The road is now clear for a Nigerian woman to go to Britain to donate bone marrow to her sister who is undergoing treatment for leukaemia.
Martha’s application for visa had first been turned down by the British High Commission because her income was too low.
Doctors treating May Brown of Weymouth, Dorset had said her sister Martha was a “10 out of 10” tissue match.
May had cried out last week over the visa application rejection prompting a petition to the Home Office with over 61,000 signatures.
The Home Office said it reversed its decision on the visa application due to ‘exceptional circumstances’.
Immigration Minister Robert Goodwill said: “I have carefully considered the case of May Brown and decided that her sister will be granted leave to enter the UK given the compassionate and exceptional circumstances.”
Beverley De-Gale, co-founder of African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT), said Mrs Brown started a second round of chemotherapy at King’s College Hospital in London last Friday in the hope the surgery would go ahead.
Mrs Brown, 23, who lives with her husband Mike and two-year old daughter Selina-May in Weymouth, had been told her only chance of survival was an urgent stem cell transplant.
Mrs Brown said she was “overjoyed” by the news of the visa u-turn.
“I would like to thank the British public and beyond, and my MP Richard Drax for their overwhelming support. I would also like to thank ACLT,” she said.
“I will forever be grateful for the love and support they have shown my family and me.”
Medical tests identified Martha as a perfect match, the ACLT said, but she was initially refused a visa because her teacher’s salary of £222 per month was too low.
The charity, which set up the petition, said Mrs Brown had offered to cover all of her sister’s costs.