Inverness B&B owners win two-year fight to stay in the UK
A COUPLE who run an award-winning Inverness guest house are ecstatic after winning their lengthy legal challenge to remain in the UK.
For the past two years Russell and Ellen Felber have lived with the threat of being deported to the USA despite insisting they had done nothing wrong.
An independent immigration judge has now ruled in their favour in their legal battle against the Home Office.
The couple, who run the Torridon Guest House in Kenneth Street, won worldwide public support including the backing of 1700 people who signed an Inverness Courier petition calling on them to be allowed to remain in the country.
They were also supported by the city’s MP Drew Hendry and Mark Strange, the presiding bishop of the Scottish Episcopal Church, who have both raised concerns about the immigration system.
Mr Felber (60) was delighted with the decision of an immigration tribunal in Glasgow on Friday, but said the stress had taken its toll on his 54-year-old wife’s mental health.
"We are ecstatic," he said. "It is still sinking in but we are breathing a sigh of relief. The weight has gone from my shoulders.
"We will finally have a Christmas this year – for the past two years we have done nothing."
The couple ploughed their life savings into their guest house after coming to Scotland in 2011 on a three-year entrepreneur visa, which was later extended by two years.
But their application for permanent residency was refused in September 2016 due to an employment issue although they maintained they had met all the criteria and that the goalposts had been moved on them.
"We feel vindicated," said Mr Felber as he thanked all their supporters. "We can now get on with our lives but I don’t think it was necessary for it go on for this length of time."
Drew Hendry, MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, called for immigration powers to pass to the Scottish Parliament, saying no others should have to endure what the Felbers have faced.
"They have been put through utter hell by the Home Office and this judgement by the courts is a vindication of everything we have said all along – they did nothing to deserve this treatment," he said.
"Russell and Ellen followed the Home Office rules, they did what they were supposed to – as has now been proven in court. Yet they have had to spend the last few years of their lives fighting to stay here, costing time and money they will never get back."
Bishop Mark, who spoke at Friday’s tribunal hearing, said a presumption of no entry rather than of welcome was built into the immigration system.
"I am not comfortable with that," he said. "We live in the Highlands and Islands which is not an over-populated part of the world. I would suggest this is one thing which Scotland does need some control over – immigration policy. We are not the south-east of England."
The Home Office has 10 days in which to appeal against the decision.
A spokesman said it would be inappropriate to comment while legal proceedings were ongoing.
