An Australian family in Scotland have been asked to leave the country by the UK Government after their right to remain in the country expired.

The Home Office has sent a letter to the family and a further one to their local MP Ian Blackford a letter asking them to make arrangements to "voluntarily" leave the country.

Immigration minister Robert Goodwill has judged the family possesses no exceptional circumstances to allow them to continue living in the UK.

The family settled in Dingwall in 2011 on a student visa awarded to Kathryn Brain. They believed they would later qualify for a post-study work visa but the scheme was ended in 2012.

Goodwill believes there was "no breach of faith" with the family as the original student visa was "time-limited".

The minister said: "It was not an entitlement of the student visa Kathryn Brain originally applied for, which was for a time-limited period of study only.

"The Tier 1 (post-study work) category was closed because too many applicants were not using the student route primarily to gain a world-class education at our universities but merely as a means to the end of living and working in the UK.

"Even when the route was open, applicants needed to find a job that would qualify under Tier 2 before the end of the two years in the route.

"I regret that that has not yet happened, despite having had since 2012, nearly a year having passed since Kathryn finished her studies and the three extensions that have been granted to the family on an exceptional basis."

The family's case is now being handled by the family returns unit.

The minister is urging the family to "cooperate with this process and to leave the UK voluntarily".