On the 1st September 2017 we were devastated to receive notice from the Home Office that my wife’s visa application for leave to remain in the UK was refused. I am a British citizen born in North Devon and our children are British citizens also. The refusal of Glenda’s visa poses harsh consequences on our emotional well-being and family stability as the Home Office neglects our right to live as a family as dictated by Article 8 of the 1998 Human Rights Act.

The refusal letter came with an unimaginable ultimatum of either leaving the country within 14 days from the decision date, or appealing to the decision by which an immigration lawyer will cost nearly £4000. The stress of finding the money on top of facing having our family split apart is unbearable, in which the outcome could leave our children to struggle growing up in a broken family thousands of miles apart from their mother. The appeal was made and we wait anxiously to present our evidence in court on the 19th January 2018.

We can hardly sleep at night all huddled together in the same bed embracing each memory as a family unit like they are the last. Knowing that the impending decision may force us apart or out of our ‘home’ country and back to an uncertain, unstable, and threatened future in my wife’s birthplace Guatemala where extreme violence has escalated over the past few decades to such that the United Nations have identified it as having the third highest murder rate on the entire planet.

In the UK we live as a stable and loving family; we are settled, I work and have met the spouse minimum wage requirement, our boys are going to nursery and registered with the education and health systems, and they have their family, friends, lives and futures here. To watch them develop in a safe environment, happy and free, without the threat of drugs cartels and extreme gang violence threatening their lives on a daily basis is what any parent would desire for their children, and the opportunities they have here in their home country is their right and what they deserve, as well as being able to grow up with both parents.

This Home Office decision brings dread to all of our family knowing that we face being forcibly split apart, and neither of us can bear the thought of living without each other or away from our children. They are only toddlers and have no idea what is happening to us, but they are the main victims in this ordeal whose lives may be affected on such a large and negative scale.

We have a facebook page with more details of our story, and we have set up an online petition to help gain public support of our appeal, and now require financial assistance to help cover the 'unexpected' lawyer fees in order to appeal this 'unjust' decision.. So please click on the links and help us revoke the decision and allow Glenda to remain in the UK where our children and I need her, as part of our family, united, strong, and a loving unit to support each other throughout our lives.

Thank you for your kind support. Facebook page, Online petition