A family was left “heartbroken” and separated this Christmas after the Department of Immigration refused to allow a grandmother and her granddaughter to land in Bermuda on two occasions, despite apparently granting them approval.

Veronica Mullings was on her way to Bermuda from Jamaica via Toronto to visit her son David Buchanan and his family with Mr Buchanan’s 12-year-old daughter Davine in tow.

On arrival at L.F. Wade International Airport, they were told that, due to a 2014 change in law, their VH1 visitors’ visas were required to be valid for 45 days after their departure date from Bermuda. According to Mr Buchanan’s wife, Manaie, she was not informed of this when she called immigration to inquire about landing requirements for Bermuda. The visas they did have were due to expire a few days short of what was required.

Ms Mullings and Davine were put on a return flight to Toronto while their family in Bermuda tried to rectify the problem with immigration.

According to Ms Buchanan, an immigration officer apologised that his colleague had not informed them of the requirement and told them that he had managed to get approval for her family members to return, which they attempted to do on Friday, December 23.

However, on their return, just a few minutes before landing, the Buchanans in Bermuda were told that the pair would not be permitted to land for a second time, again due to the visa issue. Despite their pleas and explanation that they had been granted approval, Ms Mullings and Davine were put on a plane back to Toronto. They are now staying with a family of strangers they met on a flight coming from Kingston to Toronto who offered to put them up over the holiday period.

Ms Buchanan told The Royal Gazette: “My husband had to go deep back into his pockets and get another two tickets for them to come back. We didn’t want to let them down on — it was their first trip to Bermuda. We bought them presents and they are all still here wrapped up for them. It is only because they told us we were approved that we did that and they came back.

“We were really excited going to the airport on the Friday to pick them up. But just before the plane landed I was told they were going to refuse them to land again — we had all been in such good spirits.

“What really hurts my heart is they approved it the second time and ten minutes before they land they decide to tell us they are sending them back. What hardship you have caused our family near and far. Mostly it hurts. The girl just wants to see her daddy; she speaks to him and says, ‘I just want to spend Christmas with you.’

“It’s the same for all of us — we haven’t seen them for a long time and we made so many arrangements for them so they would have a happy Christmas in Bermuda, and this is what Bermuda did to them.

“I am not the sort of person who pursues stuff but this seemed so unjust. My ten-year-old grandson [in Bermuda] was crying. And only through the grace of a stranger do they have somewhere to stay.

“They are still there now in Toronto. They said they would have to deport them back to the US as deportees. They are not criminals. You [immigration] made the mistake when you approved the second time for this to happen and then change it ten minutes before the plane lands? You think people have money to throw away?

“We are brokenhearted — how can you do that to people?”

The Buchanans paid about $3,000 for their first two round-trip tickets as well as $1,600 for their return journey.

The family is waiting on immigration, which says it is aware of the case, to give a response.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Immigration said: “The Department of Immigration will not be issuing a public statement regarding this case. It is the Department’s policy not to comment on individual cases.”