IT took just an hour for Tanvir and Zerina Khan to realise they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together when they first met in Pakistan.

Four and a half years later the couple are married and celebrating Tanvir's British citizenship after a special ceremony in their home town of Fareham.

The pair met while Zerina, already living in the UK as a British citizen, was on a two-week visit in her native country in 1999.

Their families had arranged for them to meet but Zerina and Tanvir were more than happy with the match and got engaged just an hour after they met.

Zerina, a research scientist, said: "We were introduced in Pakistan and we met for about an hour before we had to decide whether we wanted to be married or not. But we were both very happy about it and got engaged there and then."

They waited a year before their wedding in Pakistan and Zerina called her new husband over to the UK a month after the ceremony.

Since then they have been living in Fareham.

Now Tanvir, 35, who is training to be a GP, has been granted British citizenship and is thrilled to live, work and bring up the couple's two children, Hameem, 3, and Shahryar, 1, in the country that he now calls home.

He said: "I feel more comfortable here now. In this country there are equal rights and you feel free. There is a lot more freedom."

At the special ceremony in Fareham Register Office, Tanvir stood alongside seven other people who were sworn in as British citizens.

Fareham mayor Councillor David Swanbrow welcomed the group asking them to respect the laws and rights of the country before handing out citizenship certificates.