An overseas Filipino worker (OFW) and his family in Dorset, England crumble as they face deportation after claiming a child benefit money by mistake.
Cardiac physiologist Paul Ermitano mistakenly claimed a financial child benefit worth £1,138 (Php80,253), reported BBC News.
The Home Office refused to renew his work visa, thus making the OFW banned from working in Poole Hospital. His wife’s work visa for her nursing duties was also not renewed.
“It has been a terrible experience. It was all going smoothly until the first letter saying, ‘Are you still claiming child benefit?’,” Ermitano said.
“I didn’t know, I didn’t know, it was a mistake,” he added.
Petition for the OFW
After receiving the news about the OFW’s possible deportation, his colleagues in the hospital started an online petition to stop Ermitano’s and his family’s possible deportation.
The petition explained that the Ermitano was recruited in 2015, a time when a shortage of cardiac physiologists who operate equipment to assess patients with heart issues was a problem.
“Our new Health Secretary the Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP has put NHS workforce and efficiency at the top of his agenda. Therefore it defies common sense and decency that resources are being spent on ejecting these lovely and useful people. Home Secretary Sajid Javid should extend the stay of this family so they can safeguard the delivery of their unborn baby and continue their vital work for our NHS,” the petition stated.
The petition also noted that “the family have no means to support themselves financially and Jamila is due to give birth to their second child in 3 months time.”
As of 3 p.m. (Manila time), the petition has garnered more than 5,800 signatures.
A Home Office spokesperson has since contacted Ermitano to say that they are reconsidering the OFW’s case.
Photo from: Online petition posted on 38 degrees
