A DISTRAUGHT mother can't be with her daughter in America on her ninth birthday - because of Home Office red tape.

American Joanne Maynard, who is seeking a visa to set up home in Herman Terrace, Chatham, with new husband Ben, is unable to travel as she is awaiting the return of her passport. The mother-of-three is effectively trapped in Britain.

Although she has sent a letter to the Home Office pleading for them to grant her wish of visiting her children, she has been told she will have to wait at least six months before she can leave the country.

She says she cannot bear to break the news to her daughter, Amy, that she will be 4,000 miles from her on her special day next month.

In the past two years, Mrs Maynard, 39, has spent just two weeks with children, Amber, 15, Derek, 12, and Amy, who live with her ex-husband in Virginia Beach.

She said: "I'm distraught. I cannot think about anything else apart from seeing my children again. My little girl's expecting me to be there on her birthday on June 27, but I just don't know how to tell her I won't be there for her. I've begged them to speed up the process, but I've been told it could take six to nine months because of a backlog."

Mrs Maynard is waiting for a permanent resident visa from the Home Office so that she can stay in the UK after her temporary visa expired in September.

The visa delays also meant the newly-weds had to cancel a honeymoon in Paris despite booking it for two months after their wedding at Chatham Register Office in January. The couple met via the Internet in 1999 and first saw each other at the Millennium Eve celebrations in New York.

Mrs Maynard came to Medway for a two-week holiday in April 2000, before moving in with her 23-year-old computer programmer husband in August of that year. The couple married this January.

Mrs Maynard said: "It's been a real struggle. I've done everything by the book but I just keep encountering red-tape. All we want to do is be together. It was a huge sacrifice to leave my children. I speak to them twice a week. My only wish is to see them as soon as I can and hug them."

A Home Office spokesman said: "There's been an increase in our workload over the last 12 months which has led to some delays. We are not able to process all applications as quickly as weÕd like to.

"We appreciate that this can cause difficulties if a person needs to urgently travel, but we always try to accommodate requests."