Home Office tells children, aged 11 and eight, they must return to Brazil without parents or face being 'detained'
18 June 2025, 15:25 | Updated: 18 June 2025, 17:46
Brazilian parents living in the UK were told by the Home Office that their young children have no right to stay and should return to Brazil alone.
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Guilherme Serrano, 11, and Luca Serrano, eight, live with their mother Ana Luiza Cabral Gouveia, a senior NHS nurse, and father Dr Hugo Barbosa, a senior lecturer in computer science at the University of Exeter.
While the parents are able to remain and work in the UK, the Home Office have sent a letter telling the two children they must leave.
The letter warned Guilherme that staying in the UK illegally could lead to him being detained, prosecuted, not being allowed to work or rent and having his driving licence taken away from him.
Their mother, Gouveia told The Guardian: "I could not in a million years have seen this coming from the Home Office. This letter from them makes me feel as if my kids are criminals. Since I came to the UK in 2019, I have worked for the NHS, paid my taxes and done everything correctly."
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The children do not read or write in Portuguese, or speak the language fluently, according to their father, Barbosa.
He said: "Going back to Brazil would disrupt their emotional and social stability. The children are already experiencing anxiety due to the uncertainty about their future.
"Guilherme has a place at a grammar school, which will be lost. If my ex-wife and I were still together, none of this would have happened. It seems that the Home Office don’t like divorced couples."
The parents divorced around two years after arriving in the UK as dependants of Barbosa's visa. They remain on amicable terms and co-parent their sons.
After the divorce, Gouveia secured a a new skilled worker visa in 2022.
Barbosa was granted indefinite leave to remain in 2024, but Gouveia is not yet eligible for it as she has only been on her current visa since 2022.
People on skilled worker visas must wait five years before applying for indefinite leave to remain in the UK.
Both parents should be granted settlement at the same time, or be settled or a British citizen, unless one parent has sole responsibility for the upbringing of the children, according to Home Office rules.
In a refusal of permission to remain in the UK letter sent to 11-year-old Guilherme, a Home Office official states: “I am satisfied that there are no serious or compelling reasons to grant you settlement.”
It adds: “I am satisfied that you could return to Brazil and continue your education in Brazil where you would have the option to attend an English-speaking school.
“Whilst this may involve a degree of disruption in family life this is considered to be proportionate to the legitimate aim of maintaining effective immigration control.”
It also states that the need to maintain immigration control “outweighs the possible effect on you”.
Gouveia said: “I have always felt so proud and happy to be working for the NHS. Why are my innocent children being treated like this?”
The Home Office said that the application made on behalf of the children was refused as it was the incorrect route.
They said children have the opportunity to remain in the UK with their mother is they apply through the correct route.
