Patagonian in visa row leaves

Heddus Gwynedd had hoped Luis Austin could stay longer in Wales

A Patagonian man at the centre of a row over his visa has chosen to return home from Wales despite being told he could stay another week.

Luis Austin, who speaks only Welsh and Spanish, had been told to leave the UK at short notice for failing to say he was staying with his girlfriend.

At the last minute the authorities relented, but Mr Austin decided to go.

His girlfriend's MP said Mr Austin had made a naive mistake but was angry at the way a visitor was treated.

Mr Austin was originally told he could stay in the UK until next month, but was ordered to leave when he failed to tell the Immigration Service the extent of his relationship with his girlfriend, Heddus Gwynedd.

I think he is totally confused Heddus Gwynedd

He was about to fly back to Argentina on Tuesday when he was told he could stay another week. But he decided to go anyway.

Caernarfon MP Hywel Williams, who had taken up his case, said: "He has been dragged through this ridiculous process.

"I think he's had enough."

Along with hundreds of other people from Patagonia, Mr Austin is descended from Welsh-speakers who emigrated to Argentina in the 19th Century, and who still speak Welsh.

He had arrived in Gatwick airport on 19 October, but was detained and questioned by the Immigration Service, before being allowed to continue his journey to north Wales, to stay with his girlfriend in Waunfawr.

According to Ms Gwynedd, the problems arose when Mr Austin told officials that he was simply staying at her parents' house.

Ms Gwynedd said there had been the possibility that her boyfriend could have stayed another week but he had become so fed up he had decided to go anyway.

She said: "I think he is totally confused. He has taken their advice and gone through."

A Home Office spokesman said on Tuesday that the Immigration Service could not comment on individual cases for reasons of confidentiality.