icBerkshire, UK
Feb 16 2007

Man wins fight for wife to stay

Feb 16 2007

By Dominic Bareham

A DISABLED man has spoken of his delight that his Armenian wife can
stay in the country and has praised the Express for helping his dream
become a reality.

Keith Ackrill, of St Chad’s Road, Maidenhead, said he did not think
his partner Svetlana would have got a spouse’s visa if this paper had
not publicised her cause which would have left him without her vital
care to cope with being paralysed down one side.

He said: "I think the Express campaign did make a difference. Without
it nobody would have known what was happening. We would have been
passed over and left."

Svetlana had been forced to return to her homeland to apply for the
spouse’s visa in November because her visitor’s visa had expired and
she did not have a work permit.

Earlier this month, the couple were hit by a further blow when she
was told she could have to wait nine months to find out if her
application had been successful, leaving Mr Ackrill unable to wash or
change his clothes.

But on Monday Mr Ackrill heard the good news that the Home Office had
granted the spouse’s visa and she went to the British Embassy in the
Armenian capital Yerevan to collect her visa at 1pm British time.

He said: "I feel fantastic and wonderful. She has collected the visa,
she has got it in her hand at home. It has made my year."

A Home Office spokesman explained the decision to grant the visa.

He said: "We do not comment on individual cases.

"All applications for entry clearance are considered on a
case-by-case basis taking into account all the circumstances of the
application including where appropriate any compassionate
circumstances."

Mrs Ackrill will be met by her husband and two of his friends when
she arrives back in the country on Friday, and Mr Ackrill, 61, said
he had a surprise planned for when she got back.