In this episode of Voices; we meet an elderly couple who say outdated immigration rules are unfair and need an overhaul. Produced by Sara Vui-Talitu.

Ron Falconer's story is so unlikely, immigration officials didn't take it seriously at first.

Now, Ron's honesty is standing between him and a life in New Zealand.

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Like any modern-day romance, elderly couple Fiona Lundy, a Kiwi, and Ron Falconer, a Scotsman, met online and fell in love.

In 2014, Fiona suggested Ron come to Aotearoa to visit her for three months during the wet season in French Polynesia where he had lived for many years.

When Ron arrived in New Zealand that first time, in December 2014, he wanted to be honest.

"I had a really strange story about being sent off a deserted island which I never took seriously as it was a harmless situation but I had been removed from an island... well actually two islands," admits Ron.

So, he ticked the YES box on the immigration questionnaire that asked if he'd ever been deported.

He was stopped by an immigration official and told them the story.

Essentially, it goes back thirty years, to when Ron was working as a caretaker on Millennium Atoll. It's a pristine uninhabited island in the middle of the Pacific ocean. Back then, it was known as Caroline Island, the Kiribati government renamed it in 2000.

"I was there for 4 years with my French wife and two young children," explained Ron, "But the guy who had the lease lost it or rather it ran out and a businessman got interested in the fishing and all the things he could gain from the island. He wanted me off the island 'cause he wanted to kill the turtles and fish and collect what he could. He wanted to rape the island basically. He wanted me out of there."

Ron said the businessman used his Kiribati connections to get him booted off the island. Ron received a letter asking him to leave, so he did. He took his family and sailed away.

More than twenty years later at New Zealand's immigration counter, Ron told officials he'd written a book about his experiences called 'Together Alone'. The official checked his story out.

"She said hey yeah you did it and it's a good story and you got good reviews," recalls Ron.

"I mean I was protecting the island but I was essentially deported. So when I got to NZ and wrote deported, I thought I'd be honest."

And with that, Ron was allowed in. He left and returned a second time to marry Fiona.

Still no trouble getting into the country…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details