REPORT: All families matter: An inquiry into family migration.

The report from the House of Lords that some of us helped with has just been published. You can read the full report here : https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5803/ldselect/ldjusthom/144/144.pdf

Executive summary :

'Current migration policies are at odds with the Government’s commitment to family life. “Strong, supportive families make for more stable communities”, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a speech setting out his priorities for 2023.  By being overly restrictive, family migration policies weaken families and undermine communities.

Ten years after a major set of reforms, we assessed family migration policies. We found that, complex and inconsistent, they fail both families and society. Families are failed. The desire to join family members is natural and understandable, but the Immigration Rules force families to live apart. The Home Office portrays family separation as a choice on the part of the family— we profoundly disagree that it is a matter of choice.

The arrival of spouses and partners of British citizens is deterred or delayed by the financial requirement and prohibitive application fees. Sufficient income may never be secured. Parents are forced to raise children alone, until they can be joined by their foreign partners. Children grow up without one of their parents.'

Thanks to -all- contributors here! It's a fine piece of work.

Living Online and Covid Impact Report

Over the last few weeks, Reunite Families UK has conducted two online surveys ( here + here ) in response to two ongoing parliamentary inquiries: ‘Living online: the long-term impact on wellbeing’ (House of Lords Covid-19 Committee) and ‘Covid:lessons learnt’ (Health and Social Care Committee/Science and Technology Committee) with a view to creating a report to these inquiries.

The spouse visa minimum income requirement was introduced in 2012 and has resulted in the enforced division of thousands of British citizens from their non-EEA partners and families, either temporarily or indefinitely. This group of people – including members of Facebook groups such as Reunite Families UK and I Love My Foreign Spouse – have therefore anticipated in many cases the family division created by the pandemic, with many such relationships conducted largely online for months or years (the average family or partner separation time ranges from 3 months to 3 years, with some experiencing division for more than 5 years) and therefore this group of people have a special insight into how families divided might play out.

The report is here : https://www.scribd.com/document/484534378/RFUK-Living-Online-and-Covid-Impact-Report-sg, which includes the summary results of each survey (with numbers/data around the responses), plus some of the individual responses (left in comments sections of the surveys), and conclusions and policy and operational recommendations we think should be drawn as a result of these surveys, the 2012 rules, the pandemic and the future.

I hope you find it interesting – I found it both fascinating and moving, and interesting to try to quantify some of the impacts of the immigration rules on British families, which are as you may expect devastating for most of those who responded.

Many thanks to all those who participated as a result of the calls on social media. The report has been uploaded to the relevant inquiries. All identifying information has been removed.

‘Using the Surinder Singh Route’ Research Project

Middlesex University's Research Project on the Surinder Singh route

A research team at Middlesex University is aiming to conduct a research project on the use of the Surinder Singh (SS) route by UK citizens in order to reunite with their family members.

By way of the research they would like to gain a better understanding of both the practical and legal aspects of the process, especially about people’s decision to use or not to use this route, the legal and practical difficulties they experience in the course of the process and what strategies they use to overcome such difficulties. This is especially relevant, as not much attention has been paid in either the media or academic literature to the difficulties experienced before and during the use of the SS route.

This project aims to not only add to the existing academic knowledge on family migration but also contribute to the knowledge base on which lawyers, advice services and eventually the European Commission could draw. As the SS route is a right existing under EU law, this research would support those trying to effectively exercise their right by drawing attention to the administrative obstacles and processes that the UK Government requests people to comply with.

Therefore to know more about the SS route, the researchers would like to undertake Skype interviews with people who:

•     Are either contemplating the use of the SS route; or
•      Have decided not to use the SS route; or
•     Are currently using the SS route; or
•     Have already completed the SS route and remained in the adopted country or returned to the UK.

The interviews would last approximately 60 minutes and will be recorded. Full anonymity applies to the data gained through the interviews. The participants can fully or partially withdraw from the research at any time, if they wish to do so.

The research project has received the ethical approval of Middlesex University.

Members of the research team are:

·         Dr Helena Wray (H.Wray@mdx.ac.uk), lead researcher, her academic profile can be accessed here: http://www.mdx.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/staff-directory/wray-helena;

·         Professor Eleonore Kofman (E.Kofman@mdx.ac.uk), her academic profile can be accessed here: http://www.mdx.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/staff-directory/kofman-eleonore; and

·         Agnes Agoston (A.Agoston@mdx.ac.uk), research assistant of the project, PhD student at Middlesex University.

The research is not associated in any way with the Home Office.

If you would like to participate in the research, please contact Agnes Agoston or any of the team members who will be happy to discuss any queries you may have related to the research.

Revealed: 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

The UK will lose £850 million over ten years as a result of new visa restrictions on foreign spouses of British citizens, new research suggests.

Analysis of the government's impact assessment from Middlesex University strongly suggests income requirements on foreign spouses could be putting an additional burden on the taxpayer.

