Daughter to visit UK after nine-year fight
Joy...Gary Peet and Lyubov Peet celebrate the news at their Lubenham home after the home office agrees to allow their daughter Nataliya Zhukovska to come to britain after a nine year campaign. (Mail Picture: Andrew Carpenter/MHMP 001605-45)
A long battle against immigration laws which prevented a Lubenham couple from seeing their Ukranian daughter in Britain has finally resulted in victory.
Retired police officer Gary Peet of Westland Close, Lubenham, has been fighting for nine years to bring his step-daughter Nataliya to visit him and his wife Lyubov in the UK.
The Home Office refused to grant Nataliya entry to the country as it said the 28-year-old law graduate would not return to Ukraine at the end of her stay.
But now, after numerous applications and appeals, Nataliya will finally be able to visit her mum and step-father.
Mr Peet told the Mail: “The Home Office have always refused my daughter to come to Great Britain, saying they believed she wouldn’t return to the Ukraine. She was guilty until proven innocent. We had to prove that she would go back.
“We took the Home Office to an immigrational tribunal which took place in Nottingham two weeks ago.
“We didn’t hear until Friday that we had won.
“We didn’t believe in our heart of hearts that we would win it. We are over the moon. We just can’t believe it.
“I did everything I could publicity-wise and it has proved to be successful.”
Mr Peet put up a banner outside his home in July last year to protest against the immigration rulings.
The family first began their quest to bring Nataliya to the UK about nine years ago but their initial application for a permanent settlement visa was turned down.
They appealed the decision in court and won, but the Home Office raised a point of law and the application was once again turned down.
The family’s story appeared in the Mail in 2006 when an application for a six-month visit was again refused.
Mr Peet and his wife have been over to the Ukraine to visit her.
The couple are now looking forward to Nataliya coming to visit them in Lubenham.
Mr Peet, who married Lyubov in 2003, said he is looking forward to showing Nataliya where they lives and taking her to London to see the sites.
He is also looking forward to introducing Nataliya to his 85-year-old mother.
Mr Peet said she could be here within a matter of weeks.
“I never imagined it would be this much of a battle. I can’t believe the taxpayers’ money they’ve [Home Office] wasted,” he added.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Market Harborough
Sunday 19 May 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 10 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 11 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: North
