A wrestling champion has been reunited with his toddler and pregnant wife after a Brexit immigration nightmare in Moldova.
An emotional Nicolae Cojocaru praised the Record after two-year-old Damian finally flew back to Aberdeen on Sunday.
He said: “Thank you so much.”
The Cojocaru family has been in a hellish battle trying to ensure Damian has the legal right to stay in Scotland.
Nicolae, who is the senior wrestling champion in the UK, is a British citizen and wife Tatiana has pre-settled status, but Aberdeen-born Damian must apply for “settled status” after Brexit.
A lack of identity papers for him meant the Oldmeldrum-based family travelled to Moldova in June, where Nicolae and Tatiana were born, to get the documentation they needed.
But with Damian’s passport in the UK as part of the application process, Nicolae believed the only way he could get his son back to Scotland was by securing a fast-track visa.
A letter from the UK Visas and Immigration service claimed Damian could return but the child was not allowed to check-in at the airport in Moldova.
Following talks with the Home Office, which apologised for the “inaccurate” information they received, Tatiana and Damian flew to Luton on Sunday and were reunited with Nicolae at Aberdeen airport that day.
Nicolae, below, said: “I was very angry with the Home Office but it is such a relief.
"I really hope nothing like this ever happens to another family.”
Aberdeenshire East MSP Gillian Martin, who has been assisting the family, said: “No family should have to experience the trauma this family have and as I said before, this clearly highlights the out-dated system in the Home Office, which is neither clear nor supportive.”
The Home Office said: “We apologise to the Cojocaru family for the incorrect information they received.”
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