BOOTED OUT OF OZ ..DESPITE SPENDING £85K ON LAWYERS
Scots family’s visa pain after 10 years
A DEVASTATED Scottish family are being “booted out” of Australia despite having lived there for 10 years.
Mark Green, his wife Kelly and their daughter Rebecca moved from Ayrshire to Australia in 2012 after electrician Mark was headhunted by a solar power company that offered to sponsor his visa.
The family have spent the last decade in Adelaide and are “absolutely gutted” at the prospect of leaving the country.
They will be forced out on August 10 if the Australian Government do not allow them to stay while they reapply for residency.
Mark, 44, said: “We really don’t want to come back to Scotland. It’s just a better way of life here.”
The Greens went out to Australia on a three-year visa.
They had hoped for permanent residency at the end of Mark’s contract, but his firm went bust and he had to find a new job and start the visa process again.
The same thing has happened to him seven times.
He added: “I got a call out of the blue from a company in Australia called Great Solar and they asked me to come work in Australia for them.
“They said they would pay for everything to bring my family out. We jumped at the chance.
“Turns out it was ‘not so Great Solar’ and it shut within 13 months. Since then, this has happened time and time again.”
The family have already spent around £85,000 (AUD150,000) on lawyer fees and visas, and travel back to Scotland will cost them another £34,000 (AUD60,000).
Also, if the family take their dog it would cost another £20,000 (AUD35,000).
He added: “I’m working seven days just now to afford to come home in August. “I’m really done in. “I want my daughter to go to university, but because of this situation she can’t because she’s not allowed.”
Rebecca, 18, works with her mum at a local bakery.
Kelly has been employed at local business Vili’s since she arrived in Australia. Her boss Mary told Australian news channel A Current Affair that losing her would be a huge loss to her company.
Mark’s employer Hai told the broadcaster he feels the same way.
A spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs in Australia said: “We do not comment on individual cases.”
We don’t want to come back. It’s a better way of life MARK GREEN ON HIS ATTEMPTS TO STAY IN OZ