Goole Times, July 2013: Heartbreak battle to reunite family

http://gooletimes.info/heartbreak-battle-to-reunite-family-p906-1.htm

This case study was referenced by Andrew Percy MP in the All-Party Parliamentary Group session during yesterday's day of action :
http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/a%20really%20good%20day

'A man has spoken of his painful two-year battle to bring his Cambodian wife and four-year-old daughter home to Goole. After meeting the love of his life while travelling in Cambodia in 2005, Gary Smith never could have guessed the hell that would face him over the next eight years.

'The 42-year-old, of Old Goole, has fought tirelessly just to have a regular home life with wife Chantha and daughter Aaliyah. But due to government restrictions of having to earn £18,600 per year, and his wife not being from the EU, he is facing a life without his beloved family.

'Gary, who earns over £17,500 as a refuse collector for East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said this week: "This is destroying my family. I haven't seen my daughter for a year. How do you tell a four-year-old that she can't come over because we can't get a visa? I've spent a year and a half going through this hell." '

Mr. Percy has also raised the case in the adjournment debate on family migration he called last year :
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm130909/debtext/130909-0004.htm#1309102001138

'I served my country. Then it kicked me out.'

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/04/howard-dean-bailey-deported-i-served-my-country-and-then-it-kicked-me-out-105606.html#.U1GX5ldi1iA

An immigration nightmare from America, where deportations are running at record highs ( http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/obama-administration-tops-its-own-deportation-record/ ).

'I was a veteran, a father and husband and a small-business owner. Then I was deported. '

'I often think about Friday dinners with my family. Every Friday, no matter what, my wife and I took our two children out to eat; it was a ritual we looked forward to all week. We would sometimes try new restaurants, but my children’s favorite was the Olive Garden. My daughter loved to order Shirley Temples and my son always wanted whatever I was having, so I’d order two of the same meal for us.'

Zara's story :
'... there are no jobs where I live that pay £18,600 a year, unless I work every hour God sends, and I refuse to leave my child not seeing his mother when he already has been seperated from his father, and I also refuse to kill myself, for a selfish government.'

http://familyimmigrationalliance.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/zaras-story/

Martyn's story :
'I am devastated of the outcome. How do I take a breastfed son who is British without his mother? Six months in the UK he will be settled but it is impossible to travel 20 hours on a plane without his mother although I will try. I don't know what to do now. '

http://familyimmigrationalliance.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/351/


Via the Family Immigration Alliance :
http://familyimmigrationalliance.wordpress.com/