A newly-married couple trying to make a new life together in Portinscale may be forced to live apart as the wife is being denied a visa by the Home Office to stay in Britain.
Michael Lee Paul Thompson, 44, met Maria Magdalena Ortin Lorente (now Magda Thompson), 52, a Catalan with Spanish nationality, two-and-a-half years ago in Barcelona while on a cycling trip.
They fell in love and he returned to the city as soon as he could and they spent several months there together searching unsuccessfully for employment. When their resources were depleted he was forced to return to the UK alone but once established in Portinscale he invited Magda to visit for Christmas and meet his family. They were married at Kendal Register Office in December.
Michael works as a food and beverage supervisor and maintenance man at the Derwentwater Hotel and the couple live there but he says their home is in “great jeopardy” of being stolen from them and told the Reminder: “Magda has an offer of employment at the hotel, but continues to be denied the right to work.
“Her visa and subsequent appeals have all been turned down on spurious and ever-changing grounds. We are being denied the right to a family life, since we are not permitted to live together, under the law post-Brexit, in either England or Spain.
“We have recently submitted our last chance of appeal, directly to the upper tribunal, in the hope of setting a precedent.”
Michael says that the Government and the courts are trying to send Magda back to her homeland, where she has no family or friends who are willing or capable of taking her in. She also has no job prospects, as an affiliated member of the movement for the peaceful and democratic, independence of Catalonia.
“She, having worked for pro-independence politicians, finds herself on a black-list and cannot possibly gain employment,” said Michael.
Should Magda get sent back to Spain the couple would have to survive on a single income and this would prove difficult with two accommodations in separate countries to pay for along with saving the £3,000 needed to submit another visa application from outside the country.
“It is a preposterous proposition that would be practically impossible to achieve and has no basis in common sense,” said Michael. “In Spain Magda now has nothing. Here in the place she loves and is desperate to work, she has a job, a home, family and a community.”
Magda has legal status in the UK and the couple are in the process of appealing the court’s commitment to uphold the decision of the Home Office in denying Magda a visa. The same court refused Magda the right of appeal to the upper tribunal.
“Our rights are being denied at every turn, despite the Secretary of State giving permission for Magda to apply for a partner/spouse visa from within the UK, on humanitarian grounds and granting us permission to marry,” said Michael. “At every moment we have sought the advice of the relevant authorities, submitted all necessary documents in a timely fashion and at all times Magda has had legal status to remain in the UK, as she still does.”
Michael says that Magda’s health has been impacted by the stressful situation and she has twice contracted Shingles.
“The only thing that is causing her stress is the cruel and inhuman actions of the Home Office and courts in seeking to irrevocably tear us apart,” said Michael. “The blame for the deterioration in our mental, physical, emotional and financial well-being belongs solely and squarely at the door of the Government and Court.
“We are being denied the right to live and work together in a place that needs us. The current administration in this country is actively denying us this basic human right.”
