61-year-old man fight to earn visa for wife

Norwich, UK -- A 61-year-old man is working 17-hour days to send money home to his wife in Ghana because she has been refused a visa to come and live with him in Norwich five times in three years.

At an age when most men are thinking of retirement, Jorge Leite works from 6am to 4pm at Bernard Matthews in Great Witchingham in the meat preparation department, and then from 5pm to midnight as a cleaner at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

He does the work so he can afford to send his wife Roda Brown Leite, who is 30 years his junior, ?80 a week.

When he does get time off he spends it communicating via text with his wife thousands of miles away. He reckons he has sent 3,000 texts to her in the last three years.

He said he fell in love with and married Roda Brown three years ago when they met in Germany.

They married in her native country of Ghana because Mr Leite thought it would then be easier for her to get a visa to come and live with him in Norfolk, where he has been living and working for six years.

But her initial application for a visa was turned down three years ago and four subsequent attempts have also been refused.

The original application was refused because the British High Commission in Ghana ruled that it was a marriage of convenience.

But Mr Leite, who lives in Greyhound Opening, off Dereham Road, Norwich, vehemently denies this.

?Why would I send her ?80 a week for three years if I did not love her?? he asked. ?I must have sent her about ?12,000 in the last three years. I love my wife and I want her to be with me here in Norwich. I cannot understand why she has not been granted a visa. I'm a European and Portugal is a member of the European Union.

?What must we do to show it's not a marriage of convenience?? In February, he flew to Ghana to support his wife in her latest visa application.

This again was turned down, but she has appealed against it. Mr Leite said he was willing to go through the whole long process again and again until his wife, who is 33, is allowed to come and live with him here. He has enlisted the help of Norwich MPs Ian Gibson and Charles Clarke.

Dr Gibson said: ?We are still waiting to hear from the department and are chasing them up.?

A spokesman for the British High Commission was unavailable for comment.

? Are you locked in a visa row? Telephone Evening News reporter Peter Walsh on (01603) 772439 or email peter.walsh@archant.co.uk