A MAN from Yate has flown to Mexico to be with his bride after spending almost all of their first year of marriage on the other side of the world to her.

Dan Batson met his wife Mexican, Kenia Ochoa, a teacher, in 2017 through mutual friends on Facebook. During a trip to Mexico in 2018 the two became a couple and got engaged in 2019.

A wedding was booked in Yate for the summer of 2019 but was cancelled due to applications for both a UK fiancée Visa and work visa being denied.

Instead Dan flew to Mexico and married in Cuauhtémoc City. Following the marriage the newlyweds hired an immigration lawyer and started a new visa application; this time directly applying for the spousal visa. After spending Christmas and new year together in Mexico, Dan returned to England and hasn’t seen his bride since.

In February this year, the submission was made for a spousal visa and Kenia was given an appointment to attend a UK-operated Visa Application Centre in Mexico City, to have her biometrics taken. This would have been the final step in the visa application. However, the appointment was cancelled due to Covid-19 and as yet, the centre has not re-opened.

The couple have now started fundraising, after deciding to live in Mexico together until there is a resolution. Dan is due to fly to Mexico on Wednesday, August 12

The Gofundme page will fund work to Kenias family home to make enough space for the couple to live together, until they are able to continue Kenia’s visa application.

Dan said: “I’ve been living on my own for a year,The situation has left me feeling lonely.”