A Fife man fears his family could be torn apart after the mother of his toddler daughter was threatened with deportation.
Robert Scott, 51, blamed bungling Home Office bureaucrats for failing to processhis partner’s application for a derivative residence card.
Neuza Rodrigues, 27, received a letter from the Home Office telling her to make arrangements to leave the country or she will be forcibly removed.
The Cardenden couple are unsure what would happen to their two-year-old daughter Milla, whowas born in Kirkcaldy and has a British passport.
The Home Office claims Miss Rodrigues, who moved to Scotland in 2011, failed to provide a valid passportin support of her application. Mr Scott insists all the documentation was provided and the couple have launched an appeal.
He said her passport was sent to the Home Office when she first applied forresidence rights. She later asked for it back so she could accompany Mr Scott on a work-related trip to Africa.
“She got permission to have her passport back to travel,” Mr Scott said. “From then on they’ve had scanned copies.
“I believe it’s been handed from one officialto another official and someone has lost something or returned the passport and not noted that the passport had been returned.
“My biggest fear is I work in Norway two weeks on, two weeks off, and they’ve said Neuza could be forced to leave the country. If something like that happens, Milla has a British passport but no documents what-soever to allow her in as a resident in Brazil.
“Neuza is concerned that something could happen when I’m not at home. I work right up in the north of Norway and would be looking at 48 hours to get home.”
He added: “They’ve definitely got to look at immigration with a serious face, but as long as there is international travel and people working abroad, you can’t help at the end of the day who you fall in love with and make a life with.”
The couple met when Mr Scott, a heavy equipment technician, was posted in Brazil.
Since arriving in the UK, Miss Rodrigueshas had visitors visas. It is understood that although she has no right of appeal, she could submit a further application.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “All applications are considered on theirindividual merits and in line with theimmigration rules. It is for the individual to provide the correct documentation to support their visa application.”
Picture by Stephen Brown Photography