Actor Tom Conti has said he would provide money to the Brain family to ensure they maintain a minimum balance in their bank account in order to meet visa requirements.
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The family moved to Scotland in 2011 on Mrs Brain’s student visa.
Gregg Brain urged Christians to continue to pray for a “common sense and just resolution” from the Home office, and a job offer to stay.
Gregg Brain, a health and safety expert, told Reuters this week that local support for the family had been overwhelming.
They have been granted an extension to their grace period in their attempts to find work but that runs out at midnight on Monday.
“The UK Government must honour the post-study work visa for the Brain family, grant them the right to work and allow them a fair chance to apply for a tier two visa”.
He added: “We’re of the understanding that we may yet be able to make an application and have that considered by the Home Office”.
The case has attracted the attention of Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, whose government has no say on immigration but who made a personal appeal on the family’s behalf in May.
SNP MP Ian Blackford said he has received a letter from the Home Office saying the Brains would not get indefinite leave to remain or a further extension to the grace period, after the last extension lapsed on 1 August. It is the United Kingdom through the retrospective removal of the post-study work visa that has created this problem.
He said there was therefore “no fundamental difference between their circumstances and that of any other individuals who came to the United Kingdom on a temporary study visa and there are no exceptional considerations which would justify granting them leave outside the Immigration Rules”.
“They have temporary leave to remain that doesn’t expire until midnight tonight”.
“Excluding Scotland from a similar scheme for masters students can only be viewed as a deliberate snub – and one that shows shocking disregard for the worldwide success of Scottish universities”.
The two-year pilot will simplify the visa application process for Masters students, and grant them up to six months leave to remain after the end of the course to find a graduate job under Tier 2 visa rules.
Mr Goodwill said the case will now be handled by the family returns unit of immigration enforcement, and Scotland-based family engagement staff will contact the Brains later this week “to begin discussions with them regarding a voluntary departure to Australia”.
He urged Mr Blackford to encourage the family to co-operate with the process and leave the United Kingdom voluntarily.
The Brains insist they did not discover until 2012 that the scheme had been scrapped, and accuse ministers of acting unfairly by effectively making it retrospective.
Kathryn Brain, who studied Scottish history and has been seeking work as a curator, was offered what appeared to be visa-compliant work at a Highlands distillery this year.
“There is no compassion, there is consideration that we are dealing with real people not just numbers on an immigration count”.
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And now a job offer for Ms Brain has fallen through, threatening the deal made by new immigration minister Robert Goodwill that the family could stay on the condition that Ms Brain find permanent work.
