Birthday delight for Scottish schoolgirl as her family win fight against deportation to Chilean earthquake zone

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/birthday-delight-scottish-schoolgirl-family-3202020

'A SCOTS girl whose mum was threatened with deportation to Chile got the perfect present for her eighth birthday after her family won their fight to remain in Scotland.

'Millie Canales faced leaving the only home she has ever known and travelling 7500 miles as her pregnant mum Francisca was ordered to leave Scotland.

'But when the Daily Record revealed their plight last year, our readers warned Home Office chiefs they would not accept the ruling .

'Now Francisca – a Chilean national – has finally received confirmation she can stay here...

Their story  :
http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/barry-francisca-and-millie-francisca.html
http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/francisca

Spotted on Facebook #useful

A little something I discovered which might be of interest to those British Nationals with Central or South American Spouses. My wife is Ecuadorian and if we take the SS route then Spain would be the obvious choice. However if you exercise EU treaty rights in Spain then an "Ibero-American" (basically a native of any Spanish speaking country in the world) can apply for Spanish citizenship (and EU passport) after just two years residency enabling them to walk into the UK through the same immigration channel as you or I would.

(This includes spouses from the Philippines, Brazil and former Portuguese colonies).

BritCits supporter Lizzie in the Sunday Mirror yesterday

Imagine falling in love with someone from another country, but not being allowed to live with them. The reason? The law says you don't earn enough money.

A great article, and an example of the popular press doing its job properly.

http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/lizzie

https://twitter.com/LizzieCeliParr

Bye bye Papa : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN6vuL8vrhg

Bye bye Papa


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN6vuL8vrhg

By Lizzie - her family's story is here : http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/lizzie

Lizzie says : This video is what happens everyday when we say goodbye to my husband on Skype. Due to changes in UK family immigration laws, my husband was refused visa. He cannot even enter the UK to visit us. It doesn't matter that we got married in England. It does not matter that we have a baby together. Our human right to a normal family life has been respected, worse Ignored. This video is snippet of the effect this has on our daughter. The APPG on migration reported that the new rules have a disproportionate effect on British families but the government have, as yet, ignored the report. We need changes now. Every day delayed is a day lost to us.

Skype Mummy : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhHpaq4KBxY

Skype Daddy : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKrCUaKB4KM

(Note - both the families in the Skype Mummy and Skype Daddy videos are well on the way to resolving their situations.
Skype Mummy now has her visa, and is in the UK - http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/andy
Skype Daddy now has his EEA family permit and so is set on the Surinder Singh route -  http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/surinder%20singh
As noted here - http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/this-is-monday-read-and-smile-remember.html - many situations are well on their way to resolution. Family division rules actually don't work).

Sean & Mari

“I am keen for my small family to be near my parents, to gain recognition of our family as a legal unit and be around to look after my parents as they get older.”

Sean is a British citizen. He spent the first 19 years of his life in St Helen’s Merseyside, growing up on a council estate. When he was 18, by a stroke of luck, he came across the love of his life.

One night he commented on an Oasis music video, something he did often. This time however, his comment led to a discussion on music with Mari, in Chile. They spent the next year talking online, following which Sean managed to scrape together enough money to go visit her in Chile. It was a dream come true.

Sean arrived in Chile on 12th August 2009 when he was 19 and had finished college. He has been living there since - Mari needed to finish university and Sean was supportive of her wanting to pursue further education.

Sean and Mari married in January 2013. It was awful for Sean not having his family there – but they could not afford the journey. Sean lives with Mari’s family, for whom Sean is like a son. But living in Chile has not been easy.

They experienced an earthquake measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale when their life flashed before
them. And Sean knew home was where he wanted to be in the long-term. They agreed to move to the UK once Mari’s education was complete.

Sean is not rich nor does he pretend to be. He hasn’t been in UK since 2009 – hasn’t seen his family since then. As Mari has now finished university, Sean and Mari are working together to save money for their life together, hoping this will allow them a head start when they return to UK.

Sean has a dream. To see his family and have them meet his wife. He wants to have a small celebration in UK so his family can be part of his nuptials. He wants to spend time with his mum who recently had a heart attack.

But when Sean found out what the requirements are for a spouse visa, it’s like his heart stopped and he hasn’t stopped feeling helpless ever since. Research he carried out showed the new rules prevent 40% of the British working population from sponsoring a non-EEA spouse.

Sean feels as if the rules allow only the rich to fall in love...a working class Brit dare not make that
mistake. Most people in St Helen’s don’t earn anywhere near this amount.

All Sean wants is to come and live in UK with his wife; to be close to his mum. This young couple will work and pay their way. Sean does not think it’s right that he has to leave his wife for likely over 12 months it will take for him to find a job paying over £18,600, working in it for 6 months and then having UKBA process the spouse application. He can’t be apart from her that long.

