Women around the globe are imperilled to different sorts of abuse – domestic, honour-based, coercive control, sexual, financial and emotional. The rising number in these cases have put women at risk. There is a growing concern in the UK about women’s safety. Statistics show 845,734 domestic abuse related crimes recorded in England and Wales in the year ending March 2021. This is a 6% increase from the year prior. The statistics also demonstrate that coercive control cases have risen by 789% in five years.

Not too long ago, we had a client who experienced abuse from her partner in the UK who went there on a ‘UK Spouse visa’. Here is her story!

Madhuri, a well-educated, IT professional, was living with her family in Delhi, India. She was an employee in a renowned software company, which paid her handsomely. A couple of years into her career, she met a man, Amit.
Amit was working for an UK employer for the past 8 years, and he come to India regularly to visit his parents here. During one of his visits to India, Amit and Madhuri met through some mutual friends.
Their friendship eventually turned into love and soon both the families started the wedding plans. After getting married, Madhuri relocated to the UK with her husband. She was excited and very positive to start a new life, in a new country, with her spouse.
However, things didn’t go as per Madhuri’s plan. She saw a drastic shift in her husband’s behaviour and it made her very anxious. Amit started to control her every movement and took all the decisions for her. He did not let her find work in the UK, even though she always wanted to continue work post marriage.
She was under home arrest and had no means to reach out to anyone to ask for help. Her phone was confiscated and Amit kept her locked up in the room.
His toxicity grew from mental and emotional abuse, to now physical abuse. This went on for a year.
One fine day, Amit booked her one-way ticket to India and asked her to live with her parents for a few days. He forced this decision, stating that he has to go to the USA for work meetings. With no other choice, Madhuri left for the airport with Amit.
After reaching India, she attempted to connect with Amit, but he never responded to her calls, texts or emails. She soon realized that her husband had abandoned her after she somehow managed to reach out to her in-laws, and this shook her from within, as she saw her life falling apart.

We do not disregard the fact that abuse happens towards men as well. However, the ratio is much lesser compared to abuse towards women. At The SmartMove2UK, our team strongly supports ‘Voice Up Against Violence’ as Abuse does not see gender.

Some relationships go downhill when abuse starts to happen. In such a case, whom should you turn to? Especially if you are in a foreign land and are worried about other things like your visa status in addition to your well-being. If you are experiencing domestic abuse or know someone who is going through abuse, here is how we can help!

Mrs. Falguni Y. Parekh, a UK-Qualified Immigration Solicitor and Partner at The SmartMove2UK has helped over 1000+ clients from all around the world since 2009. She has been interviewed on BBC World News and is a regular contributor on media platforms. Clients have described her as – “compassionate”, “thoughtful” and “empathetic”. She is highly regarded in Immigration Industry.

Our Solicitor will advice you on – visa options for victims of domestic abuse in the UK:

• For immigrants in the UK on – Dependent, Spouse, Student Dependent visas. Know your visa rights to come back to your home country, and/or
• To explore possibilities (if any) for you to stay in the UK after the relationship ends