Tuesday 9 August 2022 10:52 PM Scottish family being deported from Australia after paying taxes for more than ... trends now
A despairing Scottish family is being kicked out of Australia after 10 years in a heartbreaking visa row despite doing nothing wrong.
Electrical expert Mark Green, 44, was headhunted for his specialist solar installation skills in 2012 and flown to Australia with his wife Kelly, 45, and daughter Rebecca, 19.
He moved to his new home with the promise of their permanent residency being sponsored by the company flying him in.
But every time he's been eligible, the employers have folded before the paperwork could be completed - and it's now happened seven times to the devastated family.
They will now be thrown out of the country next week, unless the government intervenes to save them.
'I don’t want to go home. I don’t. I really don’t...’ mother-of-two Kelly sobbed in their empty Adelaide home after they sold off everything ahead of the family's forced exit.
Relocating to the UK is set to cost $60,000 - and will force them to leave behind beloved pet dog Maisie because of the prohibitive $35,000 cost of flights and quarantine fees.
The Greens have already spent more than $150,000 on immigration lawyers and visa and residency applications but must leave the country before they can apply again.
'We sold it all to come out here and then we started again,' Mr Green told Daily Mail Australia.
'And now we're having to sell it all, to go back to Scotland, to try and apply to come back again, to restart again. For the third time.
'I'm nearly 50. We can't go through this anymore. There's nothing for us back in Scotland now.'
He added: 'This is where I live. This is where my heart is. It'll never change. Even if I go back to Scotland, here is where I will class as home.'
The family have been on a sponsored work visa since arriving which has meant they need to pay for everything Australians take for granted, on top of paying their taxes.
They were denied access to Medicare or free public state schooling for daughter Rebecca, which costs them $8,000 a year - but they say they paid without complaint.
Electrical expert Mark Green, 44, was headhunted for his specialist solar installation skills in 2012 and flown out to Australia with his wife Kelly, 45, and daughter Rebecca, 19
'It was the best day of our lives coming here. The best day ever,' said Kelly, 45, originally from Kilbirnie, 40km south-west of Glasgow.
They want to stay in Australia permanently but currently just need their bridging visa changed from an E-type to a C-type to allow them to apply to stay without leaving.
The family has been undone by firms sponsoring Mark as an employee and starting a three year route to residency, but going bust before the process is complete.
'The company went into liquidation and which means I have to start again, all three years, all over again,' said Mr Green, originally from Prestwick, Ayrshire.
'That's happened seven times to
