Hitesh Maggu from Shropshire has spent the first year of his marriage living 4,000 miles away from his wife Chavi Meattle after she was refused a UK visa.
According to Maggu, he married his wife, an Indian national, in 2017 and immediately applied for a UK spouse visa. However, their application was rejected by the Home Office due to concerns over the couple’s income and Maggu’s previous marriage.
Specifically, Mr Maggu is suggesting that the Home Office failed to take into accounts his income from dividends, which would take his reported income from £12,000 to £46,000, above the £18,000 requirement.
He added that he has also provided acceptable evidence of his divorce, which was granted in India ahead of his current marriage in November 2016
Mr Maggu first met his new wife in October 2015 while she was studying at the London School of Economics, but he himself has been living in Britain for almost ten years.
Despite holding UK citizenship, his UK visa application for his wife was refused in October 2017, prompting an appeal from the couple to the Home Office.
Maggu has stated that the couple are currently still awaiting a response from the Home Office. "I have no personal life. Two years ago I bought a house to live in with my wife but it is just empty,” he said. "We have a 'Skype' relationship, we only see each other through video calls."