BritCits

Morris

“How do you explain to kids that we just don’t make enough money to be together as a family. We have tried to teach our children the importance of family and more so the importance of not judging people by what they have or how much money they make...”

Morris is a British citizen. He married his wife, who is Canadian, in summer 2005.

Morris has to live in the UK as he has family responsibilities to his children (from a previous relationship) and to his own parents.

Now the government wants to keep this couple - married for over seven years - apart; or to force Morris out away from his parents and children..

Morris was born and raised in South Wales, and grew up in a low income, hard working, but loving family.

Morris’s dad worked deep in the coal mines. Morris wasn’t given the opportunity to go to university, and never thought he’d meet and fall in love with his soul mate all the way in Canada, but he did.

Morris even became close to her children from a previous relationship. They married in summer 2005 here in the UK. They were living their lives happily, and like all his life, Morris worked hard doing the back breaking, low paid jobs that most people wouldn’t.

Then the family decided to relocate to Canada for his wife’s studies. Morris eventually had to return to the UK in 2010 to be near his own children from a previous relationship, with the intention that his wife would join him as soon as he had obtained a stable job. His wife regularly sent money to support Morris during his job search and to help in setting up what is to be their home in the UK.

In 2012, Morris finally obtained a stable job. However, when he went off to print the forms for his wife, he discovered how drastically the rules had changed; they felt like their future had been stolen from them.

He is furious that his government is dictating to him what their family budget should be when his wife joins him here! His wife would get a visa that clearly states "no recourse to public funds" stamped across it, so how could she be a burden on tax payers if she doesn’t qualify for public funding?

When his wife joins him here in the UK, she is qualified enough to get work that would pay around £18,000 - £20,000, and hence pay income tax. They would be shopping, paying council tax, paying VAT, contributing to society and being active members of the community. How is any of this a burden on the economy?

They are in the fortunate position that his wife doesn’t have the same ties preventing her from leaving
Canada, given that her only family is Morris and their own children. Morris's wife has nothing keeping her in Canada except these rule changes.

This is a couple being kept apart when all the time they were trying to be prudent and ensure that Morris had a good job before his wife and stepchildren moved to the UK.

All the hard working, innocent British citizens who just happen to fall in love with someone from a non-European country are now paying the ultimate price. They are being ripped apart from their loved ones, their families - by their own government!

Morris accepts that their need to be changes to the immigration system but not this "one-size fits all" approach and definitely not at the expense of British citizens right to be with their family – tearing apart spouses, parents and children from their loved ones.

In Morris's view, if the concern is abuse of the welfare system, then make it harder to get welfare benefits, but don’t stop innocent families from being able to be together. This cannot be right legally, or morally.