I’m an Australian, brought up on values of self-reliance and pride. We can look after ourselves, and we don’t need help, thank you very much. I don’t often beg. But for my family’s sake, I’m begging now.

Before the end of this month, Kathryn, Lachlan and I are going to have to apply to extend the visa the Home Office finally granted us last year. It will cost thousands of pounds. If we cannot meet the Home Office’s fees and charges for this visa application, everything that we all did last year will have been for nothing. Kathryn’s employer is more than happy to extend their sponsorship for 4 more years. After this, we will be eligible to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain and finally settle here.

We haven’t even begun to pay the legal fees from our twelve-month visa last year; the funds raised for us last year covered the increased visa application fees, Immigration Health Surcharges and other Home Office mandatory charges. We are a long way from being able to cover just those expenses involved in the application we need to make in a few weeks. As things currently stand, we don't have a prayer.

Kathryn has of course been working full time, though all of her pay has been going to paying rent, storage fees on our contents, fuel and car expenses to get her from Dingwall to Aviemore weekly and reducing the debts incurred while we were unable to work for most of 2016. During that year, we lost over £26,000 in income because of the Home Office prohibition, and incurred huge expenses to battle the Home Office and pay our visa applications.

I have been working on a contract basis, which has helped with our living expenses and keep the wolves from the door. Understandably, while employers are happy to have me work for them, many are now reluctant to place me permanently because of our current visa situation.

We’re desperately hopeful to meet an initial target of £12,000, just to pay the expenses involved in extending our visas. If we can do that, then we should have four years of stability so Kathryn can continue her work, I can get a permanent job, and achieve some measure of certainty for Lachlan and our family as a whole.

If we can reach that target, then the secondary target is £30,000, to help pay off the debts we incurred in our battle to remain here. That will at least enable us to start our new lives here from zero, having recently moved into a house and retrieved our belongings from storage, rather than from ‘behind the eight-ball’.

We were astounded by the support we received last year, and hoped that our troubles then would be the end of our story, and we would be able to manage once we had our visas. This last 12 months has been really tough on our family, with still not having any certainty or permanency. I hate doing this, but I have to ask again for your help.

Please, if you can help Kathryn, Lachlan and I, then we would be eternally grateful. Any amount, large or small, would be wonderful. If you know of any financial angels who could get us over the line, please point them our way.