Mother gets wedding green light

The ceremony will be held at Lower College Hall at St Andrews University

A Zimbabwean woman will be able to attend her daughter's wedding in Fife after a u-turn by immigration officials.

Bride-to-be Catherine Dunford from Cupar, pleaded with the UK Border Agency after they turned down a visa application by her mother Shariwa.

Miss Dunford, 25, of St Andrews University, is due to tie the knot with partner Hugh Martin, 37, on 6 December.

She was "devastated" at the thought of getting married without her mother.

The ceremony is at the University College Hall.

Zimbabwe has undergone political and economic turmoil over the years and it is understood the UK Border Agency had concerns that Mrs Dunford may have been looking to settle in Britain.

'Emotional time'

The application was refused on 31 October but she lodged an appeal and Miss Dunford has now heard the visa had been granted.

Widow Mrs Dunford, 52, now looks set to travel to Scotland for the big day.

It will be her first trip to visit her daughter, who has British citizenship and came to the UK to study in 1999 aged 16.

Her Birmingham-born father had died four years previously.

Miss Dunford said: "My heart was in my mouth when I got the call and when I got off the phone I just started crying.

"It has been such an emotional time and I was actually beginning to believe that my mother wasn't going to be here for my wedding.

"I can't describe what it will mean to have her here."

A UK Border Agency spokesman said: "All visa applications are carefully considered on their individual merits against published criteria, looking at all available evidence and compassionate circumstances, and individuals will often have a right of appeal to the independent courts."