Old Town bookseller Graham Frost met a beautiful girl from Thailand when she was in Hastings on holiday. Nattmawan, better known to her friends as June, and Graham hit it off together and soon fell in love with each other.
They became so close that and despite the fact that the visa June had come to England on had run out. They could not bear to part so instead of returning to Thailand June moved in with Graham and they have lived together ever since.
Graham and June were accepted as an ‘item’ by other George Street traders and June was welcomed by the tight knit community in the Old Town.
All went well until they decided to ‘tie the knot’. Their decision to return to Thailand to get married and apply for a ‘Spouse’s Visa’ at the British Embassy in Bangkok so that June could return and live legally in Britain met with disaster. The wedding went wonderfully, June was reunited with friends and family but the visa application was unexpectedly referred to the Home Office and refused on the grounds that they did not accept that was a ‘sustaining marriage’.
Efforts by Michael Foster MP to assure the Home Office that he was certain it was a genuine case seem to have fallen on deaf ears.
Graham and June are spending miserable days many thousands of miles apart when they should be enjoying their days together.
Can anybody help Graham convince the Home Office that he and June are a genuine pair of people who were made for each other?
Graham is desperate for help. There must be someone out there with expertise or experience of cases like this who could hold out some hope for him.
Perhaps a petition of names of those people who were aware of their long relationship before the marriage might go some way to persuade officialdom.
Graham’s friends are supporting him as the best they can and any face that brings even a glimmer of hope is welcomed at his book shop A little help is worth a lot of sympathy, so if anyone can offer practical assistance, or have any ideas that might get things moving, do not hesitate to drop in on Graham at the bookshop.
“Hastings Town” will report any progress and wish the couple a speedy solution that brings them back together.
“Hastings Town” May 2008
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