An Australian family who answered a call to move to the remote Scottish Highlands hope the British Home Office will honour a deal to grant them a work visa after the rules were switched on them.
Kathryn and Gregg Brain and their seven-year-old son Lachlan moved to Dingwall in 2011 as part of the Scottish government's Highland Homecoming plan, backed by the Home Office, to boost a shrinking population in Scotland's rural north.
But the following year the British government changed the rules, meaning the Brains would no longer be granted a two-year post-study work visa when Ms Brain finished her Scottish history studies on a student visa.
Unless granted a reprieve, the family must be out of the UK by next Tuesday.
But the family have some powerful lobbyists fighting on their behalf, including Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
The Brains were in Edinburgh on Thursday to meet Ms Sturgeon, who has written to Home Secretary Theresa May asking her to let the family stay.
"The government changed the rules before these people had a chance to benefit. The wee boy is a Gaelic speaker and is, to all intents and purposes, Scottish," Ms Sturgeon said following the meeting.
The Brains were also awaiting the outcome of a meeting between their Scottish National Party MP Ian Blackford and British Immigration Minister James Brokenshire in London on Thursday.
Mr Blackford is asking that the Brains, who have Scottish ancestry, be granted the two-year work visa they expected to get when they sold their house in Australia to move to Scotland.
Ms Brain told AAP on Thursday that she and her husband, a health and safety expert, felt very let down when the rules were changed after they had adhered to every rule of the Highland Homecoming plan.
"It was a life-changing decision for us ... we uprooted our young family to move over here. You would think they would still honour the deal that was promised on that basis, just to act in good faith."
Mr Brokenshire this week said the Brains faced no "imminent risk of immediate deportation" and they could apply for a Tier 2 skilled work visa.
"We will consider any application they make," the immigration minister said.
Ms Brain said an employer had offered her a job that fitted Tier 2 visa requirements but the paperwork took up to two months to process so they hoped they would be granted leave to stay at least that long.
She said "all of Scotland and most of England" appeared to be backing them and their case was raised in the British parliament on Thursday.
Mr Blackford told AAP before meeting Mr Brokenshire that the minister had to recognise he had to take away the family's fear of deportation and right a wrong created by a "breach of trust" by the government.
"So it's really about showing some compassion and some humanity to allow them to continue to stay here."
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