Sarah & Joe

“I can’t work full-time in enforced single-parenthood with four children to look after. I need my husband.”

Sarah is a British citizen. She is married to Joe, from USA. Together they have four children, all British. Cameron is 14, Sarah Grace 12, Samuel 10 and Daniel 8.

Sarah has skills acquired from Central St Martin’s College of Art & Design, London. She is enrolled in the NWES program and is pursuing a career as a jeweller, illustrator and artist. However she is also battling the Home Office for the right to have her husband and father of their four children, with her.

She is receiving the jobseekers' allowance, applies for twelve part-time jobs every two weeks though it’s not particularly realistic given she does not have a car and has four children to look after. Sarah is adamant that with Joe by her side, she would not need to be on benefits.

Sarah is being denied the right to live with her husband. Her four children are being denied the right to live with their father. Sarah worries – what if something happens to her? What happens to her children? Would they be handed over to social services? Would they be split up?

It’s a terrifying thought even while she tries to make ends meet on benefits while juggling being a single parent to four children. All of whom are missing out on having their father with them.

Sarah & Angelina

“All we want is to live our lives together, as a married couple.”

Sarah is a British citizen who first met her partner, Angelina three years ago when she went to work at a USA summer camp in Texas. They are both 25 year old graduates.

The couple began their relationship a year later, when Sarah returned to the same summer camp, and after reviewing their options, both decided to both apply for a year's work visa to live and work in Canada, as neither USA nor UK allowed the other to apply for any a temporary work permit.

They lived in Canada happily. Although both on minimum wage jobs, this was sufficient for them to live in rented accommodation comfortably; they could afford basic luxuries without any sort of dependency on the government or anyone else. They planned to marry in the UK, but the visa conditions (just to get married there, not for settlement) were so expensive and onerous that they decided it was easier and cheaper to marry in Canada. They did, in a beautiful low-key ceremony in Victoria, British Columbia.

Having thought about it long and hard, and discussed it between them, both agreed but in both our minds we decided that living in the UK would be a happier life for both of us, for various reasons.

Angelina joined Sarah in the UK in July 2013. They planned that Sarah would find a job paying £18,600, and after six months, they would get moving with the paperwork that would let Angelina stay here, and finally begin their lives together with some permanence.

Sarah was even then concerned with the difficulties around obtaining a job paying over £18,600 at entry level and wrote to her Conservative MP, Charles Walker. His response was that he could not possibly imagine opposing these rules, and that she should turn her attention to getting a job as soon as possible. Charles did however eventually relent and wrote to the immigration minister when Sarah pointed out that this threshold was even harder for a single mum to meet.

Now Sarah and Angelina are three months into their time here, and despite applying for many jobs, Sarah is no further to gainful employment than when she began looking. Every recruitment agency she has liaised with has indicated that her experience will not get her this salary; every day marks more time that she will have to be apart from her wife.

Feedback from four interviews was ‘lack of relevant experience’ which is difficult to get without a job. A job that pays over £18,600.

The couple grows increasingly desperate for options as the job rejections roll in every day, and it becomes increasingly apparent that Sarah may not be suitable just yet for anything that meets the threshold.

What makes it increasingly frustrating is that Sarah’s parents are more than happy to be co-signers of any paperwork – to be their guarantors. However the Home Office has this is not an option. The fact that Angelina's work history, which is much more impressive than Sarah’s (although still not enough to make her eligible for a Tier 2 visa) is not taken into account is baffling, and just another barrier. It just seems that this is an impossible task for a British citizen to be able to sponsor their wife; the person they love.

Despite the heartbreak, stress and intense pressure this situation has brought upon her life, Sarah finds it comforting to know there is a support base for those in exactly the same, or even worse situations than she and Angelina find themselves in.

