My friend and colleague Zach is being deported this week, back to America. This is breaking the heart of everyone who cares about him. He has a life here, a career, a girlfriend and lots of friends. He's had his life turned upside down by this, it was just a renewal of his current visa that went wrong. Due to a technicality not mentioned until page 38 of an adjoining PDF, it seems that you must have a certain amount of money in your bank account for 90 days. Zach had that money, but was unaware of the 90 days bit. He had it in his account for 67 days, this is the only reason he is being deported, for want of 23 days. He's had to leave his flat, sell his stuff, say a tearful goodbye to friends, and for what? To apply again at a higher cost when he gets back to the US. We're all confident that his application will be a success the next time, but of course he is entirely out of pocket now. He has already spent over £600 to renew his visa only to have it rejected, now he has one week to leave the country. He obviously will lose his job here, have to pay for flights back to the US and then start saving up to come back home where he belongs! It costs another £600 to apply again from the US, and he needs further funds in his account besides this to be accepted.

I can't tell you how gutted we all are to be losing Zach. He's a really genuinely lovely person, he contributes to society, pays his taxes, is a fantastic friend and is generally an all-round good egg. It is a sad sad state of affairs when the person signing off on these things can't overlook 23 days of a bank statement in order not to ruin somebody's life.

Zach will come back when he can afford it, and I thought it might lovely if all his friends were to put some money towards this, even if it's just a pound or two, in order to show him that we love him and we want him back asap.

Thanks so much for your help.