Reunion hope dashed for newlyweds

From the Telegraph & Argus, first published Saturday 24th Jul 2004.

Newlyweds are battling with immigration officials in their bid to set up home near Bradford.

Teacher Jonathan Conyers, from Cross Hills, has been separated from his wife Popie since their marriage in Botswana in August last year.

Their hopes of a reunion were dashed when Popie arrived at Heathrow, after a 13 hour flight, without a visa on Tuesday and was told she must go back.

Now Jonathan, 36, who starts work as a science teacher at Beckfoot School, Bingley, in September, is preparing to fly back to Botswana next week, to help his wife sort out the documentation.

The couple met when he was working as a science teacher as part of a British Government-funded project.

He said his wife arrived with the documentation she had been advised by the British Embassy to provide.

She was informed in Botswana that all she needed was a letter explaining her marriage, where she planned to live, bank statements and other proof of her planned life in Britain, he explained.

Popie was also informed it would be possible to get a visa when she entered the country, he added.

"She was treated like an illegal immigrant," said her father-in-law John Conyers. "We asked if she could stay as a tourist whilst we sorted out her documentation, but they said no, she had to go back."

Popie was only able to speak to Jonathan briefly at 4pm on the day she arrived to explain she would have to travel back to Africa.

The High Commission in Botswana had been contacted and said a visa could be arranged for a fee of £200.

He said the mix-up would cost the couple £2,000 which had been saved to help them start their new life together.

A Home Office spokesman said individual cases could

not be discussed, but he said it was essential to get a visa before leaving the country

and to satisfy immigration officials that a marriage was

genuine.

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