Oldmeldrum family reunited after Mum and Son stranded in Moldova

Toddler Damian was unable to get back to the UK, despite being born in Aberdeen, due to Brexit red tape - but now he's home.

Author: Lewis MichiePublished 17th Aug 2021

An Oldmeldrum family have been reunited, after their toddler was twice denied entry back into the UK due to Brexit red tape.

We reported last week about the problems the Cojocaru family ran into, leaving their son Damian unable to come home.

His Dad Nicolae is a UK Citizen and Mum Tatiana has settled status.

But when the deadline for applying for the settled status passed, the family didn't believe Damian - born in Aberdeen - was eligible for a UK passport.

This led to Tatiana and Damien travelling to Moldova, Tatiana's home country, to apply for a passport there.

They planned to send it back to Nicolae in Aberdeenshire, who would then apply for settled status for his son.

But he was then told Damian would need to supply biometric data in the UK, but he was twice denied access to a flight without a Visa.

But today the family are finally reunited at home, after pressure from their local MSP Gillian Martin found Damian did have the right to fly home.

Martin said: "It goes without saying that saying that I'm absolutely delighted that Nicolae, Tatiana and Damian are back in Oldmeldrum where they belong.

"We've been on tender-hooks watching what's been happening from a far, as we tried to get them home.

"Now they can hopefully get on with getting Damian his UK passport, and nothing like this will ever happen again - it never should have happened in the first place."

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