A MOTHER-OF-TWO is overjoyed after gaining a visa which will allow her to stay forever with her family in York.

Huang Yan says she believed she would be deported to China by now - separated from her husband and children - had it not been for The Press and York Central MP Rachael Maskell.

“Without your help, our family wouldn’t be together today,” she told the newspaper. “We will always be grateful.”

The Press revealed last month how Huang Yan, who has been married to Nick Turnbull for 12 years and has lived in Clifton, York, for the past five years with their children Hetty, six, and Molly, nine, was being threatened with deportation because she had "not demonstrated sufficient knowledge of the English language".

The family could not get any information from the Home Office about its refusal to grant a visa giving her indefinite leave to remain.

However, The Press and Ms Maskell then made separate inquiries and discovered it was because she had not passed a recent language test with a provider who was currently accredited by the Home Office.

She then applied straight away to take such a test at an examination centre in Leeds, and passed it with top marks, but she remained fearful other obstacles might still emerge.

“Every time we’ve applied there has always been something wrong,” she said. “Even though I had passed the test we couldn’t say I had definitely got the visa. It was worrying.

“When I opened the letter I just couldn’t believe it was true. I was like 'Yessss!’ and the children were going crazy all over the place.”

Nick revealed that they missed the delivery of the letter confirming the good news just before Easter and had to wait several days for a re-delivery.

“We were thinking about it for the whole of the Easter holiday, not knowing if it was a ‘yes’ or a ‘no'," he said.

“I was just very relieved. It was very difficult not to get excited when the letter arrived so quickly, but the last time we got a quick letter it was declined.

“The card has to be renewed every five years but in effect she can remain.”

He said they had contacted The Press and the MP last month because they had been unable to find out why Huang Yan’s visa had been refused.

“We called the Home Office and their response was: ‘you are not allowed to talk to us about this'," he said. “We had no idea what to do.”

Huang Yan revealed that The Press’ original story had been picked up by a Chinese social media network used by a billion people, and it attracted 6,000 comments, many very supportive.

Nick revealed that the night they got the good news, they came home to find their water boiler had "exploded", with water going through all three floors. “But it hasn’t dampened our spirits!”

Ms Maskell said: “I am delighted that Huang Yan has had her visa granted; however this case has highlighted how broken the visa application process is.

“Having previously passed the English language test and after a catalogue of administrative errors by the Visa and Immigration Service, Ms Huang has to resit the test causing much uncertainty to her and her family,” she said. She added that she was here as an MP to "fight for just outcomes on behalf of all constituents".