James Robert Capon :
Please watch Hannah and me on The Peoples Voice.
We were given our chance to tell our story by Sonia Poulton on her December 18th show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jByd1hfUHVQ&list=PLKivTZFpyNAw9U0NfXSkC7gfJ88gHiHQQ


Hannah  and James :
http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/hannah-and-james-american-hannah-and.html

'We feel absolutely robbed of our rights as human beings. James is missing out on this pregnancy, one that we were so thankful for after the tragedy of losing our first son in April. He does not get to be there when our child is born, and he will not be able to hold our baby until I arrive there, perhaps two months or more after the baby is born and we are well enough to travel. We are being cheated out of this experience, an experience which every married couple on earth has a right to, because we don't earn enough money.'

Runformywife :
https://www.facebook.com/groups/228044687371545/

On 15 February 2014, James Capon will run the streets of West Yorkshire in a bid to raise awareness of the negative impacts of the UK government’s new family migration policies.
Starting in Pontefract and taking in Featherstone, Normanton, Castleford and Knottingley, James will run 18 miles around five West Yorkshire towns to bring attention to the suffering caused to families as a consequence of the rules.

 Sign up to join James or add your own run to the mix here: http://www.meetup.com/BritCits/events/148960452/

More stories like this : http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/stories

Wednesday night roundup

Ian Birrell | Families that need £18,600 to spend Christmas together: The shameful earnings threshold imposed on British citizens wanting to bring their foreign spouses here.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/families-that-need-18600-to-spend-christmas-together-the-shameful-earnings-threshold-imposed-on-british-citizens-wanting-to-bring-their-foreign-spouses-here-9013882.html

'Like any father, Ethan James Feltham was looking forward to Christmas with his wife and their new son. But instead he must pack up the presents and put them in the post, for his young family will spend the festive period 10,000 miles apart from each other on different sides of the world. “It’s just so disappointing,” he told me ruefully.

'This man may have risked his life in Afghanistan as a member of the armed forces, but British bureaucrats do not believe his Fijian wife – met through a military friend – will leave if she comes to stay. And although he works some 60 hours a week as a restaurant chef, the 23-year-old’s earnings fall a few hundred pounds short of the shameful earnings threshold imposed on British citizens wanting to bring their spouses to live here.'

Divided families stories : http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/stories
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Migrants' Rights Network :
http://www.migrantsrights.org.uk/blog/2013/12/families-kept-apart-christmas-visit-visa-restrictions

 'This week’s searing assessment of the family migration rules by Archbishop Vincent Nichols hit the nail on the head. Since the Government tightened the regulations for families coming to the UK in July last year, we’ve heard from hundreds of British people who have suddenly found that they no longer qualify to live with their spouse or partner in the UK as their earnings are too low or their wider circumstances do not fit the rules.

'But as ever with the immigration system, changes in one area have a knock-on effect in another. This October we were contacted by a friend, David, who rang us from Heathrow airport, and was beside himself with worry. David’s Canadian wife, Dee, has as yet been unable to join him permanently in the UK as he earns less than £18,600 a year. She was due to arrive for a visit to see him this October. Although as a Canadian national she doesn’t need a visa to come to the UK, she underwent prolonged questioning by the border officials...'
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Runformywife | Hannah and I were guests on the peoples voice with Sonia Poulton this evening.

Runformywife on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/groups/228044687371545/

'Thank you so much to the People's Voice for giving us the chance to tell our story and hopefully make more people aware of what we and so many others are going through.'

http://www.thepeoplesvoice.tv/

Hannah and James : http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/hannah-and-james-american-hannah-and.html

The Runformywife campaign : http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/run-for-my-wife.html
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Migrants' Manifesto | Dignity has no nationality.

http://www.freemovement.org.uk/2013/12/18/dignity-has-no-nationality-our-day-2013/

'It is inevitable that the poor treatment of migrants today will be our dishonour tomorrow.'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=t1w5FyXq7kk

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https://twitter.com/SueLukes :
With @migrants_rights at discussion of #whoisdayanicristal. Astonishing film you MUST see when released in April

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWsufB97E_A

http://www.whoisdayanicristal.com/
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A Christmas greeting from Ireland :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RUtq_EOrJg&feature=youtu.be

By a Surinder Singh couple - more on free movement :
http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/surinder%20singh
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MPs and bishops step into same boat as impoverished migrants.

http://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/218/0/mps-and-bishops-step-into-same-boat-as-impoverished-migrants

Run for my wife

On 15 February 2014, James Capon will run the streets of West Yorkshire in a bid to raise awareness of the negative impacts of the UK government’s new family migration policies.

