An Australian couple and their young son who won their long-running battle to stay in Scotland have welcomed in the new year with hope for the future.
The Dingwall-based Brains, who faced deportation, were able to spend the festive season in the UK after the Home Office granted them leave to remain.
Kathryn Brain, 49, finally secured a visa after getting a qualifying job with the Macdonald Hotels group as a museum curator-historian based at its Aviemore resort.
Her husband Gregg, who has also now found a job at a produce company in Dalcross, said the family spent Christmas with close friends.
Among them were those who helped launch the campaign to highlight their plight.
Mr Brain said his wife was “having a ball” in her new post, adding: “She has told me that if she had to write her dream job description it would look pretty much like what she’s doing.
“She is setting up the visitor centre from a blank page.”
He added: “It’s wonderful to be working. People always say to us ‘you must have had lots of time on your hands before’, but of course then we were working 15, 20-hour days trying to sort things out.
“We were not really contributing. So now to be able to get out there and do something – even as prosaic as making sure the carrots get to the right people at the right time – is great. You feel like you have achieved something positive at the end of the day.”
Meanwhile, eight-year-old Lachlan, who speaks Gaelic, is thriving at school.
He played astronaut Tim Peake in his school nativity play, which included performing Chris de Burgh’s A Spaceman Came Travelling – in Gaelic.
The family came to Scotland in 2011 on Mrs Brain’s student visa, which expired when she completed her degree in Scottish history and archaeology.
She had intended to transfer to a two-year post-study work visa upon completion of her degree, but the scheme was scrapped in 2012.
While trying to apply for a Tier 2 visa – for people from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) offered a skilled job in the UK – time ran out.
The Brains were told they would have to take steps to depart voluntarily, but then the Macdonald hotel group came forward.
Mrs Brain’s 12-month visa lasts until September, at which point she can apply for a three-year extension.
Her husband said the family hoped to stay in Scotland longer-term, adding: “Where there’s life, there’s hope.”