I read this only yesterday,dont know anything except what I read in the article,but I wonder the outcome of his tale,what a strange world we live in when you cant be with your loved ones because of cash.The story is 4 years old,maybe they are nowadays living the happily ever after life everyone seeks,i hope so. British expat loses bid to crowd-fund his Filipino wife's UK visa A father who wants to bring his wife and children home to Britain from the Philippines faces leaving them behind as he can't afford the £62,500 it would take. A desperate British father who started a crowdfunding campaign to raise the £62,500 necessary to get a UK visa for his Filipino wife of 17 years has had to admit defeat. Dean Homer, 48, has been unsuccessful in getting members of the public to raise the large sum the Home Office says he must have in savings if he wants to bring his wife and two children to Britain without securing employment first. Mr Homer, originally from Wolverhampton, now faces spending months apart from his family while he returns alone to seek work. “Knowing that I’m going to be split up from my family and have to come back to the UK alone is horrible,” Dean said. “I can’t explain it. To leave behind my three-and-a-half year old boy is what will kill me the most.” On March 29, he launched an appeal for money on GoFundMe.com, a crowdfunding site which allows anonymous or named donors from across the globe to give money for various causes. Mr Homer only raised £335 of his proposed £62,500 from five donors after sharing the cause on Facebook. “I couldn’t get the momentum behind it,” he said. “If only 62,500 people had given a pound – that's the price of a chocolate bar.” He and his family, currently based in Manila, wanted to return to Wolverhampton to start life over again after he lost his job as operations manager for Star Cruises. He and his wife, Meljie, 42, have two children, Charlotte, 16, and James, three. They met in Singapore in 1996, when both working on a cruise ship, married the following year, and later moved to the Philippines. Another reason for moving back to Britain was wanting to care for Mr Homer's elderly mother who has health problems. But the family was defeated by laws which require the British half of a couple to earn more than £18,600 before they can move here with their non-EU partner. This was part of a Conservative pledge to cap immigration, brought in in 2012. Mr Homer said his family passed all the requirements to secure a UK visa except the financial one. He either had to have a job in the UK and have been earning at an annual salary rate of £18,600 for six months or have £62,500 saved. He explained that, since he did not want to leave his family behind to get a job in the UK, the only option for them was to raise the £62,500. “My wife is very upset. She’s been crying all week. We’ve been together for 17 years and now we’re being split up," he said. On his GoFundMe page he wrote: “I've always been independent and paid my own way in life. So I find asking for any kind of charity very humbling and embarrassing.” Yet, he explained: “I was desperate. I just couldn’t find the money anywhere else. I went around asking family, friends, everyone. No one’s got that much money. It’s a huge amount.” A Home Office spokesman said: “This amount is decided by the Migrant Advisory Committee (MAC) [an independent public body]. This is what is suggested you need to support that particular number of dependants without significant financial aid.” Mr Homer and his family are now preparing for him to return to the UK to find work. He doesn’t know how long he’ll be without them. “It’ll take me a little while to find a job that’ll get me that much money,” he says. “And after six months, I’ll have to reapply and wait for them to approve my visa. I’ll be there at least a year. Probably a lot more." However, he is determined that they will eventually leave the Philippines. “I just don’t want my kids to have to live here when they could grow up in the UK,” he said. “I want opportunities and the best start in life for my son.” After his experiences, he feels strongly that the visa laws need revising. “They are ridiculous,” Dean said. “What they’re asking for is ludicrous. No one’s got £62,000. I just don’t know how they can justify it. I'm British and our kids are British, so obviously I feel let down by the Home Office." https://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/e...to-crowd-fund-his-Filipino-wifes-UK-visa.html
At that time he could have moved to Ireland or another EU Country that protect the right to Family life unlike our own
Do I need to state the bleeding obvious? Seeing as it's you .... His frail elderly mother lives in BRITAIN not in Ireland, Poland or any other EU country!
Do you live in the UK Mr Angel?I hope you live somewhere nice that protects family life Sometimes you seem a little embittered towards this green and sceptered isle
86 migrants were intercepted yesterday in small boats in the channel coming to the UK from france,including small children,today 20 have been intercepted,all intending to seek asylum here,i do hope they realise how bad their family lives will be here compared to back home in Syria,pakistan,and Ethiopia
The government/Home Office go for the low-hanging fruit. We, the born in Britain mugs, are the low-hanging fruit. We need to BUY a foreign wife. No appealing puppy-dog eyes of people in boats, fleeing from.... ???
i really dont see the problem. all he has to do is come back to the UK--get a job paying £18,600 a year--hold it for 6 months--then his wife can apply for her spouse visa. the same as all of us have done. in that time he can save up for the visa fees and the air fares.
I just checked the names,his daughters studying here,his wife and son are living in the PI and his last social network post he was here?
He precluded himself by deciding that the 65k was his only option... then expecting 65000 people to chip in a quid.
Since when does despairing of your country's immigration laws (and the "Hostile Environment") mean that you are embittered towards the country? After all, it's not as if he's about to up sticks to Canada or some place, eh?
Gosh nothing gets by you. a tadge closer than the Fils and the possability she could live with the family if needed Do tell how a simple statement of fact is berating anything apart from "English Comprehension"? Nothing wrong with our Island except for a few ignorant folk who mostly have buggered off
Canada has been on the cards since my son first went to uni to study medicine,long term planning But i am indeed glad he lives in the UK,its a safe environment for Mr Angel I am glad your a staunch remoaner good sir sorry,freudian slip,i mean remainer as in your still here
I think that this shows the importance of staying up to date with immigration issues and laws, especially concerning the UK, if you choose to marry a non-EU.
Most of us had to spend thousands of pounds flying back and forth to the Philippines (making sure we had a job to fund everything) then paying thousands for ILR, Visas etc.. Some people want everything without hard graft and putting their hand in their pockets