Home Office refuses to grant British man's wife a visa

Mary Zu married Steve Bearns six years ago, but has been refused a spousal visa by UK Visas and Immigration

A Conservative MP says it is a "scandal" a British man's Chinese wife has been refused a visa.

Mary Zu has been turned down for a British visa because she "left the country", the Home Office said.

Her British husband Steve Bearns has now won an appeal to allow his wife of six years into the UK, but a visa has not been granted.

Mr Bearns' MP Ed Vaizey said the couple, who have a three-year-old son, had been treated "shamefully".

Mrs Zu, who married her husband in China in 2010, attempted to get her family visa changed to a spouse visa when it expired in August 2015.

But the UK Visa and Immigrations office refused her application and she returned to China.

The couple's son Ryan has spent six months living in China and six months living in Wallingford, which Mr Bearns describes as confusing

As a result the couple have been sharing their three-year-old son Ryan, who was born in the UK.

He now spends half the year in China and half the year in Wallingford, in Oxfordshire.

Mr Bearns said: "[My son's] a bit confused, I find him to be a little insecure.

"For six months he doesn't have a daddy, and for the last five months his mummy has just been a face in the computer."

What do you need to apply for a spousal visa?

To acquire a spouse visa, the non-British partner has to complete an English language test.

The British partner has to earn at least £18,600 a year to ensure they can support their non-British partner.

Lawyer Philip Turpin said: "I'm afraid this is not an unusual situation, it is now very hard for British citizens to have their [foreign] husbands and wives join them in the country."

This year the couple won an appeal for Mrs Zu to be granted a visa at a tribunal, but the Home Office has refused her entry to the UK because she had left the country.

Mr Vaizey said they now had to appeal again against the decision, but that would take 18 months.

He added: "They've been treated shamefully by the immigration services, it's a complete scandal what's happened to them."

Speaking to the BBC via Skype in China, Mrs Zu said: "I just hope they take two minutes to look at the documents.

"We meet all the immigration rules, so please look at the documents."

The Home Office said: "All applications are considered on their individual merits and in accordance with immigration rules."