Kate, Fune...& Reggie

“I had my baby without my husband...it was awful!”

Kate is a British citizen who in December 2011, after three years together with the man of her dreams, married him in Chiang Mai, Thailand. They have been living together, in Thailand, since 2007.

The couple often spoke about moving to the UK and knew that once they had children they would want to be close to Kate’s family back home. Fune has been to the UK; he likes it here and gets on brilliantly with his in-laws. Kate’s parents have been out to visit them every year as well.

On such a visit in July 2011, the family looked into getting a visa ready for Fune to move to the UK. They decided it was the right time, what with trying for a baby and a new nephew Kate really wanted to be there for. Their plan was to spend Christmas in the UK.

To their utter shock and horror just as they were looking at the rules, the rules were being changed in just a matter of days, leaving them with little hope as EFL teachers, as is Kate’s profession, just don’t earn £18,600 in Thailand.

Kate and her dad scrutinised the rules; the only option seemed to be for her to leave her husband, return to UK, find a job earning over £18,600. Then after six months, sponsor her husband, endure a further separation process during the application processing. The couple came to terms with the idea that they’d have to be apart for quite a long time, when Kate received the news that she was pregnant.

Being in the UK was even more important now, with Kate needing her family’s support. They applied for a visa for Fune with the help of a lawyer, on human rights grounds. While in process, Kate returned home with their three dogs, as you can’t fly after the six month mark of pregnancy.

In January 2013, four months after application, they received the refusal letter.

Kate had her baby in the UK without her husband. They also appealed the decision...after all, how is Kate supposed to go and get a job paying over £18,600 when she has a baby to look after?

They were awaiting the appeal decision while Kate visited Thailand to be with her husband for two months; to allow father and baby to bond. However, being back in the UK, she is facing single parenthood again. Savings are spent fighting visa refusals, and making trips halfway round the world to keep the family together as much as possible.

Kate doesn’t understand why the government doesn’t consider that cost of living & salary levels overseas are not the same as those in the UK. How is it in the best interests of the child to be separated from Daddy? Why is the government forcing women to be single parents??!

The financial cost of Theresa May's immigration policy : http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2013/07/09/revealed-the-financial-cost-of-theresa-may-s-immigrationl

Kate and Fune don’t want to raise their child in Thailand; healthcare, safety, education are all issues. The main reason though is they want their child growing up with grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles. He deserves that!!

Theresa May is keeping this family apart for no good reason. Kate’s parents are in a position to help out this family. Fune is an artist and tattooist who could easily find work here. With not letting Fune in, Kate is forced to claim benefits – how does that make sense? If they allowed Fune here, he’d work and Kate wouldn’t need government support.

Clearly, their argument of "burden on the tax payer" is a farce when Fune is ineligible from claiming benefits anyway.

Richard & Kate - Featured Family

“My American wife is bemused. All visas for non-EU citizens are stamped with a clear ‘no recourse to public funds’. So she doesn’t understand why the burden on taxpayer is even an issue for the British government.”

Richard is a British citizen. His wife, Kate, is American. Richard and Kate met a few years ago. They fell in love and got married.

Richard had no immediate ties keeping him in the UK at that time. Kate had two children from a previous marriage who were partway through their education in America. So Kate and Richard decided the best decision for their family would be for Richard to move to America while the kids were still at school, and then they would move to Richard’s home country after the kids had graduated.

When these new changes were announced, Richard was shocked and now feels exiled from his own
country.

In America, both Richard and Kate have good jobs, earning an amount that they live on comfortably. In the UK, Richard’s family is from Grimsby, N.E. Lincolnshire where the job market is far from being at the equivalent level. The median average income is £16,500 while local papers and job searches show an average salary closer to £14,000. However, living expenses are also lower than other places in the UK.

For Richard, moving to the UK with his wife would be to be closer to his family. However, trying to meet  requirement of £18,600 in such an area is a near impossibility, especially with the ability for family assistance now removed. The savings limit required is near impossible for most workers who earn an verage, or even above average wage, to achieve. After all, not too many people have up to £62,500 in spare cash lying around!

Richard needs to be living and working in the Grimsby area to be able to provide assistance to his mother. She suffers from a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis and her health is failing very quickly, to the point where she is almost housebound.

One of the most common expressions throughout the changes has been that immigrants should not be “a burden on the taxpayer”. With space at his mother’s house for Richard and Kate, accommodation would not be an issue and meeting the previous income requirement would have been perfectly realistic, and not a burden on the taxpayer. They want to allow his mother to keep her house, while also providing her with care and aid.

Kate is bemused. All visas for non-EU citizens are stamped with a clear ‘no recourse to public funds’. So she doesn’t understand why the burden on taxpayer is even a concern by the government.

The new rules prevent Richard, a British citizen, from returning to his own country; they force Richard’s mother to rely on assistance from the state. Indeed, it’s embarrassing that after having lived for years in America where he was welcomed with open arms, his wife is not afforded a fraction of the welcome in the UK.

Richard and Kate will work together until they can be in his home country, with his family. However they are aware of many ex-pats whose situation is far more complicated or on a much shorter schedule. Friends and colleagues who are being forced to liquidate all their assets, including selling their home in order to meet the requirements. These actions seem to go against the general idea of the immigration policy of bringing families together and strengthening the economy.

They, like other British citizens, hope that common sense prevails and there is a removal, or significant change, to these rules that will allow Richard and others like him, to live with their family in the home they love.