A WORCESTER campaigner faces another set back in the battle to bring his wife to this country.
John Baddeley was hoping his wife Merlinda would have been granted a visa by the British Embassy in the Philippines yesterday.
But her application has been stalled because she could not provide a death certificate for her ex-husband.
Mrs Baddeley, aged 48, had to leave her home in Pampanga and travel for two hours to get to the British Embassy in Manila.
"I had to leave my home at four in the morning," she said, speaking to the Evening News from the Philippines.
"And when I got there I had to join a very long queue."
Mr Baddeley, 64, said his wife had all her papers, and a letter of support from Worcester MP Mike Foster had been sent.
But on the advice of immigration officers, Mrs Baddeley said in her application form that her ex-husband was deceased.
"We made a mistake and we should have put that the marriage was annulled because her ex-husband was missing presumed dead," said Mr Baddeley, of Ripon Road in Ronkswood.
Before the couple could get married they had to place advertisements in the local paper trying to find her husband who had been missing for more than 10 years. Her ex-husband was then declared missing presumed dead, the marriage was annulled and the couple wed in a Filipino register office in October this year.
But Mrs Baddeley was told because she had said on the application form that her ex-husband was deceased, she could not get a visa until she presented a death certificate.
She had to return to Pampanga leaving her documents at the British Embassy.
Mr Baddeley will now be writing to the embassy pointing out the mistake and asking for the application to be altered. His wife will make the 400-mile round trip to Manila again on Wednesday, January 9.
If Mrs Baddeley gets her visa she plans to continue working as a beautician in this country and will later apply for her 12-year-old daughter Rowena to join them here.
She said she was very much looking forward to the day she finally arrived in Worcester.
"I've known her for four years now," said Mr Baddeley.
"All the red tape is making it so difficult. But in the end it is going to be worth it."
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