UK Visa Fee Reversal Gives Hope to Man Reuniting Family

Christopher Wade's two-year-old daughter has a British passport, but his wife had to pay the application fee and an NHS surcharge of more than £4,500.

 The couple's visa fee waiver application was rejected in July, but two days after the BBC reported on the matter in October, the Home Office reversed its decision.

 Mr. Wade, a resident of Ashington, Northumberland, said the waiver was "still being understood" and a decision on the visas had yet to be made. The Home Office said it does not comment on individual cases.

The supermarket delivery driver said the government's U-turn on the application fee has "lifted a huge burden off my shoulders."

 The couple had applied for a waiver based on their inability to afford the payment.

 The Home Office will decide whether to grant the family visa.

"I'm really happy we've managed to take this huge step forward but I'm still 50:50 disheartened - it's not over yet," he said.

 "There is a part of us when I'm walking around at work thinking - have they read the story? What do they think?" he said.He said they shouldn't have had to go through "such a lengthy process" to get a fee waiver.

 Mr. Wade's daughter, Laila, was born in Canada and holds British citizenship.

 He met his wife, a government civil servant, in Canada and they married in 2022.

 They had planned to move across the Atlantic, but when they learned she was five months pregnant, the couple decided to settle in the UK, where Mr. Wade had an extensive family network to help care for the children.

 However, he said that due to loans taken out earlier in life and daycare expenses, it was impossible for the couple to save the £1,938 required for the UK family visa application and the £2,588 required for the two-and-a-half-year NHS surcharge.

 Chris Boyle, who works for the charity North East Law Centre and is advising the couple pro bono, said he believed they had always met the Home Office's exemption requirements and were wrongly rejected in July.

 He said the Home Office had not provided any explanation for its U-turn.

 Mr. Wade said he understood the need for immigration rules, but felt the current system unfairly penalized British citizens living abroad and their children.

 "All these problems are needlessly ruining people's lives," he said.