A Galway woman and her Brazilian husband, who was wrongfully deported amid claims of a sham marriage, will be reunited before Christmas.

Harriet Bruce has taken to social media to share her exciting news, following a HSE reversal of the determination that she and her other half had married for convenience.

Now the pair are looking forward to Christmas together in Ireland and are already planning a celebration with friends and family early in the new year.

Writing on Facebook she said "excited is an understatement we've no words to describe how happy we both are".

"This has been a very challenging few months but I gave it my all and eventually we got the justice we both deserve," she said.

"Looking forward to the celebrations over Christmas & settings new goals for the new year".

The beautician and hairdresser also thanked people for sending gifts and well wishes, saying the "support is unbelievable".

Kleber Medeiros was deported in July pending the completion of a HSE investigation into his application for a marriage license. A member of the public had objected to his application.

“The objection was made completely out of malice; the stuff in the objection was completely ridiculous,” Harriet previously told Independent.ie.

“It was made anonymously and we weren’t told about it until weeks after.”

Mr Medeiros came to Ballinasloe from Sao Paolo in 2012 and began seeing Harriett Bruce a year later.

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They got engaged last August and set a wedding date for December.

Just three weeks before their wedding, they received a notice that a member of the public had objected to the marriage and that the HSE would need to investigate before granting them a license.

Harriett and Kleber had people flying in for their wedding and decided to go ahead with the religious ceremony and get the license when the case cleared.

Despite the fact that they immediately provided the HSE with documents including utility bills to prove that they had been living together, the HSE took almost a year to decide that their desire to marry was not a sham.

In the meantime, Mr Medeiros was deported and the couple have been “completely in limbo” ever since.

Their plans to settle into married life and start a family were stalled.

Despite the fact that the HSE have now ruled in favour of the couple and allowed their marriage to continue, the deportation was still considered valid.

However, now the pair have managed to overcome the red tape after a long campaign by Harriet.

Online Editors