Scottish family still in immigration limbo

An Adelaide electrician facing deportation with his wife and daughter back to his native Scotland has been plunged further into legal limbo.

The Gren family in Adelaide. Picture: Roy Van Der Vegt

An Adelaide electrician facing deportation with his wife and daughter back to his native Scotland has been plunged further into legal limbo as he waits for a decision in his immigration case.

Mark Green has won huge public support in his bid to remain in Australia after being invited out to fill skill gaps in the local jobs market a decade ago.

He has worked tirelessly since in the solar panel industry and has fallen foul of the immigration laws only because of a visa bungle by a former employer who went broke.

He has not claimed a cent of welfare in his 10 years in Australia and even paid out of his own pocket so that he and wife Kelly could send their daughter Rebecca to a local government high school in Adelaide’s southern suburbs.

The Greens have incurred more than $200,000 on legal bills and other costs in their battle to stay here but were due to be deported on August 10.

In an 11th-hour reprieve, Immigration Minister Andrew Giles agreed to review their case after they and Premier Peter Malinauskas asked whether it would be appropriate for the minister to use his discretionary power to grant them residency.

Through their lawyer, the Greens are using the precedent set in August by Mr Giles in granting permanent residency to the Nadesalingam family from Sri Lanka to argue that they too should be allowed to stay.

However, the four-week timeframe within which Mr Giles was expected to make a decision elapsed two weeks ago.

The Australian understands that to ensure they could remain here legally pending any ministerial decision, the Greens have sought and secured a three-month extension to their bridging visa, but are still none the wiser on whether they will can remain in Australia in the longer term.

Mr Green said out of respect for the process, he would not make public comment while the deliberations were under way.

“We are just hoping for a positive outcome and have got our fingers crossed that we will get there,” he told The Australian.

Mr Giles has offered no comment on the case, with his spokeswoman saying he is legally prevented from commenting on individual cases.