"I have never welcomed the weakening of family ties by politics or pressure" - Nelson Mandela.
"He who travels for love finds a thousand miles no longer than one" - Japanese proverb.
"Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence." - Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
"When people's love is divided by law, it is the law that needs to change". -
David Cameron.

Sunday 15 September 2013

Dan

“I can’t believe I may never be able to return home, as breaking up my family for several months just isn’t feasible.”

Dan is a British citizen. His wife is from the USA and they have been living in Florida for four years with their two daughters...both of whom are British citizens.

The time is right for this family to return to UK, their homeland. A homeland even for Dan’s American wife who did most of her growing up here in the UK though never obtained citizenship – a fact they so dearly regret now.

Dan finds the financial requirements extremely complicated and convoluted; but having made sense of them, and despite having earned over £18,600 p.a. in the US, he is still unable to return home with his family.

He is not able to satisfy having a job offer starting within three months of the application. As Dan can’t afford multiple trips to the UK and can't afford unpaid time off work unpaid it would otherwise mean he earned less than £18,600.

He is frustrated that the UK government expects him to have a job offer before he is even allowed to return here. He questions whether the UKBA realises:
1) The impossibility of securing a job via a phone interview.
2) The difficulty in getting time off and the general lack of vacation time in countries outside the EU in order to get to the UK for a job interview.
3) The cost of flying across the Atlantic for a job interview.

He is also amazed that this wife’s earning potential, as a skilled professional is completely disregarded, as are the tax dollars they are currently paying to the Inland Revenue Service in America...tax which would otherwise be paid to HMRC.

He is also bemused; if he returned to the UK with his two British daughters, the three of them would be eligible for all kinds of benefits at a great cost to the British taxpayer. So it is in the best interest of the British taxpayer to allow Dan’s wife in the country...she would work, pay taxes and be ineligible for any benefits, whilst also rendering Dan and his daughters ineligible by way of the household income being over the qualifying threshold.

Dan does not want to return home for benefits. So he will not let his family be split up and we will find a way for the family to be together in the country they have a right to live in.

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