See you all soon, says reprieved Corazon
[SIZE=1]By Cathy Wallace
www.thisishampshire.net
9:18am Friday 2nd June 2006
[/SIZE]
DELIGHTED workers at Southampton General Hospital are looking forward to welcoming back their Filipino colleague Corazon Caro.

The 29-year-old nurse has finally won her battle to stay in the country, as revealed in yesterday's Daily Echo, and should be able to return to the job she loves within weeks.

Corazon, who has spent the past eight weeks on tenterhooks after a long battle to remain in the UK, said she had phoned her colleagues as soon as she heard the good news.

"The first thing they said was, see you next week," she said. "I think it will take a little longer but I can't wait to get back to work."

The nurse was ordered out of the country by Home Office bosses after accidentally allowing her visa and work permit to expire by five months.

She was refused an appeal but thanks to pressure from the Unison public services union, Southampton MPs Alan Whitehead and John Denham, and the Daily Echo, Home Office bosses made a U-turn and have asked for her passport to grant her leave to remain.


A jubilant Corazon screamed with delight: "We won!"

Just hours earlier the nurse had tearfully said goodbye to her colleagues in accident and emergency, and begun to think about packing her belongings and selling off anything she could not take back to her home in the Philippines.

Around 240 colleagues signed a petition as part of a campaign for her to stay now their wish has been granted.

A hospital spokesman said: "Corazon Caro was a popular and highly valued member of the emergency department team.

"We are very much looking forward to having her back at work once all the necessary paperwork has been completed."

Southampton Itchen MP John Denham has also expressed delight at the result, having added his voice to Mr Whitehead's in the campaign to keep the nurse in the country.

He said: "I always thought she had a good chance of staying and have supported Alan Whitehead in making representations. This proves it has had a result.

"There is an important message here the visa regulations are taken seriously so people in the city need to make sure they keep them up to date."

"This is good news and good for the local hospital."

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