AN INDIAN woman married to a Scot and living in the Highlands with their two young daughters has been granted a visa to stay in the UK – just weeks after she faced deportation because of immigration rules that were labelled as "madness" by her local MP.

Gloria Macleod was on her way home to Dingwall last month from Dubai – where her husband Robert works – after following Visa Office instructions and travelling there to complete the application process for a UK visa. But when she arrived at Inverness Airport, she was delayed for several hours, during which she was questioned by an immigration officer, despite already having a valid visa. Her passport was then confiscated and she was told she would be deported within days.

This would have meant the couple’s two daughters Siobhan, 11, and 10-year-old Meaghan, who are both British citizens, would be left in the care of their elderly grandparents.

However, an intervention by their MP – Ross, Skye and Lochaber member Ian Blackford – resulted in Gloria being given a stay of removal until UK immigration minister Robert Goodwill formally responded to his inquiry about the case.

The stay was later extended to the end of this month, but Gloria told The Sunday Herald yesterday: “We are delighted that I have been granted a 30-month visa to remain in the UK with my children. Both my husband Rob and I are ever so grateful for your help and support, as without it I don't think we would have had a positive outcome for my situation.

“We couldn't be more pleased with the quick turnaround from the Home Office in issuing my visa and appreciate the help from everyone involved.”

Blackford had previously described as “madness” the decision to deport Gloria and confiscate her passport.

“I am delighted that Gloria has been granted a 30-month visa to remain in Scotland,” he said yesterday. “This has been a huge trauma for the family with Gloria having been told on arrival at Inverness airport that she faced deportation. Gloria, Robert and the family have been put through an unnecessary ordeal, Gloria already had a visa that gave her the right to be in Dingwall when immigration officials sought to remove her rights to re-enter the country.

“We need to remember that Gloria's in-laws had been looking after her two children and she was looking forward to returning home and picking up the girls from school when the bombshell of deportation was dropped.

“The good news is that the Home Office have now given longer leave to remain and the family can get back to normal life, I am so pleased for all of them.”

Robert is a former Black Watch NCO and he and his family returned to his home town of Dingwall in July, where the girls were enrolled at the same school as young Lachlan Brain, whose parents Kathryn and Gregg also recently emerged from a similar ordeal with the Home Office.

The Macleods wanted a visa to enable Gloria to remain here and look after their daughters while Robert continued to support them through his work as a security manager in Dubai.