Hard-working Scottish family win battle to stay in Australia after facing eviction despite paying taxes Down Under for more than a decade
- The Green family can apply for a residence permit
- They moved for work in February 2012
A Scottish family that has lived in Australia for more than 10 years has finally won the long battle to stay in Australia.
The Green family has been allowed to stay in Australia while applying for permanent residency after a nearly year-long legal battle that cost more than $150,000.
Mark Green, 44, his wife Kelly, 45, son Jamie and daughter Rebecca moved to Australia from Scotland in February 2012 when Mr Green was headhunted for his specialist solar panel installation skills in Adelaide.
However, in May 2014, Mr Green had to change jobs after the solar energy company he worked for went bankrupt, jeopardizing his visa just a year before he qualified for residency.
The Greens family has been granted permission to apply for permanent residency (Photo: Mark Green, 44, wife Kelly, 45, and daughter Rebecca, 19)
The family desperately wanted to stay in Australia, but were let down by another seven employers who quit before their visa papers could be completed.
A former boss had promised Mr Green that he would pay the family’s citizenship application fee so that the Scottish family would find out he had falsified the documents.
Mr Green’s son Jamie had to fly back to their former home in Ayrshire in 2015 after the family’s visa issues prevented him from working in Australia.
In June 2022, the Greens issued a public appeal for help from the newly elected Labor government after seeing the Tamil asylum-seeking Murugappan family in Biloela, regional Queensland, allowed to stay.
They said they had given up all their life in Scotland to build a house in Australia and sold everything they owned.
Mr Green’s UK electricity certification had also expired since moving to Australia, meaning he would be unemployed if forced to move back.

Mark Green (pictured with wife Kelly) moved his family to Adelaide in 2012 after being headhunted by a solar panel company
The family was due to be deported and had booked a flight to the UK at 10:20pm on 10 August 2022, but was given a last-minute extension by Immigration Secretary Andrew Giles.
Barely a year after their public appeal, the Greens have finally been allowed to apply for permanent residency.
Mr Green told 2GB‘s Ben Fordham: ‘The minister has given us a visa for 600 visitors with which we can apply for a visa within the country.’
He said his family spent more than $150,000 on visa applications and immigration lawyers during the struggle to stay Down Under.