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A British woman is being forced to live apart from her Ecuadorian husband, despite having a 21-month-old daughter with him.

A British woman is being forced to live apart from her Ecuadorian husband, despite having a 21-month-old daughter with him.

Elizabeth Celi Parr met her doctor husband Ramiro Alexander Celi Moreno in his native Ecuador in 2006 when she was working as a teacher. The couple have been married for two years. However the Home Office says that the couple do not have sufficient annual income to enable Mr Moreno to join his wife and daughter in the UK.

Mrs Moreno and the couple’s daughter, Olivia, are currently living with her parents in Devon. They have offered to provide accommodation and employment in the family firm to both their daughter and son-in-law.

Mrs Moreno returned to the UK expecting her husband to be able to join her and obtain well-paid work as a doctor in the UK, however. She had previously worked as an investment banker and had substantial savings. However, her income from maternity leave did not meet the £18,600 threshold required for her husband to be able to join her in the UK.

Since 2012, the Home Office has set a minimum level of income required to ensure that immigrants are able to support themselves when they arrive in the UK. The minimum level of income now required for entry into the UK has been set higher than the minimum wage in the UK.

Mrs Moreno appealed against the Home Office decision in April and has been advised she will have to contest the decision to refuse her husband a visa.

Mr Moreno is not even allowed a short-stay visitor’s visa so that he can visit his wife and daughter in case he overstays his visa. Mrs Moreno took her daughter to see her husband in Ecuador in July this year, but says the long journey proved difficult for such a young child.

She says her husband’s medical training would mean the family would be able to support themselves – especially as she is now working at the family firm, a tannery in Devon which has been established for more than 150 years.

The Home Office said:

“Mr Celi Moreno’s application was refused because it did not meet the necessary financial requirements.

“As there is an appeal outstanding in this case, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”

Mrs Moreno has now set up a support group for others in her situation – and has met with the Archbishop of Westminster to discuss her case.

She said that had it not been for the support of her parents, she would have had to live as a singe parent on benefits as a result of the Home Office decision.

“The ridiculous thing about not allowing Alexander to come here – where he could earn good wages – is that I am now a single mother,” said Mrs Moreno. “Were it not for my parents I would probably have to go on benefits.

“The government idea is supposed to be to lessen the burden on taxpayers, but it increases it. I cannot understand how these rules are helping anyone.

“We would not be a burden and there is plenty of room here – even with me, my parents and my sister, we are rattling around here,” added Mrs Moreno, whose parents are both Conservative councillors.

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