Rudy Austin’s agent has little hope of a successful appeal after Sheffield Wednesday’s attempt to sign the midfielder was dashed by the Football Association’s new work permit rules.

The Jamaica international Austin, 30, was released by Leeds United at the end of last season and Wednesday had appeared to have won the race for his signature. But Austin, who spent three seasons at Leeds and turned down a £500,000 move to Wigan Athletic in January, will be forced to uproot his family as he no longer qualifies for a work permit under the FA’s new regulations.

“For Rudy this is very traumatic,” said Austin’s agent, Darryl Powell. “We had agreed a deal in principle with Sheffield Wednesday, who were going to make him one of their best paid players, if not the best and that was going to be on a three-year contract.

“Unfortunately the appeal process does not really work any more. If you spend in excess of £10m on fees and salary you can bypass it. But other than that there’s not much chance, even though he’s right at the top-end of the pay scale and would make such a good contribution to life in the UK.”

Austin, signed by Leeds from the Norwegian side SK Brann in 2012, played a key role for Jamaica in their run to Sunday’s Gold Cup final in Philadelphia, where they lost 3-1 to the seven-times winners, Mexico.

“He came back into England two days before his work permit and visa expires, which is midnight on Thursday,” Powell said. “Under the new rules a player’s country of origin has to be in the top 50 in Fifa’s rankings over the last two years and Jamaica was in the top 75.

“His little boy, who is two, was born in England and Rudy and his wife want to make their home here. He was two years away from being naturalised but now he’ll have to leave the UK.”

Powell said there were possibilities for Austin with MLS clubs in the US and there had also been interest from Turkey. “It’s very sad really,” Powell added. “Over half of the clubs in the Championship would have taken Rudy on at the right level. We’d agreed a deal with Bolton in March but that could not be concluded due to their financial situation.”