A couple who met on Facebook from opposite sides of the Atlantic have finally won their UK spouse visa battle and are looking forward to living their lives together in Britain.
David Senior from Pitcoudie Scotland met his American wife Jean online and married her in June 2012. However, they have been apart every since due to difficulties in getting hold of a UK spouse visa to allow Jean to settle with David in Scotland, the Glenrothes Gazette reported.
The problem revolves around the minimum income threshold of £18,000, which David's income does not meet. The pair were frustrated that there didn't seem to be a way of getting the system to account for the fact that David is a registered full time carer of his son who has Aspergers Syndrome.
Furthermore, the fact that Jean had a full US employment record and a recently gained degree in graphic design did not seem to be considered by the immigration authorities.
But just when the couple were losing hope, Jean flew across to England to put their case to a special immigration judge in Birmingham. David told the paper about the appeal: "He granted our appeal and issued a two-year visa saying our case should never have come this far and certainly not have been refused on so many occasions as it was an infringement of our human rights.
"We’d never have given up, we vowed to keep fighting this for as long as it took, despite the constant knocks to our moral."
The pair added that they'd had an emotional time of it but noted that "all that matters" now is that they are together and have the chance to be a family.