India-born professor faces expulsion in UK

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British academic John Tulloch, who was born in India when it was a British colony and who survived the July 7, 2005 bomb blasts, is being threatened with expulsion from the United Kingdom over his immigration status.

Prof. Tulloch, 70, who teaches at Lincoln University, was born to a British Army officer in India before it became independent. His father, a major in the Gurkha Rifles, fought in the British Army against the Japanese in Burma.

His grandfather was one of the British Empire’s first foresters and his great-grandfather served in the Indian Civil Service.

“I look back now, on the verge of being thrown out of residence in the UK, at something like 120 years of my family’s distinguished service to Britain in India,” Prof. Tulloch said.

The debate over controversial immigration rules has become contentious as Britain has started a clampdown on student visas and some 2,000 foreign students face deportation after their university’s visa licence was revoked.

Prof. Tulloch’s case has attracted criticism of immigration rules which allow terrorists who used human rights to stay in the UK, whereas people like the India-born academic face expulsion.

The uncertainty over his immigration status stems from the fact that his birth in India had conferred a lesser form of British nationality on him — a ‘British subject without citizenship’.

“I am totally gobsmacked by this. I’ve got a huge attachment to Britain. My family has served Britain for three generations,” he said.