FATHER Steve Bearns is facing the heartbreaking task of taking his son to China as his wife is stranded there as a result of visa delays.

Steve Bearns, 56, lives in Wallingford with son Ryan, three, but complications regarding his wife Xia Zu's visa means she is unable to return from China for the time being.

When the technology firm operations manager called for the Immigration Service to speed up an appeal hearing regarding the issuing of the visa the request was turned down.

Wantage MP Ed Vaizey has been lobbying the Home Office on behalf of Mrs Bearns, known as Mary in the UK.

Now Mr Bearns is preparing to take Ryan back to China where he will spend the first six months of the year with his mother, before he returns to the UK.

Mr Bearns said: "Ryan really wants to see his mum but he doesn't want to go back to China.

"He is now facing a trip of thousands of miles in January."

Staff at Rainbow Pre-School in Wallingford are supporting Mr Bearns' plea for the visa to be issued swiftly.

Pre-school supervisor Paula Clifton said: "I really hope the visa situation is sorted out as soon as possible and hope Mary can come home so that Ryan can have his mum back.

"Everyone at the nursery is supporting Steve and his family."

Mr Bearns met Xia Zu in Shenzhen, China, in 2006 and they married there in 2010.

The couple decided to live in Britain and moved to Wallingford after their son was born in the UK in 2013.

Last week Mr Vaizey criticised the Home Office for not processing the visa application quickly enough and complained when the latest decision regarding the case was sent by mistake to a Labour MP instead of to him.

Mrs Bearns, 35, was initially granted a family visit visa that allowed her to stay in the UK for 180 days of any 12-month period.

Last year Mr Bearns and his wife agreed to apply for a spouse visa as part of the process of being allowed to live in the UK.

The application was refused by the immigration service, then granted on appeal at a tribunal, but the spouse visa has not yet been issued.

In January, Mrs Bearns went back to China to help look after her sick father and has stayed there since because her appeal for a spouse visa, which lasts for two-and-half years, is still being processed.

Mr Bearns added: "The latest I have heard from the immigration service tribunal is that the latest appeal will not be held until March."

The Home Office issued a statement earlier that the Bearns' family was continuing to appeal for the visa to be issued.