Soldier reunited with daughter at Inverness Airport after winning visa battle thanks to help from SNP MP
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
BRITISH soldier Denis Omondi and his family are celebrating tonight after the arrival of his daughter at Inverness Airport following a four-month battle to secure her a visa.
Ann Omondi had initially been refused a visa on the grounds that her father had not visited her enough despite him serving with 3 Scots and was not free to take leave whenever he wished.
However, when the family got in touch with Inverness MP Drew Hendry who launched a campaign to reunite the family – including raising the case three times in parliament including once at Prime Minister’s Questions.
Speaking at the airport, Mr Omondi’s wife Shelagh said: “This has been a very tough time for our family and we are delighted to finally have Ann with us.
“We would like to thank Drew Hendry and his staff for their untiring work, as well as our family, friends, the media and the general public for their on going support.
“We have been overwhelmed by the support given by so many to a commonwealth military family and we hope that this will encourage other families in similar situations to continue their fight.”
Mr Hendry was also there and expressed his relief that there was a positive outcome to the case while congratulating the newly reunited family.
“We were all really excited to finally meet Ann in person and to see her reunited with her dad and Shelagh,” he said.
“It's an incredible case that’s gone from heartbreak to heart-warming and has really caught the attention of the public and rallied their support. As the work goes on to tackle the hostile immigration environment from the UK government, we can all join in the joy of this event and wish this Highland soldier's family a happy future together.”
The case had been complicated by Mr Omondi not knowing about his daughter when he left Kenya to join the British Army as a Commonwealth soldier more than eight years ago.
He only found out about Ann when she was about eight and he was serving in Afghanistan and subsequently spent as much time visiting her in Kenya as he could so that he could get to know her.
The visa was turned down because it was claimed Mr Omondi has not visited her enough – that is despite being him being on active duty and assuming full custody of Ann, as well as paying for her to go to boarding school.
When Mr Hendry demanded a review into the application at PMQs Prime Minister Theresa May and Home Secretary Sajid Javid readily agreed – it resulted in the rejection being overturned.
