37-year-old historian Manikarnika Dutta conducted the research as part of her academic commitments to the University of Oxford.
Her commitments involved studying archives in India and attending several international conferences.
According to Home Office rules, people who apply for indefinite leave to remain in the UK based on a long residency of 10 years or more can be abroad for a maximum of 548 days during a 10-year period prior to applying for indefinite leave, reported The Guardian.
Dutta spent 691 days abroad.
Dutta currently works as an assistant professor at University College Dublin.
She first arrived in the UK in 2012 on a student visa but later obtained a spouse visa as a dependant of her husband Souvik Naha.
Dutta Expresses Shock
Dutta said she was shocked when she received an e-mail that she needed to leave the nation.
“I was shocked when I got an email saying I have to leave,” Dutta told the Observer.
She said: “I have been employed at different universities in the UK and I’ve lived here for 12 years. A large part of my adult life has been lived in the UK since I came to the University of Oxford to do my master’s. I never thought something like this would happen to me.”
Legal Experts
Legal experts argued that the research trips were not optional but essential to fulfilling her academic and institutional obligations.
Her lawyer Naga Kandiah, at MTC Solicitors, told The Guardian: "These research trips were not optional but essential to fulfilling her academic and institutional obligations. Had she not undertaken these trips, she would not have been able to complete her thesis, meet the academic requirements of her institutions or maintain her visa status.”
Kandiah has launched a legal challenge against the UK Home Office's decision to remove her from the nation.
The Home Office has responded by saying it will reconsider its decision in the next three months, reported The Guardian.