Polish Woman Faces Deportation Over Application Form Error

An 80-year-old Polish woman, Elzbieta Olszewska, is facing deportation from the UK after the Home Office rejected her residency application due to a technical error. The application was mistakenly submitted online instead of on paper, as required by immigration rules.

Olszewska, who had been living alone in Warsaw, arrived in the UK in September 2024 on a six-month visitor visa to be cared for by her son, Michal Olszewski, a British citizen and aeronautical engineer residing in Lincoln. Seeking to remain in the UK permanently, an application was submitted on her behalf with all necessary documentation well before her visa expired.

However, the Home Office responded on March 25, declaring the application invalid because it had been completed online instead of using the required paper form. The rejection letter warned that Olszewska no longer had legal status in the UK and faced serious consequences, including detention, fines, imprisonment, and removal with a ban on re-entry.

The Home Office’s requirement for a paper form mandates that applicants request it directly, receive a named document via email, print it, complete it, and return it by post. Despite ongoing efforts to digitize immigration processes, certain applications still require paper submissions, a rule not widely known.

Olszewski expressed frustration over the decision, calling it “a disgrace.” He emphasized that his mother is frail, and he wants her to spend her final years with him and his wife. “This decision feels like it was made by a Soviet bureaucracy,” he stated, criticizing the Home Office for taking almost six months to reject the application without allowing time for correction.

The family’s solicitor, Katherine Smith of Redwing Immigration, labeled the decision as excessively harsh. She pointed out that the delay has left Olszewska without legal status, adding to her distress. Given that there is no right to appeal, Smith is preparing to initiate judicial review proceedings against the Home Office.

A Home Office spokesperson declined to comment on individual cases. Meanwhile, Olszewska’s future in the UK remains uncertain as her family fights to rectify the situation.

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