Visa wrangle dad finally allowed to come home

Kathryn CrossIt was a reunion they had long been waiting for and which unexpectedly turned into a double celebration.A husband, forced to live on the other side of the world from his Norfolk wife because of a visa wrangle, is not just relishing the chance to hold his newborn daughter for the first time tomorrow morning - he knows that he can also come home with his family and start their new life together.Kathryn Cross

A husband, forced to live on the other side of the world from his Norfolk wife because of a visa wrangle, is relishing the chance to hold his newborn daughter for the first time tomorrow morning - and he has even more good news.

This morning, just hours from boarding the plane to South Africa to see her husband Andre for the first time in seven months and introduce him to their 10-week-old daughter Ellie, Helen Van Coller's postman brought the news to answer their prayers.

The letter was from the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal saying that the entry clearance officer in South Africa had withdrawn his original decision not to allow Mr Van Coller, a commercial diver, a UK visa.

So when Mrs Van Coller and her daughter return home she will have her husband sitting next to her on the plane.

'I just could not believe it,' said an ecstatic Mrs Van Coller from her home near Fakenham.

t For the full story, read tomorrow's Eastern Daily Press.