Couple left in limbo after wedding cancelled

Carrickfergus woman Louise Murray (25) was due to marry Boston native Jason Chariewicz (29) in her home town next weekend.

But with the ongoing global health crisis curtailing their wedding plans, the couple were then dealt a further blow after it appeared they would not be able to meet the requirements of Jason's visa.

Due to immigration rules, the visa cannot be renewed unless the couple are married - meaning Jason may have to return to the US when it expires at the end of August.

"We had to have everything organised before we even applied for Jason's visa," said Louise, a former Belfast High pupil who met her fiancé while teaching English in South Korea. "So we had our reception planned, which was supposed to be a big party in a countryside venue - that was paid for and organised long before we even left Korea. The date was set for the 23rd of May."

When it became apparent that the lockdown measures would impact on their wedding plans, the couple were left "incredibly disappointed". Louise said: "We had spent so long thinking that when Jason got the visa and we touched down in Ireland, our stress would be over and we'd be ready to throw ourselves into the excitement of Jason meeting my family and getting ready to be married.

"We never foresaw that the pandemic would crush all of that and leave us so vulnerable with the visa situation.

"We saw how the virus spread in South Korea - I never considered that it would leave Asia and cause havoc in Northern Ireland! Ironically, Korea is one of the safest places to be right now and life is almost normal there."

Initially, the local parish priest offered to perform a small marriage ceremony at the home of Louise's parents in Carrickfergus. However, restrictions on gatherings once again prevented plans from going ahead: "He had offered to marry us with just him and two witnesses, my parents, who live in the same household as us, to get the legal marriage done - then we could have our celebration and have a little renewal of nuptials ceremony in the autumn. But he is prevented from legally marrying us as all marriages are banned, including legal ones.

"Now we have postponed our celebration for October, but it's hard now to even look forward to that, because we don't know what Jason's immigration status will be in the autumn or what developments will have happened with regards to the virus and our situation. But we are really hoping to still have a special day as we'd planned with our friends and family."

The ongoing global health crisis has also impacted on Louise's ability to work, which in turn affects the financial requirement of her fiancé's visa. "Jason is on a Marriage Visa, or fiancé visa. The condition is that we get married before the visa expires at the end of August," Louise explained. "When we are married he can apply for a spousal visa, which would give him the right to remain in the UK with me. We meet the strict financial requirements of both visas; they wouldn't have granted us the fiancé' visa if we didn't.

"If the pandemic hadn't happened that would still be the case, and getting the spousal visa extension would be no problem. However, as I can't be paid by my employer because of COVID-19, and haven't worked since February for those reasons which are outside my control, there is a gap in my income that will put me beneath the previous year income threshold if we have to delay our legal marriage, which it's looking like we will."

The couple are hoping that the Home Office will take into account the exceptional circumstances when they apply for the spousal visa. "The process to move home with Jason and get this visa, to translate all my evidence from Korean into English, to pay the Home Office fees - it's all been thousands of pounds. So we are hoping that ourselves and others in our situation will be treated fairly by the Home Office," Louise said.

"If we could get legally married in May, my income from May 2019 until now should still meet the [financial] requirement, despite the fact that COVID-19 has put me out of work for the past few months.

"We are hoping that the Executive will lift the ban."