A GRANDMOTHER faces deportation to the US despite living in Scotland for almost 30 years, having a Scottish mother and being married to a Scot.
Crystal MacIver also has a National Insurance number and three grown-up children living and working in Scotland.
But the Home Office want to kick out the 44-year-old because of a paperwork oversight that happened when she was a teenager.
Crystal was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts but came to live in Ayrshire when her Scottish mother came home after getting divorced.
She went to Ardrossan High School and earned an HND in hospitality management. In the 29 years she has lived in Scotland, Crystal had several jobs, married married her first husband, had two children, remarried, and had her third child.
She now looks after her grandson, Christopher James, 18 months, while her daughter and son-in-law go out to work.
It appears Crystal’s mother did not apply for a British passport when they arrived in the UK and she has simply renewed her US passport ever since.
She now faces deportation after deciding in 2011 to get a UK passport. An immigration officer told after she returned from a holiday that it would be more convenient.
Crystal, from Stevenston, Ayrshire, first had to prove that her mother was British. Having done that, officials demanded evidence of her right to stay in the country in the form of an immigration document.
A shocked Crystal says that is impossible as she arrived in the country as a 14-year-old girl and has no idea whether any such document ever existed.
The Home Office claims her inability to produce the documents shows lack of regard for the laws of the country and calls into question her good character.
She must produce the documents by June 8 or her bid to stay in the UK will be refused, resulting in deportation.
Crystal, whose husband, Graham, works offshore as a pipe fitter, said: “Not in my wildest dreams did I think this was going to happen.
“I’m more Scottish than I am American. I just can’t believe it.
“I’m going to have to leave my family and my friends and go somewhere I don’t know anybody. And I’ve got my grandson.”
She added: “ It’s not just me it’s going to affect, it’s going to affect my daughter as well.
“She does 12 hour night shifts in a care home. She’s going to have to quit her job.
“I’m in shock. I’ve got no one in the states. My dad’s dead, I have nowhere to go to.
“ I will literally be on the streets. I will have nowhere to stay. I can’t even drive. I’m in shock.”
Her son Christopher, 26, has started an online petition to keep his mother in the UK.
It has gained over 3500 signatures in just 5 days.
He wrote on the Change.org website: “My mother raised me and my sister as a single mother and has done an excellent job.
“I am trying but I feel powerless to help my mother who has loved and supported me all my life. “
A Home Office spokesman said: “ “All applications for British citizenship are considered on their individual merits and in line with the immigration rules.
“It is up to the individual applying for citizenship to provide the required evidence to support their application.
“Ms MacIver has failed to provide the necessary documentation to support her claim for citizenship.”