Starting in Pontefract and taking in Featherstone, Normanton, Castleford and Knottingley, James will run 18 miles around five West Yorkshire towns to bring attention to the suffering caused to families as a consequence of the rules.

He hopes ‘run for my wife’ will inform others as to what British nationals with a non-EEA partner are being subjected to under the amended policies, and that this awareness raising will help to effect change.

The rules, which require British sponsors to have a minimum annual income of GBP 18,600 in order to bring their non-British partner to the UK, and even more for each non-British child, are resulting in the long-term, and sometime indefinite, division of many cross-border families.

The run for my wife movement is spreading quickly, with interest from other divided families across the UK in taking up individual runs in an effort to get the message out.

“I'd like for myself and all the people that are suffering at the hands of the UK Border Agency to have a voice. I'd like us to be heard, and I'd like us to be able to live freely with our wives, husbands and children regardless of what part of the world they come from”, said James.

https://twitter.com/jimcaponey
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23runformywife&src=hash
https://www.facebook.com/groups/228044687371545/

James and Hannah's story :
http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/hannah-and-james-american-hannah-and.html

Run for my wife

On 15 February 2014, James Capon will run the streets of West Yorkshire in a bid to raise awareness of the negative impacts of the UK government’s new family migration policies.

Starting in Pontefract and taking in Featherstone, Normanton, Castleford and Knottingley, James will run 18 miles around five West Yorkshire towns to bring attention to the suffering caused to families as a consequence of the rules.

He hopes ‘run for my wife’ will inform others as to what British nationals with a non-EEA partner are being subjected to under the amended policies, and that this awareness raising will help to effect change.  

The rules, which require British sponsors to have a minimum annual income of GBP 18,600 in order to bring their non-British partner to the UK, and even more for each non-British child, are resulting in the long-term, and sometime indefinite, division of many cross-border families.    

The run for my wife movement is spreading quickly, with interest from other divided families across the UK in taking up individual runs in an effort to get the message out.

“I'd like for myself and all the people that are suffering at the hands of the UK Border Agency to have a voice. I'd like us to be heard, and I'd like us to be able to live freely with our wives, husbands and children regardless of what part of the world they come from”, said James.

Sign up to join James or add your own run to the mix here: http://www.meetup.com/BritCits/events/148960452/

Sunday evening links

Britain scraps immigration bond plan after outcry.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/11/03/uk-britain-immigration-bonds-idUKBRE9A20A920131103

One terrible policy down, now time to scrap the unfair family division rules. #dividedfamilies

Theresa May admits 'visitor bonds' maybe 'too blunt an instrument' :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24793092
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https://twitter.com/jimcaponey :
#runformywife is a run I plan to do February 15th 2014 to raise awareness of our situation
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Yarl's Wood sex inquiry witness to be deported without speaking to police.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/02/witness-yarls-wood-sex-investigation

The only witness to an alleged case of sexual misconduct at Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre is to be deported, without being given the opportunity to testify to police.

Sirah Jeng was detained on Thursday inside the centre, hours before a scheduled interview with police. Jeng alleges she witnessed a male Serco employee having sexual contact with a detainee.

https://www.facebook.com/events/179241215611823/

Sirah Jeng is a first-hand witness to the sexual abuse of ‘Tanja’, a Roma detainee, by a male officer in Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre. ‘Tanja’s legal case against the Home Office was revealed by The Observer (14/09/13). In Yarl’s Wood Sirah was shown CCTV footage that confirms her account and as soon as she was released on bail a month ago she came forward as a witness for ‘Tanja’. Sirah was due to be interviewed by police officers at 5.00pm on Thursday (31st October) as part of the criminal inquiry into the case. The interview never happened. On Thursday morning Sirah was detained by the UKBA on her weekly visit to the reporting centre in Salford. She told them about her appointment with the police but was ignored and taken straight back to Yarl’s Wood. When she got there she was given ‘removal directions’ to be deported to the Gambia on Monarch Airlines Flight ZB6478 from Gatwick at 9.00am on Tuesday, 5th November.

Follow https://twitter.com/followMFJ for more on this campaign.