*** IMPORTANT - The Children's Commissioner survey is now open until 15th September


If you have children, and are affected by the UK's immigration rules, please please please complete the survey :

http://www.scribd.com/doc/235449747/Children-s-Commissioner-Questionnaire

The Office of the Children's Commissioner is conducting research on the impact of the rules on children with a view to, in the Children's Commissioner for England's words, 'achieve a just settlement for families who are, or who will be, divided by the implementation of these rules.'

Full instructions on where to send the survey to, as well as a letter from the Children's Commissioner for England herself, are in the link above.

* The Children's Commissioners for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are the voice of the child in government. They have spoken out on the issue before, and wish to follow this up further. Please help them achieve this.

Children's Commissioners' briefing on the APPG on Migration 'Report of the Inquiry into the New Family Migration Rules' : http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/content/publications/content_671 

Previous post : http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/childrens-commissioner-questionnaire.html

*** Important repost *** 

Have your say : Reminder to those affected by family migration rules with children

http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/childrens-commissioner-questionnaire.html

As previously mentioned, the Office of the Children's Commissioners is following up on the concerns and issues by all of the campaigning over the last couple of years.

The OCC is conducting research on the impact of the rules on children with a view to, in the Children's Commissioner for England's words, 'achieve a just settlement for families who are, or who will be, divided by the implementation of these rules.'

If you're affected by family migration rules, have children, and have a few moments, please complete the survey here :
http://www.scribd.com/doc/235449747/Children-s-Commissioner-Questionnaire

Full instructions on where to send the survey to, as well as a letter from the Children's Commissioner for England herself, are in the link above.

* The Children's Commissioners for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are the voice of the child in government. They have spoken out on the issue before, and wish to follow this up further. Please help them achieve this.

Children's Commissioners' briefing on the APPG on Migration 'Report of the Inquiry into the New Family Migration Rules' : http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/content/publications/content_671

Free movement poll results

We conducted a 1-minute poll, asking those who are or will be exercising free movement rights, which country this would be in and at what stage of the process they are, where it is for Surinder Singh.

Ireland is unsurprisingly the most popular with Malta beating countries like France and Italy, into joint second place with Spain.

We will be in touch soon to create in-country groups and mentors with those who have indicated an interest.

More on the results here. 

Children's Commissioner Questionnaire - have your say!

Source : Children's Commissioner

As previously mentioned, the Office of the Children's Commissioners is following up on the concerns and issues by all of the campaigning over the last couple of years.

The OCC is conducting research on the impact of the rules on children with a view to, in the Children's Commissioner for England's words, 'achieve a just settlement for families who are, or who will be, divided by the implementation of these rules.'

If you're affected by family migration rules, have children, and have a few moments, please complete the survey here :
http://www.scribd.com/doc/235449747/Children-s-Commissioner-Questionnaire

Full instructions on where to send the survey to, as well as a letter from the Children's Commissioner for England herself, are in the link above.

* The Children's Commissioners for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are the voice of the child in government. They have spoken out on the issue before, and wish to follow this up further. Please help them achieve this.

Children's Commissioners' briefing on the APPG on Migration 'Report of the Inquiry into the New Family Migration Rules' : http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/content/publications/content_671

UPDATES

Children's Commissioner

We mentioned earlier that we are working with the Office of the Children's Commissioner in England in their undertaking research to explore the impact of UK's family immigration rules on children and young people.  They have put together a questionnaire - if you have children especially please take 15 minutes or so and return by 1 September 2014. Thank you in advance.
Note guidance provided at the end for instructions on how to return the questionnaire and other documentation.

MM case 

Many have been asking for updates on the MM case. No news yet other than the good side's lawyers are still waiting for legal aid approval, following which they are going to file their permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.  Legal Aid Authority like most government departments is probably over-worked and under-resourced, hence the delay - so a little more patience needed.  Will let you know as soon as we hear anything more.

Keep an eye out for how things progress with HO's treatment of applications on hold which they indicated they would begin processing this week - will applicants will be able to appeal or forced to go down an administrative review instead?  Around the corner is the 30 months since the rules came into force, so let's brace ourselves for HO in their typical fashion messing up the first probationary period applications too. 

Surinder Singh

Many members have been trawling through EU regulations, and interpreting the regulations the best they can - however now there is some legal comfort available with immigration barrister and EU specialist Colin Yeo having written an e-book on Surinder Singh, released this week.  It provides a legal oversight of free movement rights and EU regulations, especially as they apply to using the Surinder Singh route (unsurprising given the title of the e-book) and an overview of Home Office behaviour.  Colin is open to feedback so do contact him if you have any. BritCits does not financially benefit from sales of this book so 'promotion' of it is purely because we think you may find it useful. 

Available in pdf format here. 

Until next time chickies.

Please complete our Surinder Singh survey!

