 "Manikarnika Dutta faces deportation from the UK after the British Home Office declared her ineligible for indefinite leave to remain (ILR). Image Courtesy: @DManikarnika/X")
An accomplished Indian scholar is at risk of being deported from the UK.
Manikarnika Dutta never thought she would struggle to stay in the country she has lived in for over a decade.
However, a bureaucratic formality threatens her academic career and way of life, as the Home Office ruled that she had exceeded the allowed number of days abroad while conducting research in India.
Let’s take a closer look.
Who is Manikarnika Dutta?
Dutta, 37, is an assistant professor at University College Dublin, Ireland.
She completed her MA in Modern History from the University of Calcutta, according to The Guardian.
Dutta moved to the United Kingdom in 2012 for a Master’s in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology at the University of Oxford. Her degree was funded by a Wellcome Trust Masters studentship.
Later, she pursued doctoral research and held positions at Oxford and the University of Bristol.
Dutta has been living with her husband, Dr Souvik Naha, a senior lecturer at the University of Glasgow, in Welling, south London, for 10 years.
While her first visit to the UK was on a student visa in September 2012, she had switched to a spouse visa as a dependent of her husband, who obtained a visa on a “global talent” route, according to the report.
Also read: Deported with dignity or disgrace? The dilemma in US immigration policies
Why is she facing deportation?
Dutta faces deportation from the UK after the British Home Office declared her ineligible for indefinite leave to remain (ILR).
According to The Guardian, her lengthy research visits to India, where she gained access to vital archives for her work on British imperial history, went above the number of days that the UK’s immigration regulations permitted overseas.
According to UK Home Office rules, ILR applicants are permitted to go abroad for up to 548 days throughout a ten-year term. Due to necessary research visits and international conferences, Dutta went over this by 143 days.
“These research trips were not optional but essential to fulfilling her academic and institutional obligations. Had she not undertaken these trips, she would not have been able to complete her thesis, meet the academic requirements of her institutions, or maintain her visa status,” said her lawyer Naga Kandiah of MTC Solicitors.
Despite her argument, the Home Office ruled against her, the report said.
Additionally, her husband, Dr Souvik Naha, was granted ILR under the same application process.
The Home Office also stated that even though Dutta has been living with her husband, she does not have a family life in the UK.
“I was shocked when I got an email saying I have to leave,” Dutta told The Observer. “I have spent the majority of my adult life in the UK. I never thought something like this would happen to me.”
Naga Kandiah, her lawyer, has filed a legal challenge to overturn the ruling, arguing that the journey was necessary to complete her academic obligations and not personal.
According to Dr Naha, the Home Office’s decision to deport his wife from the UK was “terribly stressful” and had a “psychological toll” on the marriage.
“I sometimes give lectures about these issues and have read articles about people affected, but never thought it would happen to us,” he said, according to the report.
In academic circles, the matter has caused a stir.
Many contend that the UK’s strategy runs the danger of offending eminent international researchers.
Also read: Not Bangladeshis, Nigerians top the list of foreigners India deported in FY24
What is indefinite leave to remain?
With the UK’s ILR immigration status, people are free to live, work, and study without restrictions.
It is a route to British citizenship and is sometimes known as “settlement,” according to The Indian Express.
Applicants must fulfil certain requirements in order to be eligible for ILR, including staying in the UK continuously under a visa category that promotes settlement, staying within absence limitations, passing the Life in the UK Test, and proving they are proficient in English.
Time spent outside of the UK may have an impact on ILR eligibility for academics like Dutta.
Even while doing research overseas could be essential to academic work, going beyond absence limitations can result in the rejection of an application.
Is it a matter of concern?
Well, yes.
Similar problems have been encountered by other scholars, which has led to concerns that UK immigration laws are not taking academic research truth into account.
According to experts, such strict regulations may deter talented individuals from around the world from selecting the UK as a long-term location for research and innovation.
Kandiah said, according to The Guardian: “My client’s case exemplifies how such situations severely undermine the UK’s reputation and its ability to attract and retain global academic talent – particularly at a time when strengthening international relations is crucial. If the UK genuinely seeks to position itself as a global leader in academia and innovation, it must foster an environment that is welcoming to top talent. Without such an approach, UK universities will continue to lose highly skilled PhD researchers in whom they have invested years of resources, expertise and funding.”
Her case will be reviewed by the Home Office over the course of the following three months.
However, Dutta is still in a delicate situation, uncertain as to whether she would be permitted to pursue her work in the UK or compelled to leave the nation she has called home for nearly a decade.
A Home Office spokesperson said, “It is longstanding government policy that we do not routinely comment on individual cases.”
With inputs from agencies