A WITHERNSEA couple will be waking up on opposite sides of the world this morning, after immigration laws forced them to live apart.
Gavin Clark, 59, who came over to East Yorkshire from Australia to marry wife Sarah, was issued with a deportation letter by the UK Border Agency last week.
Yesterday, he boarded a plane to New Zealand, facing months apart from the love of his life.
Struggling to hold back the tears, Mr Clark said: "What the UK Border Agency has done is just wicked.
"They have ruined my life and now I face months apart from my own wife.
"Trying to get into this country, I was made to feel like a paedophile, and now I'm leaving I feel like a criminal."
Mr Clark will stay with his wife's daughter and son-in-law, who live in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Mrs Clark plans to join him, once she has sorted out her own visa and sold the couple's house.
She said: "It is such a long, drawn-out process and it could take months before my application is even accepted.
"I've also got to have a medical at some point and I don't want to sell the house until I know for definite my visa has been accepted.
"The whole situation is just wrong. They have really picked on the wrong people."
The couple have battled to keep Mr Clark in the country since his original holiday visa ran out and his application to remain in the UK as a spouse was refused under new immigration laws.
The couple met more than three years ago on Facebook and their romance blossomed, culminating with a dream wedding last year.
They now plan to speak every day via Skype.
Mrs Clark said: "We will try to speak to each other every day on Skype, the way we did when we first got together.
"Gavin has set the computer up for me again here and he will buy a laptop from the airport and get it set up when he gets to New Zealand.
"I'm just going to miss him so much.
"I will take on extra shifts at work to keep me busy, but I don't know what to do without him."
Despite the support Mr and Mrs Clark have received from friends and family, the couple feel let down by the authorities.
Mr Clark said: "The way I have been forced out of this country is disgusting.
"I have been treated like a criminal by the UK Border Agency. They have made my life hell."
Mr Clark has also been left distraught at the prospect of not seeing his first grandson grow up.
He said: "I am the last of my generation, I have nothing in Australia to go back to.
"I sold everything to come here and now I have been forced to leave everything I have here.
"Mr daughter-in-law is expecting a baby boy in ten days and I won't get to see him grow up.
"All I will see will be pictures on Facebook."
The 59-year-old is also worried that his encounter with the UK Border Agency will cause problems for him travelling in the future.
He said: "Although I was told I would be deported by Thursday, I have left the country of my own free will earlier than I could have done.
"I am worried what this means for me when I want to travel to other places.
"Rest assured, though, I will never be coming back to the United Kingdom. I am done with this country forever."
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