A popular campaign against the deportation of Vimal Pandya has raised more than £10,000, with a protest planned on the weekend.
Vimal Pandya, who has been called a pillar of the community, is facing deportation after the Home Office rejected his immigration appeal, despite having called London home for eleven years.
As we reported, Vimal Pandya, who works at Halai General Stores near Rotherhithe Street, went through a series of nightmarish and expensive setbacks with the Home Office in the years after arriving in the UK on a student visa in 2011.
He has been living in the UK without permission since 2015 but has become a hugely important part of his local community in Rotherhithe, helping out dozens of vulnerable families in the pandemic and getting a letter of thanks on behalf of the Queen for his efforts.
A Gofundme page set up to fund a second appeal has already raised £10,575 of its £15,000 goal, despite only being put up a week ago. The campaign’s organisers have said that if the appeal is unsuccessful Vimal can keep the funds.
Nearly 600 people have donated.
“If we do not care for Vimal’s right to stay, we do not care for people who make our community better,” said one donor.
Another added: “Vimal is an exemplary and integral character within the community. He repeatedly puts the needs of others above his own and is an inspiration to all of us. The least we can do is support him to stay in the community he has contributed so much to.”
Some individual donations have been as large as £250, with the page going viral on social media.
A protest to let Vimal stay in the UK is planned at 12:00 p.m on Saturday 29 January. It will take place outside of the Home Office, 2 Marsham Street.
Vimal was recognised by the Queen for his community work, after he delivered much-needed food supplies to those in self-isolation during the first national lockdown – often until 11:30 p.m.
He also spent time calling isolated and vulnerable members of the community to lend an ear and offer companionship.
Vimal Pandya: beloved Rotherhithe shopkeeper loses immigration appeal and has to leave the UK
The Home Office gave Vimal a final deadline of January 14 to regularise his immigration status – after he faces deportation.
Vimal has spent £40,000, much of which was borrowed, to regularise his immigration status in the face of huge bureaucratic hurdles imposed by the Home Office.
This years-long struggle over his status has caused prolonged anxiety and stress.
Studying in the UK since 2011, Vimal was refused re-entry into the country following a return to his native India in April 2014 to take an ill relative to her parents.
UK Border Force agents informed him the college he was studying at had lost its right to sponsorship, but neither the college nor the Home Office informed Vimal.
Officers then erroneously advised Vimal that he could apply for study and sponsorship using an immigration status notice that would be posted in due course.
This was never received.
He has been living in the UK without permission since then, but has become a hugely important member of the community at Halai General Stores.
The fundraising page can be accessed here: https://bit.ly/LetVimalStay