An eight-year-old Jamaican girl faces a prolonged separation from her parents in the United Kingdom after her visa application was denied by the UK Home Office, despite her home being destroyed by Hurricane Melissa. Lati-Yana Brown, whose British father and Jamaican mother legally reside in the UK, has been living with her grandmother in Cash Hill, Hanover. Her parents, who married in 2025, saved £4,000 for her visa application, which was submitted in June.
The family’s situation escalated into an emergency on October 28th when Hurricane Melissa devastated their community, obliterating the grandmother’s residence and leaving her incapable of providing adequate care for the child. In response, the parents urgently petitioned the Home Office for an expedited decision on humanitarian grounds.
Officials rejected the application, issuing a formal refusal letter that acknowledged the widespread impact of the natural disaster but concluded that insufficient evidence was provided to prove the grandmother could no longer care for the child. The letter further stated that it had not been demonstrated that Lati-Yana could not be cared for by other relatives within Jamaica.
Lati-Yana’s mother, Kerrian Bigby, characterized the decision as profoundly distressing, stating that reunification is essential for her daughter’s development and her own ability to fulfill maternal responsibilities. Legal representatives for the family condemned the ruling as displaying a ‘troubling lack of compassion.’
The couple intends to appeal the decision; however, with a reported backlog of 106,000 cases, the process could extend up to two years before their case is reviewed, prolonging the child’s precarious living situation.