‘How would you feel if your family were separated by force?’

When Mahmoud Abdelrahman read his daughter’s heartbroken appeal begging the Home Office not to rip her family apart, he was overcome with emotion.

“How would you feel if your family were separated by force?” asked nine-year-old Malak in the plea, written in coloured felt pen in her notebook.

“I saw her poster and had a flood of emotions,” dad-of-four Mahmoud tells Bristol24/7.

“I felt helpless that I cannot protect her from this stress. She should not be going through it.”

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“This is the last thing you want to see your nine-year-old daughter write,” agrees his Bristol-born wife, Norah El-Gohary, sadly.

Norah faces the prospect of her husband, a Canadian citizen, being asked to leave the UK after the Home Office refused to grant him a visa – because he doesn’t have £62,500 in savings.

The couple launched a petition to appeal against the decision that would see their family torn apart and say they have been overwhelmed by the response, as more than 6,500 people have added their signatures and personal messages of support.

“People we don’t know are writing heartfelt comments and when you are feeling low it means so much,” says Mahmoud.

Mahmoud and his Bristol-born wife Norah, and their four Bristol-born daughters, cannot imagine uprooting from the only home they know

The software projects engineer has spent the last five years working for a Calgary-based company remotely, while living with his family in their Clifton home, but when he was made redundant in November, decided to apply for a spouse visa in order to find a job closer to home.

The refusal came through on January 21, throwing the family into turmoil, and was followed by a more detailed refusal a week later.

The couple have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support

As Norah and Mahmoud sit at a table inside the café in Christ Church Clifton on Monday morning, they are met by a number of well-wishers. Vicar Paul Langham approaches the table to add his own personal words of support.

“We will fight alongside you,” says the vicar, who is one of many to have written letters of support to the Home Office outlining how important the family is to the local community.

“It’s very difficult to start all over again,” says Norah, adding that the outpouring of support has made the prospect of leaving the home she knows and loves even more impossible.

“People have been stopping us in the street to give us their support. I go through phases of being optimistic and then down again. I really don’t want to leave.”

Mahmoud and Norah met while she was working on her PhD at Bristol University

Norah was born in Bristol and completed an undergraduate degree in Egypt before returning to do a masters and PhD in neuropsychology at the University of Bristol. It was during this time she met Mahmoud.

The couple married in 2007 and tried on three occasions to settle in Calgary, but Norah felt isolated and missed her home. She also suffered racial abuse and said when some of this was directed at her daughter, it was just too much to bear.

The couple and their four daughters – Malak, nine, Lianne, seven and four-year-old twins Yusra and Yomna – have happily built their lives together in their Clifton home.

The couple says their plight highlights the impact of laws on people’s lives

Reflecting on the unimaginable possibility of being split up, Mahmoud says: “Really in our minds, we didn’t think that would be a possibility. We thought our case was much stronger than others – especially as we proved we don’t need any benefits and Norah and the children are all British.

“They said everything else was ok, the refusal was only based on the financial situation. They said ‘there are no humanitarian circumstances’ to consider. When I hear that it hurts. They are denying us a right to a family life.”

Norah admits she has barely slept since the news came through and says the children cannot imagine being uprooted for good.

“My seven-year-old was like ‘I’ve planned my birthday party in September so we can’t go’,” she tells Bristol24/7, recalling her eldest daughter sitting in the kitchen, writing out her appeal to the home office in felt pen.

“I was just blown away,” says Mahmoud. “She should not be living with the possibility of family separation. She is going to bed worrying that her dad won’t be here and we are trying to do what we can to shield her from it but that’s the reality of the situation.”

The family are embedded in the heart of the community

Norah has her own business making cakes and granola that she supplies locally and Mahmoud has already had talks with people about jobs, but without a visa, is unable to work. He says the Home Office is failing to take into account property he owns in Canada and the fact that their Bristol home is owned outright by Norah’s family.

“People have said just go back to Canada, but this is our home,” says Mahmoud. “It was genuinely tough for Norah in Canada. We love Bristol and its multiculturalism.”

Norah and Mahmoud say the decision to go public with their plight was a very difficult one as they are a private family, but they feel that the impact of Home Office policies on people’s lives needs to be highlighted.

“It’s so emotionally draining,” admits Mahmoud. “You start each day with some kind of optimism but at the end of the day, you really feel what an insurmountable problem it is. It hurts to be another statistic.”

“It’s hard putting ourselves out there,” adds Norah. “It’s been very stressful and it’s always in the back of our minds, but the support has been incredible.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “All UK visa applications are considered on their individual merits, on the basis of the evidence available and in line with UK immigration rules.

“Visa applicants need to prove they have the minimum funds required and are expected to hold such funds in their bank account. Mr Abdelrahman was not able to demonstrate he had the funds in his account.”

Mahmoud has sought legal advice and is appealing against the decision, but the appeal process could take 12 months and he mean he would have to leave the UK and be separated from his family.

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