The Home Office has told a grieving man he must leave the UK after his wife and two-year-old daughter died in last year’s Air India plane crash.
Mohammad Shethwala applied to extend his visa on humanitarian grounds after the tragedy, but on 9 April had his request rejected and was placed on immigration bail – an alternative to being detained for people without the legal right to be in the UK.
He moved to the UK from India in March 2022 with his wife, Sadikabanu, who was on a student visa studying at Ulster University’s London campus, Metro reported. Their daughter Fatima was born in the UK.
Sadikabanu had just started a new job in Rugby and was about to apply for a skilled worker visa when her plane from Ahmedabad to London crashed seconds after takeoff on 12 June 2025, killing 260 people.
Her death meant Mohammad lost not just his family but his path to staying in the UK.
“If his wife had survived, he would still be allowed in the UK,” his friend Musab Taherwala told Metro. “If his daughter had survived, he would have been granted indefinite leave to remain when she turned seven.”
Mohammad’s lawyers argued he was dependent on his support network in the UK as he struggled with grief and mental health problems. He briefly returned to India after the crash but found the intense media coverage of the crash difficult to cope with.
Being on immigration bail in the UK means he cannot work or apply for a new visa.
His lawyers will challenge the Home Office’s decision in court and he will be allowed to stay during that process.
“We are horrified at the callousness of the Home Office separating a grieving father and husband from his support network, who are caring for him and his mental wellbeing at this tragic time,” Fizza Qureshi, CEO of the Migrants’ Rights Network, told Metro.
The Labour government has adopted increasingly harsh and draconian anti-immigrant policies in recent years. Last year home secretary Shabana Mahmood announced plans to double the length of time it would take for migrants to be granted indefinite leave to remain.
She also unveiled a proposal to seize asylum seekers’ valuables, including their jewellery, to fund their accommodation costs.
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