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Indian historian at Oxford says she's 'living in fear' while facing deportation
An Indian historian who has been threatened with deportation from the UK for spending too many days outside the country says she is “living in fear.”
An Indian historian who has been threatened with deportation from the UK for spending too many days outside the country says she is “living in fear.” Dr Manikarnika Dutta, 37, had been conducting research as part of her commitments to the University of Oxford for which she needed access to archives in India, reported The Guardian. Dutta spent 691 days outside the UK over a 10 year period before applying for indefinite leave to stay.
Home Office rules stipulate that individuals applying for indefinite leave to remain in the UK based on long residency of 10 years or more must not have spent more than 548 days abroad within the 10 years preceding their application.
Dutta, who had spent 691 days abroad, had her ‘indefinite leave to remain’ application rejected. The Indian academic, who has lived in the UK for over a decade, is now facing deportation. “I was broken,” she told the Independent.
Dutta claims the Home Office’s stringent rules don’t take into account the needs of academic research, especially for international scholars.
“Your first priority and your first commitment is towards your academics and the best research that you can produce,” she said. “So whatever is needed for that, you do it. It is not about counting those number of days. It is your research.”
Facing deportation
Dutta is married and has been living in the UK for over a decade. Her husband Souvik Naha, a senior lecturer at the University of Glasgow, also applied for indefinite leave to remain in October 2024. His application was approved.
However, the Home Office ruled that Dutta lacked sufficient family ties to Britain and rejected her application. She was asked to leave the UK.
“I was shocked when I got an email saying I have to leave,” Dutta told the Observer. “I have been employed at different universities in the UK and I’ve lived here for 12 years. A large part of my adult life has been lived in the UK since I came to the University of Oxford to do my master’s. I never thought something like this would happen to me.”
The 37-year-old is now worried about her immigration status, concerned that if she leaves the UK, it will be difficult – or even impossible – for her to return.
“I have been living with that fear,” she told The Independent.
