Revealed: The financial cost of Theresa May's immigration policy.
http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2013/07/09/revealed-the-financial-cost-of-theresa-may-s-immigrationl
The UK will lose £850 million over ten years as a result of new visa restrictions on foreign spouses of British citizens, new research suggests.
Analysis of the government's impact assessment from Middlesex University strongly suggests income requirements on foreign spouses could be putting an additional burden on the taxpayer.
"It appears the government got its sums wrong when designing this policy," said Dr Helena Wray, from the School of Law at Middlesex University, who co-authored the research.
"When the cost-benefit calculations for this policy in the impact assessment are properly carried out, the figures actually show that the income requirement could cost the public purse £850 million over ten years.
"It will not reduce the benefits bill; in fact, it is likely to increase it as single people are more likely to claim benefits than those living with a partner."
Not to mention the unquantifiable loss - already starting to happen - to Britain's previously golden international reputation. This will never be repaired.
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Facebook campaigns are flowering. New on my radar :
Family life is a right not a privilege
https://www.facebook.com/FamilyLifeIsARightNotAPrivilege
I just want to be able to live with my husband/wife in my country
https://www.facebook.com/pages/I-just-want-to-be-able-to-live-with-my-husbandwife-in-my-country/170309133150324
You can't buy love, but the UKBA think you can
https://www.facebook.com/pages/You-cant-buy-LOVE-but-the-UKBA-think-you-can/174992366006252
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Help-i-dont-earn-enough-for-my-children-to-have-the-right-to-a-family/323622374426634
Keep the campaigns coming, I'd love to provide links to each one - this is a family-by-family battle in many ways, and it's very empowering to tell one's own story. (One nice thing about the 9th July demo was seeing the megaphone being passed between speakers, telling their own stories - the real heart of the day, I thought).
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A heartbroken husband who has fought for almost two years to bring his wife to the UK claims immigration laws discriminate against working class people.
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/fife/it-is-derogatory-fife-man-kept-apart-from-kenyan-wife-because-of-low-earnings-1.111702
James McAllister, 50, of Kirkcaldy, wed Vera Akinyi, 32, in a ceremony in her native Kenya in August 2011.
They remain separated by more than 4,500 miles as supermarket employee Mr McAllister’s wages fall short of UK Border Agency requirements.
Before a UK citizen can bring a spouse into the country from outside the EU they need to earn an annual salary of at least £18,600 to support them. Those also bringing a child need to prove an income of £22,400.
Former Black Watch soldier Mr McAllister, who desperately wants Vera and her six-year-old son Steve to come to Scotland and live with him, said: “It is derogatory to working class people that because you don’t earn enough you can’t be with your spouse.
Mr. McAllister, if you are reading this (via a Google search, link etc), we are with you. Get in touch!
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Sarah Teather: 'I'm angry there are no alternative voices on immigration'.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2013/jul/12/sarah-teather-angry-voices-immigration
Last year the coalition introduced a rule that prohibits any Briton earning less than £18,600 from sponsoring a visa for a non-European spouse, rising to £22,400 for families with a child, and a further £2,400 for each extra child. "It's just a disaster," Teather despairs. "Lots of British citizens who never expected to be caught up in the immigration system are about to see their families split up. You may have tens of thousands in savings, you may have extremely rich grandparents, your spouse may be a high earner – a whole set of things that would clearly demonstrate that you meet the criteria whereby you'd be no burden on the taxpayer – and yet you're still not allowed to bring your spouse here, because we want to demonstrate that we are bringing numbers down."
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https://twitter.com/APPGMigration :
Lab MP & Chair of @CommonsHomeAffs @Keith_VazMP asks how many family visa applications have been cancelled since 08
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2013-07-04a.162744.h
I hope he keeps pushing.
During the 9th July meeting in Parliament, Mr. Vaz committed to make the Home Affairs Select Committee - which he chairs - continue to look at family migration rules. Let's hold him to it.
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https://twitter.com/BIHRhumanrights :
good to be involved in divided families action day, #BIHR's 1yr on briefing & other work
http://www.bihr.org.uk/policy/Family-Migration
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Press hysteria and UK government migration research: a contagious syndrome.
http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/simon-parker/press-hysteria-and-uk-government-migration-research-contagious-syndrome
... In other words, the authors don't have the data to draw any robust conclusions about the impact of immigration on local communities, services and economies. Even they admit that "a combination of statistical profiling, consultation with local authorities and other service providers, and discussions with relevant experts" is no substitute for a proper quantitative survey of the entire United Kingdom.
The report admits that international students (the exclusion of whom makes up the bulk of the government’s immigration reduction figures) and skilled European Economic Area workers (whom UKIP and much of the Tory party would like to ban) have a low impact on public services. Low skilled workers present a more "mixed picture", although the authors lack the data to demonstrate exactly how the costs and benefits stack up.
Then we get to "asylum-seeking and refugee groups" who are likely to have "the highest impact on services compared with other groups, especially in health, because of their particular characteristics and needs". Well yes, one might expect people fleeing from persecution, rape, violence and torture to have elevated health needs—that's the whole point of humanitarian protection!
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https://twitter.com/Beschizza :
Today at the Daily Mail: DO WOLVES CAUSE CANCER
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2361758/The-wolfs-door-Killer-beasts-roaming-Western-Europe-time-100-years-sparking-fears-soon-arrive-Britain.html
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