A COUPLE who have been married for 45 years are now living thousands of miles apart because immigration officials say their relationship is not affectionate.

Grandparents David and Maria Summers were split up by Border Force officials last spring and haven't seen each other since.

The couple, who have been together since 1966, had planned to relocate to Herefordshire from their home in Canada to care for Mr Summers' 95-year-old mother but the idea is in pieces as Mrs Summers, who is 66, has been refused a UK visa and remains in North America.

Remarkably, among the reasons given by UK Visas and Immigration officials for the rejection is that the couple failed to prove that they were in an "affectionate relationship" or that their marriage is genuine.

"How can somebody sitting in an office make that decision?" said British-born Mr Summers, who lives on Holme Lacy Road in Hereford.

"They have put our lives in turmoil then they have the nerve to say that – after 45 years of being together."

Despite being thousands of miles away, the couple speak on the phone every day.

Mrs Summers, who was born in Holland, has been a regular visitor to the UK since the 1970s and the couple didn't think she would have a problem settling here.

Their son has a British passport while they own their Hereford house which is mortgage-free.

In September 2013 when they arrived in the UK, Mrs Summers had a return ticket booked for the following July but was told she could only stay six months on a tourist visa. However, an immigration official told them the six months would start again should she leave the country for at least one night.

But their woes started last spring when they returned to the UK from a break in Malta.

She was taken to one side and fingerprinted and photographed before, five hours later, being told she must return to Canada immediately.

Once back in Canada, Mrs Summers applied for a visa to live in Britain but immigration officials turned down the request, on the grounds the couple had not proven they had an affectionate relationship.

However, Mrs Summers says she is going to try again to enter the UK later this month as she wants to celebrate her husband's 70th birthday with him.

Speaking to the Hereford Times from Canada this week, Mrs Summers said recent months have taken their toll.

"I can't tell you how hard it has been," she said. "At the moment, everything is up in the air. It would just be nice to see my husband."

Hereford MP Jesse Norman says the couple have been treated "outrageously" by border and immigration staff and has raised the matter with the Home Office.

 

· Hereford Times opinion.

THE immigration debate this week focused on the Government’s broken promise to bring net immigration down from hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands.


Making a pledge over something it has little control over – and failing to deliver – demonstrates plainly the way in which the issue is being used cynically to gain favourable headlines. This promise has caused the break up of many innocent British families unlucky enough to have links with countries outside the EU.

The coalition cannot stop the flow of  EU immigrants, but it can focus its attention on the flow of those arriving from non-EU countries with an unrelenting regime of form-filling, visas and tribunals – which often end in rejection no matter how strong the reason to settle here is. That is why David and Maria Summers are no longer together despite being married for 45 years.

Mrs Summers – a Canadian – had her visa application to live with her husband in their Herefordshire home rejected. This decision seems to be part of that bid to achieve Theresa May’s undeliverable promise.

A ridiculous target turning people – and lives – into statistics is not the way to manage immigration properly.  
Treating human beings with respect, and judging each case on its own merits, is.