When they married they promised each other to be together, to live together.

Sean has received some positive response from David Ward, MP for Bradford East, who has told him:
“It is cases such as yours which have encouraged me to challenge the income limit on spouse visas. I believe that these rules are unfair and that they prevent people in genuine marriages from being able to live happily with their partner. The limit effectively rules out large numbers of people (particularly in areas outside of London) from being able to afford to bring their partner into the UK. It effectively rules out people in certain professions from ever being able to bring their partners to the UK."

Support from this MP is the only thing giving Sean hope that he’ll return to his home one day.

Lizzie & Alexander

Lizzie & Alexander

“I’m angry, hurt and upset. I meet the financial requirements yet they rejected my husband’s application..this is clearly discrimination against women.”

Lizzie is a British citizen. Her husband Alexander, is a doctor from Ecuador. They have been living together for four and a half years in Chile, married for two of these years.

They married in June 2011 in UK, in Lizzie’s local church, before returning to Chile where Lizzie worked as a financial consultant and Alexander eventually as a consulting doctor. Their daughter was born in February 2012 following which they decided to relocate to UK to be close to Lizzie’s family and ensure their daughter benefited from a British education.

They submitted Alexander’s application in November 2012 and then…nothing. No emails, no calls, no news. In February 2013, Lizzie and her daughter returned to the UK expecting Alexander would follow not long after. However, in March 2013, Lizzie complained about the delay to WorldBridge. The response received further to the complaint was a refusal.

The couple has been apart for several months already. Father and daughter have been apart for the same length of time. The family is missing out on sharing precious moments..precious ‘first’ moments. Stolen moments that will never return.

What makes the situation worse is that Lizzie’s income in Chile combined with her cash savings in the UK, this family actually meets UKBA’s financial requirement. Yet UKBA was able to manufacture a reason to refuse the couple, stating Lizzie had not continued employment for the six month period prior to the application since her income was from maternity payments i.e. that maternity pay was not evidence of continuous employment. This is despite Lizzie having sent a certificate signed by her employer in Chile stating her continued employment.

UKBA said Lizzie had not shown evidence of her savings. This despite her having submitted bank statements, although she admits they were a few months older – an ISA which only sends out statements on an annual basis and premium bond statements which were first sent to Lizzie’s parents' home and then sent across to Chile. But the money was there and she did the best she could to obtain evidence of her UK savings UK from Chile, while also juggling recent motherhood.

Lizzie is furious that rules which clearly discriminate against women are in place…rules which systematically penalise women, for having kids, for adopting the traditional role of homemaker, for sacrificing their career to care for their family...for being women who historically and statistically are paid less than men.

Legal advice obtained has indicated that Alexander will not even qualify for a visitor’s visa now as he has displayed an intent to live in the UK. So the only way for this family to see each other again is for Lizzie to travel to Ecuador, on a 15+ hour flight with one year old. She cannot remain there as she is employed in the UK – she wants to ensure she does not jeopardise her income levels here lest she lose her appeal. So she is juggling childcare and employment.

Yet Lizzie believes the real victim of these unfair rules – rules which should be illegal – is her daughter. The Geneva Convention was created to protect families from exactly this sort of abuse. Her daughter only sees her daddy through Skype for an hour each day and her mother is constantly stressed, tired and struggling.

This is not how their little family was. They were so happy.

Lizzie never thought this would happen to her. She never dreamed a British system could get things so badly wrong. Her faith in British democracy and justice has been misplaced; her family torn apart just so politicians can say they’re being "tough on immigration" whatever the cost. She is upset that families of British citizens are being used as scapegoats for a bemusing political agenda. She’s hurt that her country has let her down. She is angry that there is no one who is going to be held accountable for the misery caused.

With a further 3-9 months separation Lizzie is having difficulty focusing on the light at the end of the tunnel. She is desperate for the rules to change – to change now, not after the next election.

British mother had abortion 'because of visa rules' - more stories

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22868332

(UK/Philippines)
I earned over £40,000 the year my husband came to the UK with me. But my job is off-shore and if I got pregnant I could not work. There's no crèche out at sea and taking a year off just wasn't an option.

Whatever other work I might have been able to get in my village, I still couldn't have earned enough to satisfy the new rules. So I panicked.

My doctor said: "This is disgusting. This could be the last time you could have children." But I didn't feel I had a choice. I came out of the doctors crying - a married woman shouldn't have to cry and be forced into a decision like that.
---

(UK/Lebanon)
Sometimes the children don't want to speak with their father on Skype as they are so angry that I can't give them a date for his return.

We married 10 years ago but it was 8 December when we were last together. He has missed Christmas, birthdays and important milestones with his children.

It's caused major emotional strain and I suffered a miscarriage without him present. I was under a huge amount of stress at the time.

