarik, 20, who has lived in Dundee nearly all his life.
But their visas were refused, even though they had travelled to Scotland several times before.
Tubarik is severely mentally handicapped and not fit enough to make the 3,800-mile journey to Pakistan.
After two failed applications, Tubarik’s guardian, Sandy Sarwar who is related to Mohammed and Saffia was to hold crunch talks earlier this month with a Home Office official in Glasgow, assisted by Dundee East MP Stewart Hosie.
But Sandy was furious when he turned up in Glasgow with Mr Hosie, only to be told the official had got confused and headed to Dundee instead.
Instead of rearranging a visit, Sandy was told that Tubarik’s parents should apply to the Home Office for a third time.
Sandy, a postmaster, said: “Despite a clear email that Stewart had, nobody at the Home Office seemed to know about the meeting. I couldn’t believe it when they said the guy had gone up to Dundee instead.
“The two women said we’d just have to reapply. So that’s another £83 per person Tubarik’s parents have spent hundreds trying to get here.
“I feel like they’re fobbing us off that the Home Office is just a money-making machine.
“It also shows how organised they are if they can’t even organise a meeting properly.”
A spokesman for the Home Office said they had not yet received a third application and “visa rules require that supporting evidence is submitted in support on an application”.