An Anglo-American family has been separated after the US-born mother was turned down for a UK visa for a second time.
Jason Pearce, wife Jennifer and son Andrew, 20, and 14-year-old Aidan relocated to Suffolk from California last year to be closer to Mr Pearce’s brother, who has health problems. Mr Pearce’s elderly father, who also needs constant care, came back to the UK with the family after living in the US for more than four decades.
Mrs Pearce received the first rejection of her visa application in July. She was told she could not apply for a different visa while her tourist visa was active but that she had met the other requirements for approval.
However, when she applied again, she was once more turned down, despite using the same documents in her application.
Mrs Pearce is currently in the US, staying with her parents in Arizona after the family sold their home in California. Although the Pearces are appealing against the visa rejection, this could take up to a year.
Mr Pearce told the East Anglian Daily Times: “Either we meet the requirements or we don’t. That just doesn’t make sense to me.
“She’s the primary carer of my dad. Since she’s been gone it has been one emergency after another. She would always be there for him. Andrew turned 20 yesterday, so she missed that. Aidan misses his mum. They have never been apart. That’s hard to see.”
He said he could not understand why his wife had been rejected, as she met the minimum income requirement. The family has already spent more than £7,000 on the visa application process.
Mr Pearce added: “It’s tearing us apart. We miss her dearly, she’s our family. At the end of the year we could have a response that isn’t what we wanted.”