Tom Rolfe with his girlfriend Sam Edwards(Picture: Athena)

A British tourist has been kicked out of Canada for helping his girlfriend decorate her flat.

Tom Rolfe was accused of ‘doing a Canadian out of a job’ by immigration officials who found photographs of him and girlfriend Sam Edwards filling cracks in the walls of her flat.

The 24-year-old said: ‘It is ridiculous, I was just helping Sam to tidy up her flat before she sold it so we could get a place together. I was treated like a criminal and told I have eight days to get out of the country – it has wrecked our plans.’

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Mr Rolfe, of Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, hoped to open a dog rescue centre with his 27-year-old girlfriend in her home city of Edmonton, Alberta.

He applied for a resident’s permit and had to leave Canada to get his new visa stamped at immigration control.

But on their return, the pair were put through a three-hour ordeal and locked in separate rooms while officials searched their car and belongings.

Mr Rolfe said: ‘They found photos on my camera of me helping Sam fill cracks in her walls.

‘They said that by doing that I was denying a Canadian person a job. I was completely staggered when they said I had eight days to get out of the country.’

Mr Rolfe, who was accused of breaking the terms of his tourist visa, was packing his bags to fly home yesterday with Ms Edwards following him in a few months with their two dogs.

He said: ‘I’m done with Canada now. I thought they were part of the Commonwealth so I’m surprised to be treated like this.

The Canadian Border Services Agency said: ‘We do not provide any specific information on any traveller’s entry or status in Canada due to Canadian privacy laws.’