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OK, you can stay – pay us £335
A WAR hero fighting deportation has been insulted again by immigration officials – this time they're demanding £335 to stamp his passport so he can stay in the UK.
New Zealander Noel Bevan, 84, settled on Wearside 60 years ago and raised three daughters with his city-born wife Marjorie.
Yet when he returned from a recent holiday abroad immigration officers told him he shouldn't be living here, then changed their minds and said he could stay as long as he applied for permanent residency and had a stamp put on his passport that means he can come and go as he pleases.
But the RAF veteran is furious after being told the stamp will cost him 335 – when he came here after the Second World War immigration put an indefinite-leave-to-remain stamp on his papers for free.
The Home Office says the pensioner has to pay because it would be unfair for the taxpayer to pick up the bill.
But Mr Bevan, of Chester Mews, Sunderland, told the Echo: "I don't see why I should have to pay and fill out all these forms after I've been here all this time.
"I can afford it, but I disagree with the way they've gone about it."
Mr Bevan needs the stamp on his new passport because it gives him permission to come and go from Britain, allowing him to visit his daughters in Spain and South Africa without running the risk of not being allowed back in to the UK.
The retired businessman says he's also baffled by the paperwork the Home Office has sent him to get his passport stamped.
He has to provide proof of all the jobs he has had since he came to Britian – a task made more difficult as many of the firms he worked for no longer exist.
He is asking former work mates and bosses to get in touch so they can vouch for his past.
Firms he worked for as a painter included Camrex in Hudson Road, Sunderland Council's works department and Huntings in East Boldon.
A Home Office spokeswoman said: "We have introduced fees for non-asylum immigration services as part of our aim to deliver a managed migration programme that is largely self-financing.
"By recovering the costs we reduce the burden on the taxpayer. We believe it is appropriate to expect those who benefit from our services to meet the cost of delivering them."
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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