Welcome, Sarah

Observant readers may have noticed a new kid on the blog. A warm welcome to Sarah, who has already done a fine job contributing articles, content and incisive analysis to this site. It's great to have you on board.

http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/sham-marriages-more-tory-fluff.html
http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/reactions-to-mays-heavily-criticised.html
http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/hanson-replaces-bryant-as-shadow.html
http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/norman-baker-friend-or-foe-to-family.html

Sarah also tweets here :
https://twitter.com/jitjindar

Sarah

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

Sarah is a British citizen living in Thailand with her Thai husband.

She initially came to Thailand to work with Burmese refugees but fell in love and started a family-- always with the intention of returning to the UK.

Under the new rules Sarah’s salary does not meet the financial requirement, nor will it ever. Indeed, it would be near impossible to find a job in Thailand that would meet the requirements as local salaries are simply not in line with those in the UK.

However, combined with her husband’s salary, they meet the requirements. But the new rules do not permit his income to be considered.

So, to return to the UK, we are now facing the choice of:
a) Sarah returns alone with their two children, seeks employment paying over the stipulated salary while placing them in full-time childcare and somehow coping as a single parent until she qualifies to qualify to sponsor her husband OR
b) remaining in Thailand indefinitely as a family unit, depriving her British children of a British education and their British family.

Even if Sarah opts to return to the UK alone, she would not be able to avail of her parents' support in terms of accommodation or childcare as the salary stipulations means she would almost certainly need to seek work in London or another large city where childcare costs are very high.

Both Sarah and her husband are highly educated – both have completed their Masters, have a decade of professional experience and her husband speaks fluent English as well.

They have looked at the alternatives such as the EEA route, but find this costly and impractical for a young family.

Sarah finds it hard to believe she can’t bring her family home and therefore may face a life abroad indefinitely.

Sarah

“I have two kids who miss their dad so much..even our appeal date is 9 months ahead.”

Sarah is a British citizen. She has two children, aged 2 and 4. Her husband is a Malaysian citizen.

While Sarah and their kids returned to the UK over 15 months ago, her husband is still in Malaysia. He was not granted a family visa. In December he was refused entry because Sarah did not earn £18,600 - even though they submitted bank statements showing savings and job offers exceeding this amount.

They put in an appeal in January and were given an appeal date in October 2013.

Despite being turned into a single parent to two children, Sarah is not claiming a penny in benefits. Her husband is paying for everything. Including the solicitor they have hired for the appeal.

Her four year old cries every day for her dad. The stress is taking its toll on all of them.

The family miss each other and are exploring all avenues to unity.

Sarah

“As a result he missed the birth of his first-born child.”

Sarah is a British citizen from Bradford.

Sarah met her husband in the UK, and they lived together as a family in England for 18 months before his visa expired. They should qualify for the right to live together under the Zambrano ruling but delays on the part of UKBA are keeping this family in limbo.

Sarah has two kids from a previous relationship, and a child with her husband (this is her first marriage) who she is trying to sponsor to move to the UK from Turkey, so their family can be together.

Her two eldest kids call her husband dad, even though he is not their birth father. That is how close this family is.

Sarah does not satisfy the £18,600 income threshold. She is in receipt of benefits, including income support and child tax credit. However, this will change when her husband joins her, as once he is working (there is already a job lined up), Sarah will cease to be eligible for benefits which are means tested (although she will continue to receive tax credits in respect of the children).

Sarah relocated to Turkey with her family and eventually decided to move back to the UK for her children’s education. They applied for a visitor's visa for her husband, so that he could be here for their child’s birth, but the visa was refused on the grounds that because his family was in England they thought that he may not return to Turkey.

As a result he missed the birth of his first-born child.

It has not been an easy time for Sarah, what with having to give birth alone, raise not one but three kids alone, and then have a faulty toaster set their house on fire.

Sarah, her husband and the three children stay in touch using MSN, a webcam and Web chat every day. They have applied for a spouse visa for him.

However, under the new rules, they may as well just donate more money to the British government which seems intent on tearing apart this family rather than understanding that being with her husband is what would be best for Sarah and her three children.