Author : BritCits surveys

If you are currently exercising, or expect to exercise, free movement rights in Europe, please complete our survey! This will help us understand how best to help those going through free movement.

It won't take a minute! :

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8XPPCLN

Thanks!

More posts on Surinder Singh and free movement :
http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/surinder%20singh

Family unity, the European way :
http://www.jcwi.org.uk/comment/1570

Don't forget our survey

BritCits members' and supporters' survey :
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TS3WLXQ

It's running for a few more days before we start collating the results - please complete if you haven't already!

Previously :
http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/britcits-members-and-supporters-survey.html

BritCits survey results

Results of the survey we recently conducted on the impact of the income requirements for family immigration applications, and the Home Office's treatment of visa applications in general.

PDF format : http://www.scribd.com/doc/208720551/Stats-From-BC-Poll

Poll on the income requirements - please complete

BritCits has been asked to submit a witness statement on the impact of the financial requirements of UK's family immigration rules and Home Office treatment of visa applications.

This is an unmissable opportunity for us to show the Court of Appeal the devastating impact on the lives of ordinary families, who just wish to live together with no recourse to public funds.

Please complete the survey below to participate.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Withdrawn decisions survey

http://www.freemovement.org.uk/2014/01/14/withdrawn-decisions-survey/

This is a very short survey to gather information for a possible legal challenge to the Home Office practice of withdrawing decisions late in the day and perhaps to the tribunal procedure rules, which provide for automatic termination of the appeal. We are very grateful for your time. Any responses will zoom off through the Interwebs to James Packer of Duncan Lewis, who is collating information on this issue.

Hat tip :
https://twitter.com/SalCardiff

BritCits bulletin 6th July 2013

This is the Sunday morning update that has been shared with our mailing list.  The BritCits bulletins are authored by Sonel, who tweets at https://twitter.com/BritCits

Good morning and happy sunny weekend to all, wherever in the world you are.

SURVEY
Request to please fill in this yourself, and share with others..for results to be more meaningful need as large a sample size as possible.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VTT2LRT
9th July - HUGE DAY. See earlier email and email to come tomorrow.
Pack - will be updated this weekend. If you want your story and photo included please send it in today.


(Note from Steve : our collection of 'protest art', i.e. examples of flyers etc., is here : http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/flyers . Use and modify as you wish!
 
More on the divided families day of action is here : http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/divided-families-day-of-action.html . Be there!!! ).

HOUSE OF LORDS DEBATE
Family migration debate in the House of Lords was well attended by various campaign and ethnic groups and those affected by the rules personally, on 4th July.  There was overwhelming support for the rules to be amended in the interest of fairness..more below from my frantically written notes.

Baroness Hamwee started the debate further to the APPG on Migration report. 
She specified that the route for adult dependants was blocked and asked for the nature of the ONE visa granted under the new rules.  (I spoke with her and Lord Avebury after the debate and they feel that its likely no further adult dependant visas have been issue as the rules are impossible as they read them, AND the one visa issued is likely to have been an error or under the previous rules).
The message she has received from the govt is that the rules are working as intended.  She pushed for the inclusion of non-cash assets in the financial threshold and made a joke that holding high amounts of liquid cash (i.e. £62,500) is a sign of not handling assets very well, as well as allowing help from family.

Lord Parekh
Completely in against the new rules..I found him difficult to understand though, so recommend you read the Hansard for his words..essentially along the lines of the adult dependant rules are forcing us to outsource ensuring the well-being of our parents to third parties, and how skilled NHS staff being forced into exile...
 
Lord Teverson
Fab, booming voice. He provided lots of interesting stats to especially highlight that British citizens are also migrants in other countries..it’s not just UK receiving migrants:  5 million British citizens live abroad. Every year, 100,000 Brits migrate overseas for 1 year or longer; of these 90% are of working age, and 66% are single when they leave the UK..so its not unexpected if they fall in love when overseas.
He cited examples from his own extended family where people had done so and spoke about people he had personally met who were marriage exiles.. with british kids unable to have a british upbringing; british grandparents unable to nurture and spend time with their grandchildren,
 He quoted from the 2010 election manifesto that families were to be an important part of ALL govt policies..(so including immigration) and that this also in the coalition agreement.

 Lord Kilclooney (Northern Ireland)
 Spoke of migrants in NI, especially from Poland, Lithuanie and Portugal..how several years ago they didn’t have one visa applicant, and how times had changed (in a favourable way).
 He spoke of the delay in visa processing, that he was aware of an application made in February 2012, with the decision only received in May 2013.  Spoke of one case he knew, of an Australian working in a nursing home in NI, who had married a Brit there. The Brit had a family firm of which he was the 3^rd generation, which employs 25 people. However even they had the visa denied by the Secretary of State, who said as the couple both speak English, there was nothing insurmountable in their moving to Australia.  (My thought here was, not welcome if you speak English, not welcome if you don’t!)

