A guest worker may be forced to leave the Island after suffering years of abuse at the hands of his Bermudian wife.

The victim, who does not want to be named, is now calling on the Department of Immigration to look at cases on an individual basis.

The man said his wife had been threatening him with deportation ever since they got married four years ago.

In January he had to give up his job and apply for a work permit.

?She said she knew people who could get me deported,? he said. ?The night before she reported me (to Immigration) we had been together.?

He claims his estranged wife also wrote letters to the Department of Immigration stating that they were no longer living together. But he claims that she failed to disclose that they have been receiving marital counselling at both the Physical Abuse Centre and at the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP).

?I think that Immigration needs to look at cases on a point by point basis, rather than just deciding that we are all economic immigrants who married just to stay on the Island,? he said.

?I didn?t come here on her ticket ? I came in to work as a waiter in a hotel and I had been here for ten years before we got married.

?At the moment I just feel like I am an empty soda can that has been thrown in the trash. I have been a model citizen and I also volunteer my time.?

Rose Vickers of the Physical Abuse Centre said the threat of deportation is becoming prevalent, with both men and women who are married to Bermudians.

?For some the spouse takes the person?s passport and there is a constant threat of being deported,? said Ms Vickers.

?They are also threatened that they will not be able to take their children.

?There are more foreign men and women reporting domestic abuse. Something needs to be done. Marriages break down whether you are Bermudian or not.?

The man said he left his wife because even though they had been receiving counselling for several years, the beatings and the mental abuse did not stop.

?I left because I got tired of being beaten up by her,? said the man, who added that he was still in love with her.

?I love my wife and that is I why I have continued to try to work things out.?

?It?s not easy when you love someone who is like this. Thankfully for my friends I am able to keep going.?

The man said speaking to the wrong person might spark an argument with his wife. If he spoke to a woman then things were even worse.

?I could be driving along and she would have a fit and start beating me as we drove,? he said.

?If she thought I had done anything wrong then she would throw things at me ? usually really expensive things from my country.

?I would just get up no matter how cold it was and go and sit near the water rather than hit her back. I wasn?t brought up to hit women.?

?If my friends knew then they would laugh at me,? he said.

?I can?t tell anyone what I am going through. How can I tell them that on top of what they have seen there is more... she beats me.?

The couple had a long courtship for about ten years before getting married.

He said: ?We met at a party and everything was all right, we had split up a few times during our relationship, but everything always worked out. I loved her, that?s all that mattered.

The man claimed he first noticed a change on their wedding night. ?It was suddenly all about her, her children and the money,? the man said.

?I never knew someone could change so fast. She is a really good actress because I couldn?t see her for who she was.?

He said that after the marriage she began to isolate him from his friends and every time he would go out he was subjected to searches.

?She?d say, ?I don?t like so-and-so?, and when I?d come home no matter the time she would systematically check my wallet, my pockets, and she?d smell me, while accusing me of sleeping with someone else.?

Minister of Home Affairs and Public Safety Randolph Horton said he would look into the case.