Cancer suf ferer’s husband ordered to leave Scotland
Home Office gave him just 5 days to go
A HUSBAND has been ordered to return to the United States from his home in Scotland – despite being the carer for his cancer-stricken wife.
Dale McIntier, 62, came to the UK on a visitor’s visa with wife Sandra in 2015 so she could receive medical treatment.
They planned to stay for six months then return to his native Idaho, but that changed when Mrs McIntier was diagnosed with cancer, requiring round-the-clock care. The couple, of Largs, Ayrshire, decided to stay in the UK meantime and Mr McIntier applied for a spousal visa before his visitor status expired.
But after five months the Home Office wrote giving him only five days to leave the country, stating the couple had failed to provide paperwork from a doctor saying Mrs McIntier, 65, was unable to travel – a requirement the couple insist they were unaware of. The McIntiers appealed but were told by a tribunal judge Mr McIntier must return to the US to apply for a spousal visa. This would leave his wife without a carer and relying on state support.
Mr McIntier, who says his ancestry is ‘85 per cent’ Scottish, said yesterday: ‘I don’t want to be separated from my wife but I feel the Home Office have just latched on to a date on the papers so they can win a case.’
His legal team say the ‘compelling circumstances’ of the case mean the Home Office should be flexible and allow the appeal.
Mrs McIntier, who had a mastectomy in 2015, said: ‘Dale is doing his job as a spouse. It costs tax- payers’ money to have someone come in and look after you as a carer, but Dale does it for free.’
She added: ‘The Bible mentions marriage should be some thing that no man can rent asunder, but I feel like the Government is divorcing us.’
Originally from Birmingham, Mrs McIntier met her husband in the US in 2002. She added that though retired, they have an income of £26,000 a year, saying: ‘We’re not a burden on the state.’
MP for North Ayrshire and Arran Patricia Gibson has written to the Courts and Tribunals Service, ahead of a second appeal.
Miss Gibson wrote: ‘I support Mr McIntier’s appeal application on the grounds it is vital for his wife that her husband is able to provide her with the physical and emotional support she requires.’
The Home Office would not comment on individual cases last night, but officials had noted that an immigration judge had upheld its position.
‘The Government is divorcing us’