A British Airways cabin crew member was forced to abandon his dream career eight years after arriving in the UK when the Home Office told him to move to a country where he says he has never lived.
Shady El Farra, a 28-year-old Egyptian national whose primary language is English, came to the UK to study in 2016, having grown up between the United States and Saudi Arabia due to his parents’ jobs as academics.
He was granted a two-year graduate visa in 2021 and started a career at British Airways as a cabin crew member. But he was forced to quit the job after an application for a private life visa, which allows people to stay based on strong personal ties to the UK, was rejected by the Home Office in November 2024.
Home Office officials said Mr El Farra should be able to integrate into life in Egypt, despite the 28-year-old explaining that he left the country shortly after he was born and has never lived there as an adult. The country also requires mandatory military service for everyone under the age of 30.
The initial refusal decision also told Mr El Farra that he would be able to “fully support yourself in India” – despite his application having nothing to do with that country.
He told The Independent: “I’ve worked in the UK, studied in the UK, and now I’m being told I have no expectation of a future here.”
Speaking about his visa refusal, he said: “It’s like a robot has written it. They can belittle it as errors, but it has a huge impact on a human being’s life.
“It’s been two years of not working, not being in the skies. It’s been mentally very challenging. Throughout the whole process, they’ve not bothered to look into or consider the obstacles that I would have if I was sent to Egypt.
“I barely speak the language, I have no family there and there is conscription in Egypt”.
Mr El Farra is relying on support from his parents but fears he will soon be unable to pay rent at his flat in London. He is unable to claim public funds due to his immigration status.
Mr El Farra had to hand over his passport when he first applied for the private life visa in September 2023, meaning he was unable to fly internationally. BA let him work on domestic flights, but he was then moved to working as a staff trainer while he waited for the visa decision, he said. He received his refusal in November 2024 and had to leave the job he loved.
“I had a future at British Airways,” he said. “I was going to be a senior trainer and they just upended that… for what? How is it a benefit to the UK for me to be sitting here unable to contribute anything?”
He then submitted an appeal of the decision to the immigration tribunal, and is now allowed to look for work while the court proceedings are ongoing.
International students have been one of the main drivers of net migration in recent years, along with Ukrainian refugees and people coming to work on health and social care visas.
Since Brexit, more international students have stayed in the UK following the conclusion of their studies, and the Labour government has recently introduced measures to restrict this – shortening the post-study graduate visa from two years to 18 months.
Though Mr El Farra has gone through training and security checks to work as cabin crew, he would need a salary of at least £41,700 to be sponsored for a skilled worker visa to stay in the UK.
Referring to the initial error in the Home Office letter, said: “The rejection said I should go back to India, which obviously doesn’t make any sense. They said I should not have had any expectations for staying in the UK. But the graduate visa enables you to find a job in the UK and become a taxpayer so I think that gives people some expectation that they might stay.”
The Home Office’s refusal was upheld on review and Mr El Farra is now waiting for a tribunal hearing to consider his case.
His father, Dr Ehab el Farra, a professor of hospitality management in Saudi Arabia, said his son loved the UK and the family was “astonished” by the initial Home Office response.
“The UK should take talented people, use them, and keep them in the system. I used to live in the States, where we have lots of nationalities who live there and that’s one of the reasons why America is very prosperous.
“He is fighting to stay in the UK because he loves Britain and wants to make a good life there”.
His mother, Molly, also an academic, added: “It’s a big puzzle for us. He’s not allowed to live in Saudi Arabia with us unless he is a student or worker here. He cannot live with us because he is over 18. We are in this vicious cycle”.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “It is our longstanding policy not to comment on individual cases.”
British Airways has been contacted for comment.
