The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Oz family face deportation in days after job blow
An Australian family conceded their chances of avoiding deportation were “vanishingly slim” after a hoped-for job failed to materialise.
Kathryn and Gregg Brain were banking on a role at Dingwall’s community-run Glen Wyvis distillery to secure the visa that would keep them and seven-year-old son Lachlan in the UK.
But, with the August 1 deadline looming, they have been told it is not available, sparking a desperate hunt for an eleventh-hour saviour.
Mr Brain said: “We are now hoping for the proverbial miracle.
“We would be going back with little more than the clothes on our backs, essentially homeless, jobless and significantly in debt.”
The family have lived in Dingwall since they arrived as part of a Scottish government initiative in 2011, but were left struggling when a retrospective Home Office rule change dashed their plans to convert Mrs Brain’s student visa into a two-year post-study residency.
After their case became a political hot potato at Westminster, the family were granted an extra two months to find a solution.
The prospect of working as a historian for a Glenwyvis visitor centre had appeared to be the graduatelevel role which would mean a work visa might be granted. It was also hoped that an unnamed benefactor’s promise of £4,000 to help cover the red tape costs, for any employer who hired Mrs Brain, would help their cause.
Ross, Skye and Lochaber MP Ian Blackford, who originally took up the family’s fight, said it was “disappointing” the job was no longer on the table. He appealed to other businesses to help rectify the “gross injustice” suffered by the family “at the hands of the UK Government”.
Mr Blackford added: “The Brain family have only ever expected the UK Government to honour the promises made to them when they were first granted visas to live and work in Scotland.”
GlenWyvis founder, John Mckenzie, said the original post was filled in May after the Brains were refused permission to work while they sought a new visa. A more recent vacancy attracted “a very large number” of applications from “very experienced individuals” and a short list will be drawn up next week.