BritCits

Why I'm supporting the Divided Families Campaign. - by https://twitter.com/Michael_K_Allen

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/michael-allen/why-im-supporting-the-div_b_3553974.html

Imagine if you were woken up in the middle of the night by government officials banging on your door saying they had come to take your partner away from you. The reason? You earn less than £18,600 per year.

This is not precisely how it happened, but it gives the uninitiated an idea of how thousands of Brits in love with non-EU citizens would have felt like on July 9, 2012, when the government introduced the new family migration rules.

These stipulated that a British person must earn £18,600 to sponsor a foreign spouse from outside the EU to stay with them in the UK. If they have a child, the figure rises to £22,400 plus an additional £2,400 for every child after that.

Up until these rules were introduced, I never thought politics would affect me much. Sure, I'd studied it as part of my degree in an abstract fashion and knew all the latest developments on the political scene from my keen interest in the news. Policy after policy was churned out, none of them changing my life in any observably significant way. I even managed to avoid the tuition fee hike, being one of the last fortunate group of students to pay the lower fees.

But when these rules came in, my life was changed forever. The person I had fallen in love with at university and was hoping to make a life with after graduation would have to be taken away from me....
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One year on BIHR looks at migration and family rights.

http://www.bihr.org.uk/news/one-year-on-bihr-looks-migration-and-family-right

It seems as though barely a week goes by without the “controversy” of human rights in immigration cases hitting the headlines.  Last year the Immigration Rules were changed, and took effect on 9 July 2012. These changes seek to,  among other things,  define the conditions in which the right to respect for private and family life (Article 8) will apply in all family migration cases - not only cases of deportation of those convicted of crime, and in cases involving children.

One year after the Immigration Rules became law, there remains significant confusion– including in public commentary - about the Rules, whether they represent the intention of Parliament, and who they affect. Whilst there is no dispute that controlling immigration is a legitimate aim explicitly recognised by human rights law, the important question is whether the solution that has been pursued in the Rules is a fair and proportionate response, or whether there are better, more appropriate avenues to explore.

As Stephen Bowen of British Institute of Human Rights said : These rules are bonkers.
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The UKBA are destroying my family.


Powerful testimony.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIaG-udohcs&feature=youtu.be

Facebook :
https://www.facebook.com/TheUkbaAreDestroyingMyFamily
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Kingswinford church pastor’s Brazilian wife denied entry to UK in rule change.

A church pastor says his 13-year marriage to a Brazilian woman is being ‘ripped apart’ by immigration bosses who are refusing her entry to the UK - because he cannot provide six payslips.

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2013/07/08/kingswinford-church-pastors-brazilian-wife-denied-entry-to-uk-in-rule-change/

Robert Cooper immediately fell in love with his wife Adna while working as a missionary in Sao Paulo and after six months married her at Kingswinford Christian Centre. The pair then worked and settled in the region for three years.

But after returning to the South American country for nine years to teach English at a private school and then run a church, Mr Cooper has been told by the Border Agency that he cannot bring back his wife to this country.

The problem lies with new immigration rules brought in last July which mean only British people who show they have earned more than £18,600 a year can sponsor their non-European spouse’s visa.
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Government gets sums wrong over migrant family rules, says report.

http://www.relocatemagazine.com/immigration-a-visas/immigration-a-visa-news-main/8218--government-gets-sums-wrong-over-migrant-family-rules-says-report

 Tough new regulations aimed at curbing the number of migrants entitled to bring their families into Britain could end up costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds, according to a report published on Tuesday.

Last year, the UK set a minimum earnings requirement of £18,600 – or more if there were children involved – for a non-EU immigrant wishing to bring his or her spouse into the country. The government has estimated that the move will save taxpayers £660 million over 10 years through welfare, NHS and education savings.

But Tuesday's report from Middlesex University claims that the new rules will actually cost the taxpayer up to £850 million, rather than make any savings.

The report argues that the government has failed to take fully into account migrants' earnings and says that preventing a partner from entering the UK is likely to increase welfare claims as single people are more likely to draw on state support if alone.
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Jimmy Mubenga: Heathrow deportee 'unlawfully killed'.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23244203

A man being deported to Angola on a British Airways flight was unlawfully killed by guards who were restraining him, an inquest jury has found.
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"They took all our money and beat my sister": Migrants at the mercy of the Greek coastguard.
http://www2.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/press-release-me-let-me-go/they-took-all-our-money-and-beat-my-sister-migrants-mercy-greek?utm_source=Social&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_campaign=Refugee&utm_content=Greece_report_blog