BritCits

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