MUM-TO-BE IN HUSBAND VISA REFUSAL TORMENT
Mum-to-be’s heartache after baby’s father denied a visa
AHEAVILY pregnant mother-to-be is dreading going into labour alone after the Home Office denied her husband access to the country to be with her for the birth.
Elise Addiscott Monteiro’s husband, Kenny Monteiro, has never left his home island of Cape Verde, situated off the coast of West Africa in the Atlantic Ocean, before and he was looking forward to joining his wife in Wales over Christmas ahead of the birth of their first child together later this month.
Instead, his dream of being alongside his wife for their first Christmas as a married couple, being there for her 30th birthday on Christmas Day and being at the birth of his first child has been left in tatters after Kenny was denied a six-month visitor visa to the country.
Elise said: “I have put off everything – getting a cot, getting a pram, sorting the baby’s room out. I just don’t want it to happen because he is not here.
“I just want him here for the birth. I want her to see both our faces when she is born – that is something we will never get back.”
The couple hoped Kenny, 26, would be granted a visitor’s visa so he would be there for the birth of their child.
He was then planning on returning to Cape Verde, where the couple would then consider applying for a spousal visa.
Elise, who lives in Resolven, Neath, with her family and six-year-old daughter, Autumn, who is from a previous relationship, spent more than £1,500 on the application process, but was told by the Home Office the reason for refusal was they did not believe he was a genuine visitor.
They applied for the visa in November because it is only possible to apply for a visitor’s visa three months before the intended visit.
They received the news of refusal on December 3 and received Kenny’s passport back on December 23, which delayed any appeal time.
“I understand there are people who overstay, but when you are in a genuine situation it is so frustrating,” said Elise.
“He has a good job in Cape Verde and an apartment – it has always been the plan he would go back home once the baby was born.
“He just wanted to be here for the baby.”
A spokesman for the Home Office said: “All visa applications are considered on their individual merits, on the basis of the evidence available, and in line with the immigration rules.”
The couple met in July 2018 when Elise, who is a dance lecturer at Neath College, was on holiday with her family for her mother’s 50th birthday.
“He was working in the hotel we were staying in. He is a dancer so he does the hotel’s entertainment and activities. It was so nice to meet someone with the same interests as me – all we do is dance.”
Since their first meeting Elise has been back out to the island eight times, and the pair were married in a ceremony in August last year.
Elise said she considered moving to Cape Verde to be with Kenny, but complications with her pregnancy mean she may need to have a Caesarean section, and hospitals in Cape Verde are less well equipped to carry out the procedure than they are here.
She expressed frustration at how easy it is for her to visit her husband in his home country when he can’t do the same here.
“The baby is breech, so I have been booked in for a C-section for January 24, if I make it to then,” said Elise.
“Breech pregnancies are difficult and complicated. I had a normal delivery with my first daughter and now I am having a breech delivery. I am scared and I just want him with me.
“Women have died giving birth to breech babies. I just keep thinking if something happens to me, then he isn’t here,” said Elise.
Elise said she doesn’t understand why the visa was denied, as she earns more than the financial requirement to apply for a spousal visa and lives in her mother’s house, which has no mortgage, rent-free.
“I feel completely and utterly powerless. I have nothing left in me that can find an answer,” she added. “I am heavily pregnant and the other day my sister was helping me put my shoes on and I just burst out crying.
“It should be him doing that for me. This country is basically telling people you can only fall in love with people in this country.”
The last time Elise saw her husband was during the autumn school holidays. She travelled to the country to make sure Kenny could feel the baby kick inside her and see her while she was pregnant.
At the moment the couple rely on video calls to talk to each other twice a day.
However, networks in Cape Verde are less reliable, so their conversations are often cut off.
Their plan is to hopefully video call during Elise’s labour.
Since sharing her story Elise has had people from across the UK who are in a similar situation contact her with offers of advice and support.
She was told she would need as much as £3,000 to be successful in getting Kenny a visa to come to the UK.
“It just seems like you can only do these things if you are privileged and have a lot of money to throw at it,” said Elise. “It is so sad that there are so many families going through this, so many children living without their parents.
“I am worried it will only get worse. I dread to think how things are going to be for mixed-race families.”
Elise is hoping she will be able to get support from her local MP to have the decision reversed, but fears it is too late for Kenny to get to Wales in time for the baby’s birth.