An Australian man is reportedly being held in a US detention centre for overstaying his visa by a just over hour.

Fairfax reports Canberra man Baxter Reid and his American girlfriend Heather Kancso were attempting to leave and re-enter the USA via Canada on April 23.

They were trying to fulfil the requirements of the former Australian Army worker’s five-year visa by exiting and re-entering the US every six months.

But Ms Kancso said Canadian border officials held the couple up with “remedial questions” and “hours of dead time in between” when the couple drove to the Canadian border in upstate New York before his visa was due to expire at midnight on April 24.

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“After wasting over four hours there, they [Canadian authorities] sent us to the US border patrol because they refused to let Baxter through,” she said on the GoFundMe page.

“The US border patrol ended up taking Baxter away, because after waiting for hours with the Canadians, he technically violated his visa requirements and was illegally in the US for a single hour.”

She said border police then arrested the 26-year-old and took him to prison.

Ms Kansco has since started a GoFundMe page to raise money for an immigration lawyer.

As of Tuesday the page has raised more than $5,000.