Siyabonga Twala has spent the past 18 months living in limbo in Ankara after he was stopped from boarding a flight back to Manchester with his family in December 2022.
Twala is expected home in Chester within days to be reunited with his nine-year-old son, Mason, after the decision to exclude him was revoked.
Giggling with relief over the phone, the 35-year-old said: "I'm so, so happy," adding that the first thing he wanted to do was play action figures with Mason. Hours earlier he had been in tears describing the pain of their separation.
The decision was made yesterday afternoon, less than 24 hours before a judicial review hearing was due in his case. "I was nervous about the hearing tomorrow, so for it to happen now is crazy," Twala said.
Days earlier it was disclosed to his lawyers that Twala had been on the brink of being brought home by immigration officials more than a year ago when Robert Jenrick personally intervened to block it. Twala said he had been "a victim of politics" after discovering the intervention of the then immigration minister.
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