Just like millions of other men, newlywed David Scott is enjoying the holiday season with his wife.

But spending their first Christmas together as husband and wife - a situation taken for granted by most couples - has been a dream come true for David, of Yeadon, and US citizen Paige.

The couple will also be seeing in the new century together at Paige's home in Savannah, Georgia, but face the heartache of being separated again on New Year's Day.

Immigration rules mean David must fly home on January 1 but the disappointment will be tempered by the knowledge that their bid to be together permanently has moved a step closer and is set to become a reality in 2000.

In September, the Telegraph & Argus revealed how David, 29, and Paige, 32, who met via an Internet match-making service in April, feared immigration red tape would keep them apart at Christmas.

The couple plan to live together in America, and after marrying in June, completed immigration papers. But a backlog of work means they will not be fully processed until later next year.

Paige has used up her full vacation entitlement and David had been told applicants were not permitted to visit America while waiting to emigrate. David called on the US Embassy to grant him special permission to visit America at Christmas and, after enlisting the support of Aireborough MP Paul Truswell, was told he could travel to the US as a tourist but would have to convince immigration officers on entry that he would return to Britain.

David said: "The pressure of separation had been building up so it was very important for us to be together for our first Christmas. It's a time you should be with your family and loved ones and if you're not you feel the loneliness and separation even more.

"We also wanted to spend the Millennium together. It's a once-in-a -lifetime event and, for us, it's at the start of a new lifetime - we know New Year's Day will be the start of the year in which we'll finally be together permanently.

"If we could have one Millennium wish it would be that everything's sorted out by the end of spring and that we'll be together by our first wedding anniversary on June 3.''

Meanwhile, David's application for a temporary residency visa has been approved by the US Immigration and Naturalisation Service.

It has now been passed to the National Visa Centre which will forward it to the US Embassy in London where David will have to be interviewed by officials before a final decision is taken.

He said: "That news was the best Christmas present I could have got.''

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.