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Home Office blunder leaves doc without passport

Jul 5 2009 by Paul Loraine, Sunday Sun

Dr Rajarshi Bhattacharya from Gosforth

A TYNESIDE surgeon has seen his career plans disrupted after a Home Office blunder when a computer said “No” leaving him without a passport.

Dr Rajarshi Bhattacharya, from Gosforth, Newcastle came to the UK from India 10 years ago and says he has worked in the NHS since he arrived.

He recently applied for permanent residency status in the country but was told that, according to Home Office computers, he had not had a UK visa between 2005 and 2007.

Mr Bhattacharya says despite showing officials his passport and valid stamped visa, all he was told - just like the Little Britain sketch - was “Computer says no”.

The Home Office then told Mr Bhattacharya some checks had to be done and he would be contacted shortly.

But more than four months have now passed and the 37-year-old doctor is still waiting for a response.

Because the Home Office has his passport he has been unable to go to International conferences on behalf of his hospital and a prestigious fellowship he is set to start in Edinburgh next month is under threat.

Mr Bhattacharya, who works in the Department of Orthopaedics and Trauma at the Northern Deanery, said: “I’ve served the NHS for the last 10 years as a well-acknowledged doctor. This is the last thing I had expected as my reward.

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