Congrats, AP and London Times. You just destroyed this woman's life.
No, that was her call. Immigration law isn't rocket science.
I knew someone who tried to extend her visa, but made a mistake in filling in the address in some form, and thus never got the subsequent things-she-was-supposed-to-do until it was too late. She essentially had no choice but to overstay. At my parents' house, the mail flies sort of haphazardly through a hole and often ends up on the floor of the garage -- sometimes in a crack between the porch and the heating unit which we didn't discover until months or maybe even years after we moved in. Eventually we figured out that there had been a credit card bill and I don't remember what other important documents stuck there for a while. What if that had happened to an immigration document?
sh**t happens. I think the immigration system should be forgiving. This is the land of opportunity, after all. But I'm biased, I suppose.