"It appears the government got its sums wrong when designing this policy," said Dr Helena Wray, from the School of Law at Middlesex University, who co-authored the research.

"When the cost-benefit calculations for this policy in the impact assessment are properly carried out, the figures actually show that the income requirement could cost the public purse £850 million over ten years.

"It will not reduce the benefits bill; in fact, it is likely to increase it as single people are more likely to claim benefits than those living with a partner."

Not to mention the unquantifiable loss - already starting to happen - to Britain's previously golden international reputation. This will never be repaired.
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Facebook campaigns are flowering. New on my radar :

Family life is a right not a privilege
https://www.facebook.com/FamilyLifeIsARightNotAPrivilege

I just want to be able to live with my husband/wife in my country
https://www.facebook.com/pages/I-just-want-to-be-able-to-live-with-my-husbandwife-in-my-country/170309133150324

You can't buy love, but the UKBA think you can
https://www.facebook.com/pages/You-cant-buy-LOVE-but-the-UKBA-think-you-can/174992366006252

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Help-i-dont-earn-enough-for-my-children-to-have-the-right-to-a-family/323622374426634
 
Keep the campaigns coming, I'd love to provide links to each one - this is a family-by-family battle in many ways, and it's very empowering to tell one's own story. (One nice thing about the 9th July demo was seeing the megaphone being passed between speakers, telling their own stories - the real heart of the day, I thought).
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A heartbroken husband who has fought for almost two years to bring his wife to the UK claims immigration laws discriminate against working class people.

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/fife/it-is-derogatory-fife-man-kept-apart-from-kenyan-wife-because-of-low-earnings-1.111702

James McAllister, 50, of Kirkcaldy, wed Vera Akinyi, 32, in a ceremony in her native Kenya in August 2011.

They remain separated by more than 4,500 miles as supermarket employee Mr McAllister’s wages fall short of UK Border Agency requirements.

Before a UK citizen can bring a spouse into the country from outside the EU they need to earn an annual salary of at least £18,600 to support them. Those also bringing a child need to prove an income of £22,400.

Former Black Watch soldier Mr McAllister, who desperately wants Vera and her six-year-old son Steve to come to Scotland and live with him, said: “It is derogatory to working class people that because you don’t earn enough you can’t be with your spouse.

Mr. McAllister, if you are reading this (via a Google search, link etc), we are with you. Get in touch!
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Sarah Teather: 'I'm angry there are no alternative voices on immigration'.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2013/jul/12/sarah-teather-angry-voices-immigration

Last year the coalition introduced a rule that prohibits any Briton earning less than £18,600 from sponsoring a visa for a non-European spouse, rising to £22,400 for families with a child, and a further £2,400 for each extra child. "It's just a disaster," Teather despairs. "Lots of British citizens who never expected to be caught up in the immigration system are about to see their families split up. You may have tens of thousands in savings, you may have extremely rich grandparents, your spouse may be a high earner – a whole set of things that would clearly demonstrate that you meet the criteria whereby you'd be no burden on the taxpayer – and yet you're still not allowed to bring your spouse here, because we want to demonstrate that we are bringing numbers down."
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https://twitter.com/APPGMigration :
Lab MP & Chair of @CommonsHomeAffs @Keith_VazMP asks how many family visa applications have been cancelled since 08
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2013-07-04a.162744.h

I hope he keeps pushing.

During the 9th July meeting in Parliament, Mr. Vaz committed to make the Home Affairs Select Committee - which he chairs - continue to look at family migration rules. Let's hold him to it.
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https://twitter.com/BIHRhumanrights :
good to be involved in divided families action day, #BIHR's 1yr on briefing & other work
http://www.bihr.org.uk/policy/Family-Migration
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Press hysteria and UK government migration research: a contagious syndrome.

http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/simon-parker/press-hysteria-and-uk-government-migration-research-contagious-syndrome

... In other words, the authors don't have the data to draw any robust conclusions about the impact of immigration on local communities, services and economies. Even they admit that "a combination of statistical profiling, consultation with local authorities and other service providers, and discussions with relevant experts" is no substitute for a proper quantitative survey of the entire United Kingdom.

The report admits that international students (the exclusion of whom makes up the bulk of the government’s immigration reduction figures) and skilled European Economic Area workers (whom UKIP and much of the Tory party would like to ban) have a low impact on public services. Low skilled workers present a more "mixed picture", although the authors lack the data to demonstrate exactly how the costs and benefits stack up.

Then we get to "asylum-seeking and refugee groups" who are likely to have "the highest impact on services compared with other groups, especially in health, because of their particular characteristics and needs". Well yes, one might expect people fleeing from persecution, rape, violence and torture to have elevated health needs—that's the whole point of humanitarian protection!
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https://twitter.com/Beschizza :
Today at the Daily Mail: DO WOLVES CAUSE CANCER
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2361758/The-wolfs-door-Killer-beasts-roaming-Western-Europe-time-100-years-sparking-fears-soon-arrive-Britain.html