A YOUNG Australian family’s battle to stay in Scotland will move up a gear today when Gregg, Kathryn and seven-year-old Lachlan Brain make an appearance on a popular BBC TV show and a radio phone-in.
The family, who have lived in Dingwall for almost five years, are scheduled to appear on the Victoria Derbyshire programme this morning, as well as Alex Salmond’s LBC Radio phone-in later this afternoon.
Tomorrow, they are due to meet First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at Holyrood.
Their case also features in an Early Day Motion (EDM) at Westminster, lodged by the family’s MP Ian Blackford.
Gregg told The National the family had been pleasantly surprised by the attention their case was receiving. “We’re looking forward to being able to plead our case, as it were, on television.
“The key point that sums it up for us is that we’ve done everything that was our side of the bargain – the Home Office offered us a two-year post study work visa to come here and all we want is for them to live up to their side of the bargain, rather than changing the deal after we’ve made the investment.”
Blackford, the SNP MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber, tabled the EDM with the Commons authorities late yesterday afternoon.
It reads: “That this House calls upon the UK Government to honour the principle of the post work study visa to the Brain family, currently living in Dingwall as was applicable when the family uprooted themselves from Australia to come to Scotland in 2011 and to recognise the contribution and commitment the family have made to Scotland in obtaining in Kathryn’s case a degree in Scottish history and archaeology, that the future of Scotland is represented by their seven-year-old son Lachlan whose primary language is Scots Gaelic; this House recognises that families such as the Brains are exactly the example that the Highlands needs if we are to deliver strong viable communities in the Highlands, a part of the country that has suffered from emigration for centuries; it is not emigration but immigration of families such as the Brains who can make a valuable contribution to life in the Highlands; this House further calls upon the Government to recognise that a granting of leave to stay together with the continuation of a right to accept employment is a necessary step until such times as the family can be in the position to find suitable long term employment compliant with the requirements for a tier two visa that will secure their permanent rights to remain in the UK.”
The motion also calls on the House to note that current UK immigration policy is not fit for Scotland’s requirements and calls on the Government “to reinstate the post work study visa for students studying in Scotland”.
Blackford told The National: “The Brain family have less than a week before they have to leave Scotland and it’s vital that we pull out all the stops to allow them to remain in Scotland.”
He also revealed he had written to immigration minister James Brokenshire.Blackford said: “I am asking the Minister to grant the family leave to stay here and give them the right to accept employment until they are in a position to meet the requirements of a tier two visa that would secure them the right to remain permanently in the UK.”
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