US wife of top Navy pilot left homeless by UK visa wrangle
A ROYAL Navy pilot nicknamed ‘Top Gun’ has said his American wife has been left homeless while she waits for the Home Office to decide if she can join him in the UK.
Commander Simon Rawlins, who once took on the Taliban flying upside down, said his wife Marianne, 34, was stuck in limbo waiting for her visa to be processed.
Mrs Rawlins paid for priority processing but has been sleeping on her friends’ sofas and living out of suitcases for nearly three months.
The couple met when Commander Rawlins, 39, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, was posted to the US to support its navy. They married and had been living together for two years when Mr Rawlings was posted home.
Mrs Rawlins, from California, was told her application was ‘not straightforward’. She said: ‘I’ve paid $100 (£76) for multiple calls and emails and all they [UK Visas and Immigration] do is keep you on the phone for as much time as possible and tell you nothing.
‘I’ve joined an online forum where I watch as people from all over the world, including Pakistan and Tunisia, are proc- essed within mere weeks as I wait months.’ She said it had affected her financially and jeopardised her business.
Commander Rawlins’ nickname is inspired by his record 400 flying hours in Afghanistan. In 2009 he told how he flew a Harrier jet up a mountain while upside down in order to unnerve Taliban troops at close range.
In a letter to The Daily Telegraph this week, commenting on reports the military could be used to protect UK borders after Brexit, he said: ‘Perhaps I will be able to join the Home Office in preventing my wife from entering the country.’
The Home Office said it was looking to resolve the situation urgently but the visa application had contained ‘insufficient information’.
‘Sleeping on friends’ sofas’