A Royal Navy ‘Top Gun’, who took on the Taliban while flying upside down, is still waiting to bring his American wife back to Britain.
Commander Simon Rawlins, 39, from Stamford in Lincolnshire, faces an anxious wait as the Home Office decides whether his wife, Marianne, 34, can join him in the UK after he was posted home.
The couple met when he was sent to the US to support its navy and have been living together for two years.
But now, due to visa complications and delays, Mrs Rawlins, from Irvine in California, has been left homeless.
Commander Simon Rawlins, 39, from Stamford in Lincolnshire, faces an anxious wait as the Home Office decides whether his wife, Marianne, 34, can join him in the UK after he was posted home.
The couple met when he was sent to the US to support its navy and have been living together for two years
Mrs Rawlins (pictured on their wedding day), from Irvine in California, has applied for a visa but is still waiting for it to be processed after being told her application was ‘not straightforward’ – despite being given no explanation for the delay
Mrs Rawlins has applied for a visa but is still waiting for it to be processed after being told her application was ‘not straightforward’ – despite being given no explanation for the delay.
Most of her possessions were sent to the UK as she expected to join her husband.
Commander Rawlins told The Telegraph: ‘I’ve paid $100 (£76) for multiple calls and emails and all they (UK Visas and Immigration) do is keep you on the phone for as much time as possible and tell you nothing.
‘To clarify, I’ve joined an online forum where I watch as people from all over the world – including Pakistan and Tunisia – are processed within mere weeks as I wait months.
‘There’s no accountability, they just won’t tell you. I think they’re numb to the idea that this actually affects lives and families, they don’t seem to know or care.’
Mrs Rawlins, a risk management consultant, said the situation had caused her considerable financial damage and her business had been jeopardised.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘We are looking into the application made by Marianne Rawlins urgently to seek to resolve the situation as it contained insufficient information to be processed.’
Royal Navy ‘Top Gun’ Simon Rawlins, who took on the Taliban while flying upside down, is still waiting to bring his American wife, Marianne, back to Britain (pictured together)
Mr Rawlins hit the headlines in 2009 when he flew upside-down up a mountain at 500mph to frighten the life out of Taliban fighters, who were tracking British soldiers’ movement.
The mission required the fighter pilot to fly just 100ft above ground, the minimum safe distance, leaving him vulnerable to rocket attack and rifle fire.
But he successfully scared the Islamist fighters away using the manoeuvre, known as the ‘ridge-crossing technique’.