The dad of a Welsh tourist detained in a US immigration centre has urged travellers to be “very careful” about their visa requirements.

Becky Burke, 28, has spent 10 days in a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing centre in Washington State and was also denied entry into Canada, over a “visa mix-up”, said Paul Burke.

He said Ms Burke got free accommodation for helping host families “around the house”, which he believes authorities may have suspected broke the terms of her tourist visa.

The US Department of Homeland Security has been asked to comment while the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) confirmed it was were supporting a British national.

Mr Burke told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast he could not understand why she was “locked up and she’s in an orange prison jumpsuit whilst the paperwork gets sorted out”.

He said what was meant to be a life-changing backpacking trip “has turned into a nightmare”.

The artist, from Portskewett, Monmouthshire, had flown from New York to Portland, Oregon, where she spent time with a host family, helping with household chores in return for accommodation.

At the end of February she travelled to Seattle with plans to travel to Vancouver in Canada to stay with another family.

However, when she reached the border, Mr Burke said the Canadian authorities denied her entry as they were concerned she may try to work illegally.

Ms Burke’s dad described the situation as a misunderstanding of her accommodation arrangements, which were “just like a cultural exchange”.

When the Canadian authorities took her back over the border, Mr Burke said his daughter was told she was being detained as they considered “that host family cultural exchange to be work”.

“So basically she couldn’t go into Canada, she wasn’t allowed in the US,” he said.

Mr Burke said homeland security took his daughter to an immigration detention centre in Tacoma, Washington, and wanted to warn others