Andrea Gada’s family granted visas to attend funeral

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/feb/05/andrea-gada-family-granted-visa-funeral-zimbabwe

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The Gada family have won their battle for visas for the Zimbabwean grandparents to attend the Eastbourne funeral of their daughter, Andrea, who was killed after being hit by a car before Christmas.

Andrea’s Zimbabwean grandparents, Stanley and Grace, and her aunt, Monalisa, learned that the initial Home Office refusal of their temporary travel visas to attend her funeral had been overturned.

The decision has come very late for the relatives to travel to the five-year-old’s postponed funeral, which is to go ahead on Monday.

Andrea’s father, Wellington, said: “Oh my God. It’s such a relief, I can’t tell you. You know, with it being a sudden death – well, this is going to allow us to fulfil everything we want for Andrea, everything religious, everything culturally. We won’t have that feeling: ‘Oh, I wish we could have done this for her, or I wish we could have done that for her’. Now we know we have done everything we can for her.”

More than 130,000 people signed a petition urging the home secretary, Theresa May, to reconsider the decision and her local MP, Stephen Lloyd, raised the case at prime minister’s question time and when it was clear the Home Office refusal was made on the basis of concerns they might overstay he made a personal offer to guarantee their return home after the funeral.

Senior church figures including the archbishop of York and the moderator of the Church of Scotland also intervened to support the Gada family.

The Eastbourne community, including Andrea’s school, Shinewater primary, have rallied around the refugee family, and raised more than £5,000 to enable the relatives to make the journey.

David Cameron promised to intervene in the case but a Home Office reconsideration only confirmed the original decision. This week the family received a letter of condolence signed by the prime minister.

Lloyd’s personal offer and extra evidence that they would return to Harare appears to have led to the change of heart. The Liberal Democrat MP for Eastbourne said: “I am absolutely thrilled with this news. When it came down to the crunch basic humanity prevailed. It is the right decision for little Andrea and the right decision for the family. It is also the right decision for the thousands of members of the public and church congregations who have so supportive of the campaign.”

The Home Office said the family had been able to provide further information and assurances, including a guarantee from their MP that they would return to Zimbabwe, that enabled a fresh decision to be made.

Andrea’s father said the grandparents and aunt had received a call from the Pretoria British visa office in South Africa, which processes the visa applications, at about 8pm Zimbabwean time (6pm GMT) informing them the visas had been granted. “They got a call telling them the visas have been issued and they can collect them tomorrow,” he said.

The couple, who are Seventh Day Adventists, had been going through “mental torture” as the deadline for finalising details of her funeral got closer, and they were having to make the decision whether to postpone it once more, he said.

“We had started to cancel a lot of things. We were liaising over the printing of the order of service and the flowers. The call came very late, so Monday now has a question mark over it. We are trying to sort all that out,” he said. “But we are so relieved, And we are very thankful to everyone who has helped us, the local community, the prime minister, everyone. Now we can say, definitely, they will be here.”

The immigration minister, James Brokenshire, said: “The decision to grant or refuse a visa to the UK is often a difficult one. Immigration officers have to weigh often compelling situations against the fundamental requirement to protect the British border and the integrity of the immigration system.

“The UK visa system has rules which allow for a decision to be made on compassionate grounds. Andrea Gada’s family have provided new information and assurances in fresh visa applications to enable them to attend her funeral in Eastbourne. In the light of these details and given the tragic circumstances, these have now been granted. My thoughts are with the family at this extremely difficult time.”