Visa couple enjoying life together one year since they won appeal

But the strain of overturning the ruling proved so much for Robert Cooper that he has temporarily stepped down from his role as a church pastor.

His wife Adna, who is from Brazil, is working full-time for a logistics firm in Halesowen, while the pair both live in a flat in Brierley Hill.

The couple's high-profile campaign was covered by the regional media and received support from Chris Kelly, who recently stepped down from his Dudley South MP seat.

It started when Adna, aged 36, was refused a permanent entry to the UK to live with her husband Robert, 40, despite the pair marrying in Kingswinford in 2000. They lived together for three years in the Black Country, but on leaving to live in Brazil, Adna was told she could not come back permanently two years ago.

She stayed in the UK on a tourist visa, but had to leave in January last year, sparking an appeal by the pair against the Home Office decision.

In May last year, however, the couple won their appeal following a campaign and a tribunal hearing, and Adna was given a visa to stay.

The pair must get the stay extended next year, but after it runs for five years she will be granted a permanent visa to remain in the UK.

Robert, who gave up his job as a pastor for a Brazilian-based church in London in January, said: "It's been a great year to be back together again. At one point it didn't look we'd get make it, but we did and we're trying to enjoy everyday.

"I don't understand still why we were refused.

""I agree we need tight controls on immigration but I believe they should stop discriminating against British citizens and afford us the same rights as other European citizens when applying for entry clearance for non-EU spouses, it is totally unfair."

He added: "The whole appeal did drain me. It took so much out of me I couldn't continue my role as a pastor and had to get help myself.

"I'm now doing English tutoring, but hope to go back to being a pastor soon."

The couple first met while Robert, a former pupil at Pensnett School, was doing missionary work in suburbs outside Sao Paulo in October in 1999. They returned to the UK the following year.