A Scottish soldier has told of his devastation after immigration officials “lost” a visa application that would allow his teenage daughter to move to the UK from Kenya.
L/Cpl Denis Omondi, who is stationed at Fort George, near Ardersier with the British Army, submitted paperwork to bring 14-year-old Ann to Scotland several months ago, but has received no response from the Home Office.
Inverness SNP MP Drew Hendry raised the case at prime minister’s questions last month and, despite assurances from Theresa May that the case would be examined, it emerged on Wednesday that the application had been lost.
Mr Hendry, raising the case at Scotland questions in the Commons, said: “The home secretary’s office told me yesterday that it has lost the file on Denis Omondi, the serving British soldier in 3 Scots whose young daughter has been denied a visa.
“Will the Scottish secretary now get personally involved in this travesty?”
David Mundell said he was “disappointed” to hear what had happened and pledged to intervene in the case.
The words however brought little comfort to L/Cpl Omondi and his wife Shelagh.
L/Cpl Omondi said: “I am devastated, I don’t know what to say to her, she is suffering with all of this. I feel so bad, I don’t want to tell her what has been happening, because she got her hopes up.”
Shelagh, who lives with L/Cpl Omondi in Inverness, said: “We were both just horrified when we found out, it absolutely beggars belief that they could lose it.
“We understand that sometimes things can be lost due to human error, but this is a little girl’s life. The whole thing has been a nightmare.”
L/Cpl Omondi is a British citizen who is originally from Kenya and has done tours of Afghanistan, Iraq and Cyprus during his eight years with the Black Watch.
He has visited Ann in Kenya every year since 2012, when he first became aware that she was his child.
Mr Hendry told the Press and Journal he was “exasperated” by the case and added: “I thought things had gone a bit quiet, so we chased the case up with the home secretary’s office and I found out they had lost the file.
“It begs the question what is going on over there, it’s scandalous that this can happen.”