BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

Distraught family fights to stay here

By Frances Bickerdike

A YOUNG family who escaped the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster face being put on a plane home after a change in immigration laws.

Constantine and Natasha Ruliou have been asked to pack up and head home to Belarus next month.

But the couple - both qualified teachers - are desperate to stay in Blackpool to live their dream of a better quality of life for them and their five-year-old daughter Tanya.

The Rulious are from Mogilev, which is 60 miles north of Chernobyl - the site of the catastrophic 1986 nuclear power plant disaster.

They took a huge step by leaving their home, families and careers as university lecturers in the Eastern Bloc country for a healthier life on the Fylde coast.

With a long-term plan in mind they successfully applied for a 12-month visa so they could work and save money to complete further teaching qualifications in England and pursue their careers here.

But a change in immigration law has meant that when Constantine and Natasha tried to renew their visas for a more permanent three-year permit, they were told they no longer qualified.

Natasha said: "I feel we've ruined our daughter's life.

If we'd known the rules were going to change and we would only be able to stay for 12 months we would never have come here.

"Leaving Belarus was a very difficult decision. The country does not approve of people who leave to make a better life in another country.

"We were seen as traitors when we left and we would both struggle to get teaching jobs in Belarus.

"Tanya has settled so well here. She would be behind if she returned to school in Belarus and I feel we are responsible for that."

Changes were made to the Home Office's Highly Skilled Migrant Worker Programme late last year.

Applicants must meet a strict points quota on criteria ranging from age, qualifications and language ability to win a three-year visa.

As Constantine, 26, and Natasha, 27, are currently in unskilled jobs at a supermarket their wage falls more than ?10,000 below the minimum salary level.

Now the couple are desperately looking for graduate level jobs - including teaching posts in private schools - because it is the only way they will be allowed to stay in England.

They have until April 11 - the anniversary of their arrival in Blackpool - to do so or they must leave.

Tanya attends St Bernadette's Primary School, Bispham, where she has learnt to speak fluent English and is doing well.

John and Pauline Cauldfield, whose Chatsworth Avenue home the Rulious are staying at, are helping them in their battle to stay.

They have now contacted Blackpool North and Fleetwood MP Joan Humble to help.

Mr Cauldfield said: "We feel so frustrated about what is happening to Constantine and Natasha.

"They are an incredibly hard-working couple who came here knowing the immigration rules and who had a long-term plan.

"This is supposed to be a democratic country and then this happens.

Source:

http://www.blackpoolonline.co.uk/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=2129769§ionid=62