David Cameron has expressed his hope that an Australian family fighting deportation from the Highlands will be allowed to stay.
He discussed the case of the Brain family from Dingwall during his final prime minister’s questions in Westminster yesterday.
SNP leader Angus Robertson had raised the issue in the Commons, saying: “The prime minister’s successor is very well known in Scotland at present—this is across all the front pages—because of the threat to deport the very much loved and liked Brain family from the Highlands.”
Mr Cameron responded: “Mrs Brain came to this country on a tier 4 student visa to study for a Scottish history degree.
“She completed it and her husband and son came as dependents. We have given them an extension until 1 August to put in an application for a work visa in the normal way, and I very much hope that will happen.”
Kathryn and Gregg Brain, who moved to Dingwall in 2011 with their son Lachlan, now seven.
They came to Scotland as part of a government initiative and had planned to transfer from Mrs Brain’s student visa to a two-year post-study work visa.
It was scrapped by the Home Office in 2012, however, so they have since been trying to apply for a Tier 2 visa, for people from outside the European Economic Area who have been offered a skilled job in the UK.
They hoped a job offer made to Mrs Brain by GlenWyvis distillery in Dingwall would meet visa requirements.
And a day before they were due to be deported on May 31 this year, Immigration Minister James Brokenshire gave the family an 11th-hour reprieve.
They can remain in the UK until August 1, but are not allowed to work.
