After missing Christmas twice, veteran’s Filipina wife finally gets UK visa

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After being forced to miss two Christmas celebrations with her new family in Fife, the UK Home Office has finally allowed Jennifer Martin to visit her husband Andrew’s home country

The Filipina wife of a British Army veteran can finally visit her new family in Scotland after a decision to refuse her a visa was reversed.

Jennifer Martin, aged 42, who married Andrew Martin last September, was unable to enjoy Christmas with her new relatives after immigration officials denied her a visitor visa last year. Instead Andrew flew out to Tagum City to celebrate with his wife’s family.

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According to a report in the The Courier, lobbying by the newspaper has now encouraged the Home Office to think again.

“Jennifer will fly to Manila on Thursday and hand her passport over for processing,” said 49-year-old Andrew.

“It looks like Jen can celebrate her 43rd birthday in Scotland on February 17 with her new family.”

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The couple had the same problem in Christmas 2017, when Jennifer was also refused a visa. At this time the couple were unmarried, and the Home Office stated it was not convinced she would return to the Philippines.

After the application was refused for a second Christmas visit, Andrew said: “We were both devastated in 2017 when Jen’s application was rejected on the basis she had too much money in her account — they could not verify she had access to it and they did not believe she would return to her home country after the vacation.

“They said any application in future would be rejected unless her circumstances changed dramatically.

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“I thought being married would be a dramatic change in anyone’s circumstances but I am obviously wrong.

“What hurts me the most is Jen is being accused of making a fraudulent visa application.”

The couple met when Andrew, who worked in the construction industry after serving as a corporal in the Black Watch regiment, was working in Qatar in 2015.

He moved to the Philippines and set up a construction company last February. Currently he is based in London working on a contract.

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