A couple who got married just three weeks after they first met haven't seen each other for over five years - because the husband isn't allowed to travel to the UK. Sarah and Oluyemi Sholagbade, both 35, started chatting online in April 2015 and quickly fell for each other.
The following year, Sarah travelled to Nigeria and the pair met face-to-face for the first time - before celebrating their wedding day just three weeks later. Sarah made several more trips to Africa before Oluyemi decided to apply for a UK visa in the hopes of moving to be with his wife.
However, his application was denied - meaning that the couple haven't been reunited since March 2017. The pair say they have since spent £5,000 on legal aid in a desperate bid to overturn the Home Office's decision, Manchester Evening News reports.
But Oluyemi is still stuck in Lagos - while Sarah lives more than 4,500 miles away in Wigan. She said: “We both feel ‘where do we go from here?’ - it’s not easy. We stay in contact through WhatsApp, Facebook and video calls as well as TikTok.
“I haven’t got back out to him again because first of all we were trying to pay the solicitors and then Covid hit and now the cost-of-living crisis and everything is going pear shaped. We’re trying to save up anything we can for me to go over there.”
Sarah and Oluyemi met online in April 2015, with the pair quickly hitting it off. Oluyemi left his ex-partner to be with Sarah and they spent a year getting to know each other via phone calls and say it started as a friendship that blossomed into a romance.
Sarah said: “We met through Facebook - I did a video on trying to stop racism and he commented. I messaged him from there and we were just friends to start with before we spoke by phone one time and I just knew automatically that I kind of liked him.
"I told him but he was in a relationship at the time – he ended that and then we got together. At first it was more friendship and then it blossomed into romance but it did feel a bit strange because I wasn’t there with him."
A year after they first started talking, Sarah flew out to Nigeria in April 2016 – and within a few days of being there, the pair decided to get married. A few weeks later, they held a ceremony with Oluyemi’s family and friends.
Sarah kept the news secret from her family until she returned home and says despite their initial shock, they are now supportive of the relationship. They planned to see each other again later in 2016, with Sarah flying out to Nigeria again in September.
She managed to visit Oluyemi for a third time in March 2017, with her husband organising a beach party and barbecue for her birthday - sadly, it was the last time they saw each other. In 2016, Sarah first made a visa application on Oluyemi’s behalf – despite him asking her not to - but it was turned down due to him having insufficient funds to support himself in the UK.
She then applied again for a UK visa for Oluyemi in 2017. However, she claims she forgot she had previously applied and checked ‘no’ to a question asking if a visa had previously been requested for him.
The Home Office declined the application as a result and since then the pair have dedicated their resources to fighting the decision.
Sarah added: “I’ve written to the Home Office to say it was my fault but no one has listened. We’ve paid for solicitors to try and overturn their decision but nothing has worked at all – we spent about £5,000 on solicitors and they’ve tried but they just can’t appeal it because it says you can’t appeal. Unless there is a change of circumstances, I can’t apply again.”
A spokesperson for the Home Office said: "We do not routinely comment on individual cases. All visa applications are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with the immigration rules."
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