Gay family face heartbreak of being ripped apart by UK Government deportation ruling

PinkNews Exclusive
A gay British citizen and his US-Cuban partner are appealing for public support after they were told that they would be able to survive their relationship across the Atlantic through the “use of modern means of communication” in a Home Office decision, PinkNews can reveal.

Donavan, who is a UK citizen, lives with his partner Alex in Sheffield with their two daughters, from Donavan’s previous relationship.

The couple, who have lived together for two years in the UK, are hoping that their family will not be torn apart as they lodge a second appeal for Alex to remain in the UK after they met in the States several years ago.

“Firstly, he had a six-month visa to come over,” said Donavan.

“He was working at Armani on South Beach – and was going to head back after the visa expired. But we decided that we wanted to stay together, I definitely didn’t want him to go, because everything had finally fitted into place,” he added.

However, what the couple didn’t realise was that they would have to endure a stressful two-year visa application process that would set them back “thousands and thousands” of pounds.

“It’s cost us extreme amounts of money, thousands and thousands,” said Donavan to PinkNews.

After building a case for the Home Office in which they submitted 1500 photos of their family and had 70 of their loved ones vouch for their relationship, they received a rejection letter which said that Alex would be deported to Cuba in a fortnight – a place where he hasn’t lived since he was a teenager.

“They gave us several reasons as to why they thought we could manage, even though Alex is a member of our family and takes our daughters to school every day,” said Donavan.

“They said the fact that I was a high taxpayer, I would have the ability to travel to Cuba to go and visit, alonh with my daughters.

“They also couldn’t find a tickbox for a partner under the same definition for same-sex couples, which hindered us drastically.