THE parents of a baby with serious health problems were overjoyed yesterday after the Home Office ruled they can live together in Scotland – hours after The National highlighted their story.
Jane Lunday is now preparing to be reunited with husband Didin Haryadi as their son Julian prepares for further surgery to address organ problems first detected in the womb.
The father and son had never been apart until immigration hurdles separated them.
Didin, from Indonesia, is the ten-month-old’s primary carer and has undergone training by NHS nurses to look after the baby’s complex needs.
But despite this, the couple’s immigration caseworker refused to grant Didin the spousal visa he needs to live permanently with his wife and son in Glasgow.
More than 900 people signed a petition urging the Home Office to think again and the family’s solicitor said the decision was “wrong”.
Yesterday afternoon officials notified Jane that the knock-back had been overturned following a review.
Neither the family nor their lawyer were aware of a review taking place. The news comes after The National put their story on the front page.
According to solicitor Saeed Khan, of Khan Associates, the couple had just two options open to them – an 18-month long appeal process or a fresh application at a cost of £3500 – with no mechanism in place to force a review.
Last night Jane, 26, said: “I can’t believe it, Didin can’t believe it, it’s so fast.”
Thanking backers for their support and for signing the petition started by her brother Chris Lunday on the change.org website, Jane went on: “There are so many people in this situation who aren’t as lucky and don’t have the media attention.
“People are so unaware of how difficult it is, they think if you are married you can just get a visa, but that’s not the case.
“Hopefully this will raise awareness.”
The couple met while Jane worked in Bali and planned a future in Indonesia until Julian’s health problems were detected. He was born with one kidney, bladder and bowel problems, high blood pressure and anaemia and spent the first month of his life in intensive care. After five operations, he will undergo two more in the coming weeks and Jane feared he would miss his father’s love and support over the period.
Responding to our enquiry on Monday, the Home Office said: “All applications for settlement visas are carefully considered on their individual merits, in line with the immigration rules and our policy on exceptional circumstances, and are based on evidence provided by the applicant.”
Yesterday solicitor Khan said he had never encountered a u-turn of this kind. He commented: “I wasn’t expecting this at all. For the Home Office, this is a wake-up call.
“This will act as an incentive to other people in similar circumstances to raise their voices against such unfairness.”
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