DAD Steve Bearns has thanked the people of Wallingford after and his family won a long-running visa battle.

The technology firm operations manager is celebrating after paperwork delays finally ended, allowing his wife to return from China to their home in the town.

After being reunited last week with Xia Zu, known as Mary in the UK, Mr Bearns said: "This is a dream come true and what we have wanted for so long.

"If it had not been for the Wallingford Herald and other media I don't think we would be where we are today - it would have taken us longer to get the decision we wanted.

"The Herald followed the case and that definitely helped to boost our profile.

"People in the town have been incredibly supportive - every time I went shopping in Waitrose people would ask me for an update."

The 56-year-old had been living with son Ryan, three, in the town but problems over his wife's visa meant she was unable to return from China and the couple were separated for 15 months.

Earlier this year Mr Bearns travelled with Ryan to China, where he spent a week with Xia Zu before leaving Ryan with his mother and returning to Wallingford.

After being given permission to return to the UK, Xia Zu received her passport and visa and arrived back in the UK yesterday, flying in from Hong Kong to Heathrow with Ryan.

Father-of-one Mr Bearns, who met Xia Zu, 36, in Shenzhen, China, in 2006 and married her there in 2010, said: "It's such a relief that we are all back together again in Wallingford.

"There were lots of tears and hugs at the airport, and when we got back home, but once we got back to Wallingford we tried to keep things as normal as possible for Ryan and took him to Rainbows nursery.

"Mary is delighted to be back and has already made contact with her friends to have a coffee morning even though she doesn't drink it - her favourite drink is hot water with honey.

"There were times during the past 15 months where I contemplated giving up and moving to China but I tried to stay positive."

Ms Xu said: "I'm so glad to be back - I'm happy we are all back together as a family in Wallingford."

The couple moved to the town after their son was born in 2013.

At first Ms Xu was granted a family visit visa that allowed her to stay in the UK for 180 days of any 12-month period.

Then Mr Bearns and his wife agreed to apply for a spouse visa as part of the process of being allowed to live in the UK.

The application was refused by the Immigration Service despite the couple having a child together, then granted on appeal at a tribunal.

Once the appeal decision was made the visa was not issued immediately before the dispute was finally resolved.

The couple were kept apart after Ms Zu went back to China to help look after her father and she stayed there while the visa dispute was being resolved.

Mr Bearns said his wife’s visa would now be valid for two-and-a-half years before she applied for leave to remain in 2019.