 Lord Judd
He said to allow doctors to be at their best, important to allow their family values to apply.. this was being denied to them by the current rules. He said it was important to include grandparents in the family as often this enabled mums to go to work..they ran the kids to and from school..
Spoke of the impact on kids not having been taken into account..and it was in fact, cynical neglect.
Britain was a pioneer on UN convention rights of the child and therefore it is right for children to be central to our considerations.

Lord Avebury
He said that the current immigration rules have weakened family community.  The prevention of legal aid is not for economic reasons (and bulls eye here) but just because of the net migration target.  Stellar quote: The current rules are 'Tories balmiest policy'.  He also asked for numbers on the adult dependant visas issued under the new rules, which until October 2012, was apparently just one.  (I spoke with Lord Avebury and Baroness Hamwee afterwards - their view is that no further adult dependant visas will have been issued; the govt being silent on the nature of the one visa issued is likely because it was a mistake or in fact, under the old rules..scandalous!)


Lord Taylor of Warwick
No blacks, no Irish, no dogs..was the message in the 1840s, he said (I was under the impression this was policy even later than that).  His dad grew up in Jamaica, and after moving to the UK, played cricket for Warwickshire. He was known as the Jamaican immigration...until he scored a century, after which the papers lauded him as the local Brummie hero.
His view on the APPG report is not that its an enquiry into minority groups, but more an enquiry into the Britain of the future. He said it is easier to bring up a strong child and repair a broken man.  He referred to the Home Office report, also dated 4/7/13, citing the negative impact from immigration.  (If anyone has seen this, views welcome.) 

Bear in mind, this is a guy who is a Conservative, he also went on to say, that removing immigration from NHS and the public service, would result in chaos...we need a society that comes together.  He supported David Cameron's view that Britain needs good not mass immigration but also went on to say that we should have good and fair immigration rules.. rules to be firm but also fair.


Lord Roberts of Llanduno
British hospitality is becoming British hostility.  "We are all immigrants".  Some further interesting stats from him: 13% of UK taxpayers claim benefits. 7% immigrants claim benefits. According to the British Medical Journal, more Brits seek medical advice overseas than vice versa, so when it comes to the NHS, there is clearly scaremongering going on.
Asylum seekers must survive on £35.63 per week. and they are not allowed to work...processing their application could be in the years rather than months, so its not easy for them to live on this amount.
Life in the UK test..more a pub quiz really, with questions in there that even the peers themselves havent been able to answer. Random questions like the height of London Eye..
All these are just making the door to entry narrower, with higher and higher barriers being erected.

Earl of Listowel
Message revolved around the welfare of kids. Financial requirements are so onerous that they're pushing women onto dependency on the State; often as single parents, they cant work full-time while also depriving kids of their father.
Research shows that the outcome of kids who grow up without their fathers is very poor...denying a child contact with both parents is not in their interest, affecting even the kid's confidence.

Lord Rosser
Immigrants have built and developed some of our biggest businesses. They have developed the health service, helped us win Nobel prizes.
The income requirement is splitting up families; even where the non-EEA spouse is a middle or high income earner, because the spouse's income does not count towards the qualification.
Commented on the revised rules for Armed Forces personnel, who now are not exempt from the migration rules..he noted this was in marked contrast to a decision on 3rd July to exempt the reserves when it came to things like employment tribunal.


Respondent: Lord Taylor of Holbeach
Lord Taylor of Holbeach for the most part provided the standard spiel of those wishing to live here to ensure its not at the expense of the taxpayer. In response to the number of adult dependant visas issued under the new rules, he claimed to not have the figure, but gave a larger figure reflecting the total number of visas issued – whether this was for spouses, family visits, etc..we don’t know..but very telling that he did not provide the adult dependants figure..and unsurprising he gave a higher figure in a very transparent attempt to mislead.
What was most remarkable though was in his response, he admitted there is a dichotomy between the current immigration rules and families forming the bedrock of society. The first time ever I am aware of, we have received this kind of admission from the government.


You can find a link to the Hansard for the full text, and Steve's overview, here: http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/lords-debate.html?spref=tw

- Sonel 

BritCits survey on the rights of British citizens and UK legal residents

Try this please!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VTT2LRT

In 2012 the UK Government implemented immigration policies that have changed the rights of British Citizens and Permanent Residents. This survey is to gain insights as to whether the public is aware of these changes, and what you would do to overcome potential challenges.

All information obtained from this survey will be anonymised. Top-line and trend information will be shared as part of an information campaign but under no circumstance will individual responder information or any other information that may be used to identify a responder be shared with anyone outside of the survey administrators.

This survey is organised by BritCits, a socially conscious group of British citizens, advocating for fair rights for other British citizens. For more details, please visit: www.britcits.com