Our first Christmas together could be our last thanks to red tape at immigration
NI man and American wife tell of agony as she faces deportation
A YOUNG family is to spend their first Christmas together in the North fearing it could be their last if bungling border bosses get their way.
Adam and Christina Campbell fell in love when she was volunteering in Belfast two years ago, while he was working as a family project worker.
Now American Christina has been told to get out of Northern Ireland – even though the couple have a one-year-old daughter, Olivia Rose.
Horrified husband Adam, originally from Portstewart, Co Derry, said: “It’s been a really hard year.
“This whole situation has caused a lot of emotional distress.
“We just celebrated Olivia’s first birthday last Wednesday, my birthday and our wedding anniversary on Tuesday and we have got this hanging over us coming into Christmas.
“We have done everything asked of us, every piece of documentation required has been handed over, every phone call, every deadline.
“We are trying to do things right with having solicitors representing us and haven’t just decided to come here and try and hide the fact that this is our intention.”
Adam said it feels like “everything has been stripped away from us” with legal bills of over £6,000 the couple can barely afford on one salary.
He added: “This is a choice we have made for Olivia, who is a citizen here, and she should have that entitlement.
“We shouldn’t have to worry that her mother will be put on a plane or has to live with granny and that she isn’t allowed to work.”
Despite the family’s best efforts to get a spousal or EEA Visa for Christina, they have been refused both and told they have no right to appeal the decision.
And as part of Christina’s bail application she was ordered to live with Adam’s mother in Portstewart while he lives, works and studies in Belfast.
Christina said: “I feel isolated. I am living in my mother-in-law’s house. I can’t work and I have no independence.
“I want to live in Northern Ireland. But this is the most difficult thing that we have gone through as a family – and to think that I now have to get on a flight and go to Spain [Christina’s last point of entry to the UK after their summer holiday], where I know no one, and am being forced to leave my one-year-old daughter and my husband – it’s inhumane and it’s wrong. I don’t know how anyone would expect two people to go through this and be strong for their child, themselves and keep their relationship healthy and be good parents.
“One of the hardest years of your life is right after having a child and this has been mentally exhausting. We don’t know how everything can be so black and white with children involved and families being torn apart.
“Mental health is such a big issue in this country, so why is that not coming into play here? Think of our mental health, think of our daughter’s mental health and development.
“These are crucial moments in her life and she needs both of her parents together. We want to live here. I don’t
We’ve done everything the whole situation has caused lots of stress
ADAM CAMPBELL
BELFAST YESTERDAY
want to send Olivia to school knowing what’s going on in America right now. Kids are doing drills on what to do if someone walks into a school with a gun. I feel safer here.
“I came here and I volunteered and I fell in love with my husband. I have so many good memories and experiences of here and have loved my time here.
“I want to be a part of this place and to contribute.”
The couple are hoping the Home Office will reconsider their application and give them the best Christmas present a family could hope for – a future together.
MPS Paul Maskey and Gavin Robinson said they will try to help the family. Sinn Fein’s West Belfast representatice Mr Maskey said: “This is the UK Border Force at their very worst. It’s a very worrying time for this family. The fact that they are going to put Christine on a plane on January 4 is out of order.
“This is the baby’s first Christmas in Northern Ireland and the family are left dealing with this.”
East Belfast DUP man Mr Robinson said he is hoping for a good outcome.
And PUP councillor Julie-anne Corrjohnston said: “[My partner] Kerry and I have known Adam for years. We watched him fall in love and eventually become both a father and a husband.
“We can’t quite believe that we’re going to watch this family be ripped apart and separated by land and sea.”
The Home Office has been contacted for comment.