A SCOT married to an American woman who has been refused a visa to stay here has told how he was at his wits’ end and felt suicidal spending the festive period on his own.
Tony Duffy told The National he has suffered from depression for years and that the strain of having his wife in the US – and his mother in hospital in Edinburgh – was taking its toll on his mental health.
The 30-year-old married Julianna Colaianni, also 30, two years ago but her visa application was refused because the Home Office said he did not meet the £18,600 earnings threshold for a spousal visa. His lawyer had not anticipated any problem with the application and has appealed against the refusal.
Duffy – a self-employed plasterer – said he had heard nothing from the Home Office since his the visa was refused.
He said: “I sent them a complaint and they said they were satisfied with everything they had done. I basically spilled my guts to them, gave them the evaluation about my mental health history, doctors’ letters saying this was having a serious effect on my mental health, making me suicidal.
“But they said they saw no reason to uphold my complaint and never really addressed the problem – they just palmed me off. I had a doctor’s letter and they said there was no evidence in it to support our case ... they said they had no proof that I had ongoing mental health issues, even though I’ve suffered from them for most of my life.”
Duffy said he could not believe the Home Office thought his issues had simply disappeared, when his mental health was actually deteriorating.
“If I’ve got a chest infection I can take some antibiotics to clear it up, but mental health issues aren’t like that. I didn’t go into therapy for no reason and I tried to explain that.
“They told me I wasn’t working hard enough [to support my wife] and there was no proof that my business is viable.”
Duffy said he tried to call the Home Office helpline and submitted his bank card details, but was cut off when he tried to explain his circumstances and was charged £10 for the call.
“It’s making me worse because I’m here by myself,” he said. “My mum’s in hospital and doctors are looking at letting her home at the end of this month, but she’s going to need a lot of help and Juli would have been doing that.”
Duffy said the festive period, spent alone in his Restalrig flat, was terrible: “I actually felt like killing myself ... I felt I was losing my head. I had a massive panic attack and I was here by myself ... We live on a stair where everyone’s surrounded by family so that got to me and I ended up crying myself to sleep most nights.
“Christmas and New Year were really terrible – it hit me really hard coming back to an empty house. Juli and I had big plans for Christmas but getting the refusal letter a few weeks before took the rug from under our feet. It made me worse.”
The couple’s MP, Tommy Sheppard, who has taken up their case with the Home Office, said: “The utter lack of compassion the Home Office have shown my constituents Juli and Antony
is yet another striking example of the Tories’ ‘hostile environment’. They don’t seem to care that their punitive approach to immigration is ruining lives and putting people’s health at risk. Their treatment of Antony and Juli is nothing short of a disgrace.”
According to the Home Office, all UK visa applications “are considered on their individual merits, on the basis of the evidence available and in line with the UK’s immigration rules”.
A petition has been set up in support of the Duffys which can be accessed by following this link.
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