A MOTHER-of-six has been stranded in India for a month because of a visa mix-up.

Sukhvinder Kaur has had to put her whole life on hold, including her job at Gravesend Grammar School for Girls, while she waits for the Home Office to find the correct documents to allow her back into the UK.

The 48-year-old grandmother has lived in Pelham Road, Gravesend, for more than 20 years, and has been in the country for almost 30.

She lives with her British husband Joga Singh and six children aged between 17 and 28 – all of whom are frantically trying to get their mum back.

Her daughter Manjinder Kalsi, 28, said: "My mum is terribly distressed about not being allowed to come home. All these illegal immigrants get into the country, and yet my mother, who has been paying taxes for years, isn’t allowed in."

Mrs Kaur’s nightmare began when she travelled to India, with several other family members, to visit her father and go to a religious festival with one of her sons. They travelled from Heathrow on December 28, and Mrs Kaur presented her new passport at check-in.

However, a visa from her old passport, proof she has been given leave to stay in the UK indefinitely by the Home Office, was mistakenly not transferred to her new one. Although she was allowed to fly out to India, when she came to board a plane back, to England she was prevented.

Ms Kalsi said: "They told her she couldn’t leave because she didn’t have this visa. We were told she’d be okay as long as she had some other proof, such as driver’s licence, utility bills, national insurance number etc. We provided all these, but the British High Commission in India refused them all."

Now she is in a struggle with the Home Office to get a record of her mother’s right to return – a document she has been waiting over a month for.

"We all miss her so much. It was her birthday on January 25 and she couldn’t be with us," Ms Kalsi added.

"My dad is having to support us on just his wage, and the school, where my mum is a mid-morning supervisor and cleaner, has said they will hold her job open, but for how long?"