Leeds Visa Problems hits the headlines
By Rich Baggott
August 7 2008
When you hear of Visa problems associated to a football club, your first thought is of an exciting new foreign signing - or in recent years at Elland Road, an often disappointing foreign signing! The club has been making headlines today for different reasons though - the plight of one fans quest to travel to the UK to see his team play.
Aravind Subramanian lives in Chennai, on the East coast of India and has followed Leeds United for the past seven of eight years. He is a regular poster on our own message board and other football sites around the Web. To date, he has posted over 26,000 messages to our board alone and his commitement to Leeds United could never be doubt.
It has always been a dream for him to travel to England to see Leeds play, and this summer, it seemed his dream was becoming a reality as he managed to secure the funds for a flight over. He submitted the Tourist Visa application, required to visit the UK and bought tickets to stay in the UK for one week, o se the Chester and Oldham game - but was dismayed to learn only last week that his Visa application had been rejected.
The reason, a trip to see Leeds United play was not credible
Not to be defeated, Aravind, or SA as he is more commonly known on Leeds messageboards began gathering more evidence, and as news of his plight spread, Leeds fans also jumped to the rescue. Emails were sent to the club and local media and many fans quickly signed a petition saying that SA was a fan they knew and trusted. Other sent letters of support, validating his claims that he is a genuine fan.
Leeds CEO, Shaun Harvey also offered his support to the issue, providing letters and documents to support SA resubmitted applications, and word spread on the media. This morning SA was interviewed on BBC Radio Leeds, the BBC Asian Network and was even on Radio Five Live.
We continue to wish SA luck with his application for a Visa - hopefully he will hear a decision by the end of this week, allowing him to travel to the UK for his short stay next Monday.
We'll keep you posted!
''Our greatest glory consist not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.''
RIP Welsh Pete
don't stop fighting against the pompous @rseholes!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:08:07:13:38:23 by lee-ds.
in the end
Cheers Fellas . I can see this story having a happy ending ..
SA
I haven't logged on for ages til this week.
I am writing to immigration NOW!!!
Greg.
