Who Should Get to Stay in the UK?

Among those featured in this episode is 27-year-old Russian student Valeriya, who moved to the UK when she was 15-years-old. Valeriya is on her fifth student visa and is now applying for an entrepreneur visa.

The stories of immigrants desperate to stay in the UK and the lawyers tasked with helping them. Among them are 29-year-old Shankea, who came to the UK 17 years ago to live with her Jamaican father, only for her visa application to be refused. Now she lives as an illegal immigrant, knowing she could be detained or removed at any time. Plus, a woman whose mother arrived from Gambia as part of the Windrush generation and a man who is applying for asylum, knowing that his life would be at risk if he returned to his native Cameroon.

With the UK's immigration system under scrutiny, this series follows the stories of those desperate to stay in the UK and the lawyers tasked with helping them. Last year nearly 700,000 people from outside the EU applied to live in the UK – but not all will be successful. With our immigration system fast becoming a legal maze, this series follows the stories of those desperately trying to stay in the UK and the lawyers tasked with helping them. Every decision the home office makes will have life-changing consequences and in this episode relationships are put to the test as love is put under the microscope. Amongst those hoping to make Britain their home is Dooa – an Egyptian citizen who who is now caught up in the UK immigration system. For the last 17 years Doaa has been married to hotel worker Martin, but when she arrived with him at Manchester airport to start a new life in Britain, Doaa discovered she had the wrong visa and was detained. Doaa is now on immigration bail, hoping that her lawyer Gary McIndoe can resolve the situation 32-year-old Sylvia from Uganda has arrived in the UK for the first time to marry 58-year-old Marc Scrimaglia. The couple met seven years ago on an online football forum. Their relationship blossomed online and they decided to meet face to face after three years. After Marc popped the question in Uganda, Sylvia has arrived on a fiancee visa but is under pressure to get married and and secure a second visa before her current one expires to be able to remain in the UK. Immigration advisor Jules Motcho tries to smooth their path Last year around 42 thousand spouses from outside the EU applied for UK citizenship, one fifth were turned down. To get their visa Mark and Sylvia will be interviewed about how well they know each other and will have to prove that their relationship is genuine – otherwise Sylvia could be sent back to Uganda. Elsewhere, Nigerian citizen Onyi, and husband Craig live in Manchester. After ten years