Former soldier’s bid for UK visa for Canadian wife and child

Darren Jarrad, a former Royal Anglian infantryman who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been trying to obtain a UK visa for his Canadian wife Chantel and two-year-old daughter Shyanne  for nine months.

After their original UK visa application was turned down after a two and a half month wait, and a subsequent appeal failed.

The young family had no choice but to start a new application, costing £600, which is being sent off this week to UK immigration.

The couple met in 2006 while Mr Jarrad, 28, was on a training exercise in Canada, Their daughter was born the following year and plans to move to England began soon after they married in April 2009. Mr Jarrad has only been able to see his daughter twice in the last 10 months.

Norfolk MP Norman Lamb, an advocate for the couple, said he had been assured the new application would be sped through the system.

Mr Lamb said: “I want it sorted straight away. I don't think there is any need for any delay. There is an overwhelming case for reuniting this family - it would be outrageous if it took more than a month.”

The UK Border Agency would not give Mrs Jarrad a visa last year because it feared she would be reliant on benefits, but the young mother now has a confirmed job offer and it is hoped there will be absolutely no grounds for refusal.

The UK Visa Bureau is an independent consulting company specialising in helping people lodge UK immigration applications with the British High Commission.