THE father of a family forced to quit Scotland for Canada over immigration rules has sent a heartfelt message to their supporters.
Jason Zieldorf moved to the Highlands with his wife Christy and their children in 2008 to start a new life.
However, despite investing about £300,000 in their business while running the lifeline Laggan Stores in the rural village, the Home Office rejected their application to extend their entrepreneur’s visa.
Officials said they did not fit the required criteria, and the family of seven began their journey back to Canada on Thursday, choosing to move before they could be deported.
The move had to take place before a buyer could be secured for the business, meaning the Cairngorms community is now without a local shop.
Their story, broken by The National, has been covered by the BBC and other media outlets.
Yesterday Jason sent an emotional message back from Canada thanking Laggan locals for years of friendship and supporters for backing them during a ten-month bureaucratic battle.
He also shared his uncertainties about the family’s future, stating: “Our next steps are still beyond our ken and we are taking all one hour or one meal at a time.”
Jason wrote: “Greetings Lagganachts and beyonders, friends and family, “We are away frae oor Highland home. Leaving you an seeing the greet in yer eyes and watchin the hills roll away brought to my keen just how hard a thing this is.
“We are so grateful for all you here we’ve come to know and who have made your hearts a hearth for our own. So thank ye terribly all for the goodness of God He’s shown us in you.
“We have arrived safe and well. Our next steps are still beyond our ken and we are taking all one hour or one meal at a time. But we will get there.”
The Home Office said: “All visa applications are carefully considered on their individual merits, in line with the UK immigration rules and based on evidence provided by the applicant.”
However, in a message explaining the family’s situation written before their flight to Canada, Christy Zieldorf accused officials of lying about them.
The issue surrounds the family’s score of 5.5 out of the six points necessary to obtain their visa extension.
In the letter, published in the local press, the businesswoman said: “Some of you have commented on seeing us still smiling – believe me, the crying is coming. “On our first visit back to Canada, after living in Scotland two years, Jason asked me as the plane was circling in the air above Calgary to land, ‘what would we do if we ever had to go back to Canada for good?’ And I knew. ‘We’d cry’.”
She went on: “I felt it was important to let you, our community, know the truth. “It has nothing to do with Brexit as our problems started a year before, when Theresa May was still in charge of the Home Office. If anything, all the Scots, English, Welsh and Northern Irish among us – this is your country, continue to fight for the right to make your own rules and laws.
“We hope to see you all again, one day. Scottish blood does run in our veins, it is a heritage we are proud to bear, and Scotland’s call resounds in our hearts strongly.”
Laggan Stores closed last month and the family is still seeking a buyer.
The Home Office has stated that their application for an extension of leave to remain under the Tier 1 Entrepreneur route had to be refused because it did not meet the immigration requirements. This includes employing two full-time staff for 12 months and providing adequate evidence of self-employment.
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