An Edmonton father is hoping a groundswell of public support will save his daughter from being separated from her family as her British husband goes off to war this summer.

"I'm very concerned. This is my grandchildren we're talking about," said John Kanis, whose daughter Samantha Crozier, 23, faces deportation by April 30 from Britain back to Canada due to a mistake on her residency application.

Crozier's battle to stay with her family has garnered significant public attention, including from British MPs who have begun lobbying the government to find a way to permit the foreign spouses of soldiers to remain in the country. So far, more than 60 politicians there have signed the document, something Kanis hopes will be enough to resolve the stalemate.

"What is encouraging is that it appears to be a bipartisan effort, because members of Parliament from virtually all parties have put their name to it," said Kanis.

Crozier's problems stem from a procedural error she made when she applied to live in Britain after she, her husband Lance-Cpl. Andrew Crozier and two young sons left a posting in Germany last year. At the time, the military was repatriating Andrew for a nine-month course, and after arriving in England on a temporary visitor's permit, Crozier, an Edmontonian who met her husband while he was in Wainwright for training, put in her request for residency.

British immigration rules, however, stipulate that she should have applied from outside the country. As a result, she'll soon have to return to Canada and reapply to go back, meaning she'll be away from her sons for up to a year as her husband likely leaves for service in Iraq or Afghanistan this summer.

"It is creating a fair bit of stress," said Kanis, who noted that as British nationals, the two sons, aged one and two, have no automatic right of entry to Canada. "For us, the greatest stress is there isn't squat I can do about it."

In the meantime, Crozier is making another bid to stay in Britain, where she says she as a military spouse "rightfully" belongs, by making a visa application from Spain. "I am in the process," a worried Crozier told Sun Media while on a family vacation in Spain yesterday. "Whether or not I'll get it, I don't know."

While Kanis said he can do little from Canada, he's confident that Crozier will put up a good fight. "They might get rid of her, but she ain't going quietly," he said.