MOTHER-of-five Doanne Carey has been labelled an illegal immigrant and ordered to quit the UK – 43 years after arriving in Birmingham as a child.

The Jamaican-born care worker received the shock notification from the Home Office stating she had no right to stay in the country after she applied for a passport to go abroad on a sunshine family holiday.

She was told she should leave voluntarily or officers would take steps to remove her forcibly.

“The letter said she had no basis to stay in the UK,” said husband Edward Carey.

But after the matter was investigated by the Birmingham Mail, the UK Border Agency said last night that the case was being further reviewed and she would not be deported.

Since coming to Britain to join her family Doanne, of Silverton Crescent, Moseley, has married, brought up her children and helped look after seven grandchildren.

She has worked solidly paying taxes for almost 40 years without claiming any state benefits.

Doanne arrived here from the West Indies when she was 12 to join her parents who had already relocated to Birmingham.

But this is the first time she has been contacted by immigration services despite submitting an application for citizenship in 2005. The refusal notice claimed she did not satisfy criteria to stay in the country claiming she did not arrive in the UK until 1990 – even though her eldest child was born here in 1979.

It also stated that she had not submitted the fees to accompany the application and failed to fill in forms correctly for the application to proceed.

Now Doanne, aged 55, and husband Edward, are fighting for her to be allowed to stay in the UK and not be forced to return to the Caribbean.