HEADLINES about the UK’s immigration policy are nothing new, but the case we highlight today is a disturbing one.
Gregg and Kathryn Brain and their son Lachlan are an Australian family with Scottish roots, who decided around 10 years ago that they would like to make Scotland their home, at a time when Highland homecoming was being promoted by the Scottish Government in Australia and was backed by the Home Office.
After five years of sorting out the logistics, Kathryn successfully applied for a student visa, with husband Gregg and their son listed as dependents.
They have called Dingwall home for more than four years as she studied for her degree at the University of the Highland and Islands.
Lachlan’s first language is Gaelic, he is a diligent and popular pupil at school in Dingwall and has even competed in a local Mod. His parents have been offered full-time work but the Home Office has told them they are not allowed to take up the jobs.
The Brains followed all the steps they were told to when they applied to come here, but the UK Government wants to throw them out on what appears to be a technicality.
They have been told that they can appeal against the decision not to grant them an interim visa – which would then give their prospective employers time to seek the required licences – but they will have to leave the country and appeal from outside the UK.
It is no secret that Scotland’s approach to immigrants differs greatly from other parts of the UK. Nor is it any secret that we have for years been trying to repopulate the Highlands.
There can be few better examples of an ideal immigrant family: parents who are willing to work and have taken nothing from the state; who are so well-liked in their community that friends have launched a crowdfunding bid to help them; a bright and popular young son who has embraced the Gaelic culture.
They should be allowed to stay and we hope the Home Office will see sense.
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