A “PETRIFIED” Blackwood woman says she has just days to raise £4,000 to re-appeal a Home Office decision to deport her American husband.

Jonathan Brown, 33, an Iraq war veteran from Texas, has had an application to permanently stay in the UK rejected after he tried to extend his six-month citizen visa.

His wife of 11 years, Della Brown, from Fleur-De-Lis, had originally looked at a spouse visa but, because she earns less than £18,000 as a medical lab assistant, said this was turned down.

The 32-year-old then appealed to the Home Office on the grounds of Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights and the rights of their three children, Rhyse, 10, Tim, nine, and Lily-Rae, three, to have a father at home.

But Mrs Brown said this was also turned down.

As a last resort, the couple have now set up a petition in the hope of getting their case looked at again, and raising the £4,000 needed to re-appeal by the end of the month.

She said: “I’m petrified, absolutely petrified. What right do they have to take my children’s dad away? We feel we’ve been punished for doing things the right way and the legal way.

“It’s almost as if they’re saying, 'If you don’t have the money, you have to fall in love with another British citizen'. That’s it.”

Mr Brown, a private who served in three Iraq tours in 2005, 2010 and 2011, first met his wife on a Yahoo chat room in 1999.

He proposed to her on Valentine’s Day in 2004, just weeks after meeting physically in Texas for the first time, and the couple were married nine months later – despite living 7,700 miles apart at the time.

At first, while waiting for her green card - which was eventually granted in January 2009 - Mrs Brown could only visit her husband in 90-day blocks.

She found work as a waitress in the States, but the couple’s children found it difficult to settle and she returned to Wales five months after the birth of Lily-Rae in June 2012.

To support his family, Mr Brown stayed in Texas to work as a contractor for the US government, but applied for a citizen visa last year after he was made redundant.

The Home Office granted this but when he applied for a permanent visa, to the cost £6,000, which would have enabled him to work, Mr Brown said he was turned down.

“It was devastating, like my whole world had been taken away from me," he said. "I felt completely rocked.

“It’s like someone has slammed the door in my face and shut everything off. It’s really hard for us to do anything really.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “All visa applications must meet the requirements of the immigration rules and each is carefully considered on its individual merits."

The couple’s petition has already gained more than 2,214 signatures since being set up at 6pm on Wednesday.

To sign it, visit https://www.change.org/p/the-home-office-american-husband-and-father-to-3-children-has-been-told-to-leave