I work in human trafficking services and I'm called in when victims need support. Elie is a minister in the Baptist church. I work part-time to look after our four children - all under eight - and because Elie isn't here I have to rely on benefits to survive.
---

(UK/Japan)
We've been married for nine years. Hazel is three and we're expecting another child in July. We want our children to experience both cultures - Hazel has a British passport. But if we wanted to return the new rules dictate that we can only do so if I become the breadwinner, depriving my young children of invaluable time with their mother.

Am I supposed to come to England without my family, for six months? Because that's what the rules say. My husband would be a single parent. It's crazy.
---

(UK/Chile)
We find ourselves effectively exiled from our own country. We have significant savings, but not enough to make the £62,500 we need under the rules.

I am working as a translator in three languages but have always planned to take time to look after our baby. He has lived the first few months of his life in a children's home and I want to give him all the love and cuddles the world has forced him to miss out on.

Separating is not an option for us. We have a strong marriage and would never stay apart and risk our baby's stability and our wellbeing for the sake of these financial rules.

Barry, Francisca and Millie

Francisca tells her family's story. More on this story here : http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/save-millie-and-her-mum-from-deportation.html . Her online petition is here : http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-millie-and-her-mum-from-deportation.html . Francisca's campaign page is here : https://www.facebook.com/groups/147515488760221/

'OUR FAMILY is in the verge of being separated due to the UKBA rules, not allowing me, Francisca Canales, to acquire the right of residence here in the UK.

My daughter Millie was born in the UK. She has no understanding of her mum’s (my) home country. Why does she need to be deported too?

Barry Nicol and I have been in a relationship for four years and we were planning our wedding last year, just before UKBA sent us a letter asking me and my daughter to leave the country. Just before they took my passport.

We are expecting a baby, due in August. I am currently waiting for my appeal hearing to take place at the Tier 1 Tribunals in Glasgow, Scotland. I will then be 7 months pregnant.

We hope our appeal is successful. We didn’t have to go as far as an appeal, I know I clearly have gained the right of residency but UKBA has ignore the fact that my previous relationship was violent and hence why it broke down.

I, Francisca, have studied and worked here in the UK, paid all my taxes and never claimed a penny of benefits, always being transparent and loyal to the UK system, yet we are being punished for that?

I had secured a job in a well paid position at an insurance company, and due to the UKBA failing to provide the right documentation to my ex employer, I have now lost my income and all my maternity pay, and my employer had to let me go.

Millie is currently undertaking therapy with the Stirling Women’s Aid. 

Due to the stress this is causing our family, she cries constantly. 

Millie has created a circle of family union here in Stirling with Barry’s family. She now has grandparents, aunties, cousins, and friends at school. 

Why would you deny Millie, the right to family life? Take her away from school to learn a brand new language, brand new culture, away from her friends, everything she knows of?

Barry has no knowledge of my mother tongue. He’s never been to my home country. All his family live here in Scotland, and they are all looking forward to welcome our new baby.

Why would you deny this baby, and Barry’s family, the right of family life?

Taking me and my daughter away from the UK will mean that Barry will have to stay behind in the UK to work for us or simply making a move to my home country. 

Why does he need to choose between us and his own home country, the UK?

Why do you punish him and us for being in love and wanting to have a family? 

I want my unborn baby and his father together, but the UKBA is trying to make this impossible!

The UKBA is responsible for taking my income, my sanity, my health. What else do you want to take from me? 

My whole entire life, all that we have built here?

We pray and hope our appeal is successful.

Message to Theresa May:

I ask you to consider the new rules with full common sense, and how do they affect families, real families, couples, and children!

We are not terrorists. We pay our way. We contribute to the UK system. And yet we are punished.

Can your caseworkers at the UKBA use common sense when dealing with applications?

Our applications are lives, not just piles of paperwork. We also pay for our legal fees and all our applications.

I hope you use your full discretion on this matter. Please see how many families have been and will be divided because of the poorly set out *rules* of the UKBA.

Yours faithfully,

Francisca, Millie, Barry, and baby Nicol

Save Millie and her mum from deportation

... please.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-millie-and-her-mum-from-deportation.html

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/campaigners-beg-theresa-stop-deportation-1834767

https://www.facebook.com/groups/147515488760221/

Unfair, unjust and inhuman.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/unfair-unjust-and-inhuman-1832677

SEVEN-YEAR-OLD Millie Canales, who has lived in Scotland since she was a baby, faces deportation after her Chilean mother's leave to remain in the UK ran out.

IMMIGRATION is a fraught issue for voters and politicians which all too often degenerates into a shouting match based on prejudice and fear.

But when it is boiled down to what becomes of a seven-year-old girl and the fate of an unborn child, the heat must be extinguished with a cold anger for justice...

More : http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/plight-scots-girl-pregnant-mum-1832967

Facebook support group : https://www.facebook.com/groups/147515488760221/