Angela Smith, who lives and works in the town, was told by the Home Office last month that the application to extend her residency visa had been denied and she now has a deadline of December 13 to leave the country.

As her two young children are British citizens and she does not have their passports, she would also have to leave them behind too.

However, Angela is now hoping that a new set of application forms that will be sent to the Home Office soon will allow her to remain in Arbroath with her children, where she is an active member of the community and involved with the local lifeboat.

The only stumbling block is the £465 fee she is required to pay to submit the forms. This is on top of the £800 she has already paid for the original application forms.

But now an account fund has been set up in Angela's name after local people and businesses said they would like to support her case.
She explained: "Loads of people have said they would like to support me and have even offered financial help so an account has been set up, which is being administered by Thorntons solicitors if people would like to make donations.

"Any excess that is in the account will got to the Arbroath RNLI, the Dundee Symphony Orchestra and Women's Aid so hopefully some good can come out of this situation.

Angela's case will also be backed by Angus Council, after a motion put forward at the full council meeting by Peter Nield and David Fairweather instructing the council chief executive to write to the Home Office minister, Phil Woolas, was passed.

However, the motion failed to get a unanimous backing with most of the SNP councillors saying they thought it might be more appropriate for members to write personal letters to the Home Office.