Local Indian resident previously praised by Queen faces deportation from UK

A local residents group from south-east London has pledged to fight on after a “beloved community member,” who was lauded by the late Queen’s representative for his services over the COVID pandemic, has now lost a legal visa battle and now faces deportation back to India.

The Rotherhithe Residents group have gathered over 177,000 signatures through an online petition in support of Vimal Pandya, who came to the UK from India on a student visa, but was left in limbo after his education institution lost its licence to sponsor foreign students, reports NDTV.

The 42-year-old lost a hearing at the immigration tribunal recently and is now said to be in talks with his lawyers for next steps.

“We are devastated. He is devastated. But we will not give up the fight, if any path forward can be found,” one of the residents said in an update last week.

“Vimal has always shown how much he cares about the Rotherhithe community where he’s lived for 11 years. So many of us have benefited from his help and support over the years, which is why we are fighting to stop him being unjustly deported,” they went on to say.

Having arrived in the UK from India in 2011 to study, Pandya was refused re-entry following a return home in April 2014 to take a seriously ill relative back to her parents.

UK Border Force officials informed him that the college at which he was enrolled had lost its right to sponsorship, but neither the college nor the Home Office had reportedly informed him of this.

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