A KENYAN woman is facing a Catch-22 situation as she seeks to avoid deportation from York, her husband claims.

Marysella Earnshaw, who married Haxby man Robert Earnshaw in January, is set to be sent back to Kenya next month.

The Press reported earlier this week how the UK Border Agency had refused a request for a “spouse visa” to remain in Britain for an additional two years, and said she needed an English language certificate to be able to stay in England.

This week Mr Earnshaw made urgent inquiries with a college in Leeds to see if she could take the relevant exam as soon as this weekend to assist with an appeal against deportation, but was told she needed to have a passport to be able to sit the exam.

However, Mrs Earnshaw’s passport had been retained by the agency because she was facing deportation.

The only alternative was to obtain a photocopy of her passport and a covering letter from the agency, but time was running out as the deadline for an appeal in early May loomed closer.

When contacted by The Press, a spokesman for the UK Border Agency said: “Mrs Earnshaw needs to speak to her local immigration team who can arrange for the return of her passport, or provide a copy.”

Mr Earnshaw told earlier this week how he was treated for bowel cancer in 2009 and 2010 and how his life has been transformed since he met and fell in love with Marysella last year, while she was studying for a masters degree at York St John University and while they were both also working as support workers in York.