Thousands rally behind Pinoy who fled UK to avoid deportation

Over 3,000 people had expressed support for a Filipino barman who was forced to return to the Philippines after he was threatened with deportation despite having lived and worked in the United Kingdom for 12 years.

A report on Kent Online said Fred Buenavista, 32, chose to voluntarily return to the Philippines before he was deported by the UK's Home Office for having an expired visa. His initiative granted him the right to apply for another visa after 12 months instead of 10 years if he was deported.

A separate report on the Daily Mail said around 3,000 people signed a petition calling for UK immigration officials to change their minds regarding Buenavista's status.

According to the Daily Mail report, Buenavista was four years old when he left for New Zealand with his mother, Maria, and stepfather Alan Pratt. The family moved to the UK when Buenavista, armed with a student visa, was 20.

Buenavista studied in Dartford for grammar school before studying at the University for the Creative Arts in Surrey. He tried to apply for a work permit before coming to the UK, but the Home Office said it was never granted.

A Home Office spokesperson told Daily Mail that all applications were "considered on their individual merits and in line with the immigration rules."

They added that anyone who had "no right" to be in the UK were expected to voluntarily leave, and will be forced to leave if they did not.

Karan Le Quelenec, Buenavista's boss in the bar he was working in, said he was made "a scapegoat" by the Home Office.

According to Le Quelenec, Buenavista was asked by the immigration office to sign in to a local police station every two weeks.

When he showed up at the station for his sign-up, he was arrested and taken to a detention center in another town without being allowed to contact his parents.

Maria Buenavista said her son's departure was the "first time in 32 years" that their family will be separated.

Alan Pratt said it "doesn't seem right" to separate Buenavista from his sisters and mother, who will join her son in the Philippines for four weeks before returning to the UK. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News