Deported!

national | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis Friday May 25, 2007 23:07 by Jabu Mathew Abraham jababr_99 at yahoo dot com

Deported and Rejected!

I'm a Canadian citizen,born and raised in Canada,who qualified from medical school in Ireland in 2004. I have been working in Ireland as a doctor for the last two years and have done my best to offer the best medical care to citizens in Ireland. After being in Canada for holidays,I had to fly back to Ireland,due to the fact that I had a job offer in an Irish hospital starting in July. My flight had transiting through Heathrow,London,England,but unfortunately,I was denied entry to Ireland by Irish immigration officials,and thus i was deported back to Canada later that evening.I am in Canada at the moment, quite disillusioned and disheartened.

A few details are in order .My name is Jabu Mathew Abraham and I am a 32 year old Canadian citizen, who was born and brought up in Canada. I completed the majority of my schooling in Canada,with the exception of medical school. I enrolled at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland,located in Dublin,Ireland and qualified from that institution in 2004. I am a certified and qualified medical practioner,and a member of the Irish Medical Council. And I have been working as a medical doctor in the Irish Medical system for the last 3 years.

I have had nothing but praise for the Irish medical system,for the hospitals that I have worked in and the people I have worked with. Furthermore, the last six to seven years I have been based in Ireland have been truly enjoyable. I am proud to have such a strong attachment to this country,which has given me the opportunity to achieve my goals and to fulfill my academic desires. And I had been quite excited about my future plans in Ireland,for advancing my medical career.

Until the events that transpired that fateful day,May 24,2007.

I had been in Canada for a brief holiday for a chance to catch up with family and friends. It was absolutely essential that I travel back to Ireland,for many reasons. I had received a job offer to work in Emergency Medicine in an Irish hospital and it was crucial that I get back to Ireland to complete the necessary measures needed before one can take up employment.And of course,there is the matter of my lovely fiancé. I am set to be married this September and with my fiancé being an Irish citizen-and Irish herself-I wanted to see her as soon as possible.

So with a smile on my face and my future looking quite bright,I boarded a British Airways flight to Dublin from Toronto,Canada on Wednesday evening,May 23. There was a stopover in London,Heathrow and then a short flight to Dublin on Aer Lingus.As I have traveled many times in the past through London to Dublin,I am quite familiar with this route.

As is always the case,one has to pass through British immigration authorities before one can depart the UK for any destination in Ireland. Something which I am quite familiar with.

But what happened to me on the morning of May 24 was quite unfamilar.Grotesquely unfamiliar.

I arrived in London early in the morning,had gone through security and presented myself to a British Immigration Officer. He had asked me about the nature of my trip,which I explained to him truthfully and in detail. One glaring omission from all my documents I presented was a work permit.Simply said,I did not have one.

In the past,I had flown into Dublin and allowed in by Irish Immigration,with a job offer from a hospital and in writing,but without a work permit.As was normally the case,I was granted a temporary visa for 3 months-since I am a Canadian citizen-,in which time it was essential I obtain my work permit-which I always did. And as is normally the case,due to the time it takes to obtain a work permit,it is quite difficult for the Department of Enterprise,Trade and Employment to issue a work permit so quickly,from the time one signs a contract with a particular hospital.(In my case,I got my contract on the 15th of May.)..Hence,the Irish immigration were quite understanding in this regard,in the past.

The British Immigration Officer was not satisfied with the fact I did not have a work permit and due to protocol,had to withdraw my passport from me,and to notify his supervisor..and ultimately,contact the Irish Immigration authorities in Dublin.

The verdict? I was refused entry into Ireland due to the fact that I did not have a valid Work Permit.In spite of the fact that I was not due to work until the 1st of July.In spite of the fact that I am a Canadian citizen-and that Canadian citizens can enter the country without a visa .In spite of the fact that I had travelled before in the past under the same conditions. Were they sick and tired of me? Did theyfeel,as the British immigration officer told me,that I was "mucking around"?

In a rather dehumanizing and demoralizing fashion,I was made to feel like a criminal-though I do not feel the British authorities did anything deliberately to make me feel this way. But I was now detained under The Immigration Act,1971 and had to be held in a holding cell until further notice. I was brought to the cell, had to surrender all posessions, subjected to a search by a security official,photographed and fingerprinted.

And unfortunately, I was later told that I had to be flown back to Toronto,Canada.To refuse deportion would be a criminal offense.

My passport was withheld from at all times-until I arrived in Canada. When I was transferred from the holding cell to the airplance,I was accompanied by two security personel,and transported in a security van with bars across the windows. An altogether embarassing experience.

And so,I returned back to Canada later that same day-with my pride briefly shattered but still intact.But with a rather different view of Irish immigration,and to be frank,Ireland in general.

And with grieving parents...and a grieving and heartbroken woman in Ireland..my fiance.

It is amazing what can happen to an individual in the space of 24 hours..a day,an hour,a minute..a second.

Am I angry?Yes. Am I sad? Yes. Have I lost hope? No. Well I let this unfortunate set of events bring me down?No.

Did I expect preferential treatment because I am a doctor or a Canadian citizen? Of course not. But I am quite dismayed that I was not given the opportunity to plead my case with Irish immigration officials.I was not even given the opportunity to contact them in London,Heathrow. Everything was handled by a British Immigration Officer,over the phone.

The postives,if there are any? Surprisingly there are. I am still in perfect health,all praise to God.I am with my parents, in Canada. And I do still plan on getting married in Ireland,to my lovely fiancé. And according to Irish immigration officials,that if I do get my work visa in the next few weeks,I can gain entry into Ireland. So they say.

It's just quite sad that it had to come to all of this.