Dundee man vows to fight Home Office over US wife’s visa refusal

A Dundee man has said the UK Government are “putting a price on love” after his American wife was denied entry to the country.

Graham Lawrence, 46, from Stobswell, met Sabrina, 35, while gaming online and they began a relationship – despite living almost 2,500 miles apart.

Undeterred by the distance, Graham travelled to the US five times to visit her, before they were married last month.

They planned to move in together with Sabrina’s three-yearold son Connor. But that plan was scuppered when she was refused a spousal visa amid claims that Graham did not earn enough.

Instead, Sabrina planned to visit Dundee on a four-month holiday but when she arrived at Edinburgh Airport she was refused entry to the country by border officials.

Graham said: “We didn’t realise that you had to earn a certain amount of money before you could qualify for a spousal visa.

“They are putting a price on love.

“Then we decided Sabrina was going to come across for four months because she wants to finish her studies anyway.

“As soon as we landed in Edinburgh, we were ripped apart at the airport. I had no idea what was going on and they wouldn’t even let me speak to her.

“It is devastating for us – we just want to be a family.

“To be told I can’t set up a home with the woman I love broke my heart. We went from being the happiest you could ever be to totally devastated, just like that.”

Sabrina said: “We just want to be together as a family – me, Graham and my son Connor. Our lives are in limbo.”

A Home Office spokesman said they were not satisfied Sabrina would leave the country at the end of her four-month break because she had shipped personal items to the UK.

They added Sabrina had “little incentive” to return to the US as she has no permanent job to go back to, her son was due to join her in Scotland and her husband was a UK citizen.