Canadian wife awarded UK visa to keep family together

August 18 2009 by Mark Johnstone

Harper family in UK visa drama

A couple from Bradford are celebrating after winning an immigration appeal against attempts to send the wife, Deanna Harper, back to her Canadian homeland while she applies for a permanent UK visa.

Deanna arrived in the UK on a six-month temporary visa. She became pregnant and married Mark Harper while on the visa, which she then applied to extend on the grounds that she had a family in the UK.

The Home Office initially refused to extend Deanna’s UK visa as her grounds for extension were deemed “not compassionate or compelling enough” and threatened to send her home. This would have meant at least a three-month period where Deanna would have been living in Canada with their baby while she applied for a visa to allow her to move to the UK.

The Harpers appealed the decision and have just been told that Deanna can get an extension and does not have to leave the country as the disruption to her family would be too large.

Mark Harper says, “We are excited and relieved.” “It is great to know that we are finally safe. Everyone has been really supportive.”

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