David
“It took 8 months for UKBA to process my wife’s application..and we had to jump through hoops to prove we had a real marriage in spite of having a child together. So my complete sympathy is with others going through the process.”
David is a British citizen who has personally been affected by the new immigration rules.
Since David married his Filipina wife nearly three years ago, the British government has made their lives a misery; causing unnecessary stress, worry and suffering in trying to prove that their marriage is genuine even though they have a son together. David finds this outrageous and ridiculous – how can you ‘prove’ you are in a genuine marriage if the proof of a child is insufficient?
They had to submit David’s passport while his wife’s application for indefinite leave was being considered; they had to send countless documents and fill out lots of forms. They had to pay an extortionate amount of money even for applying for his wife to remain in the country that is that of her husband’s and son’s.
Although David is in the fortunate position of having received a successful decision on his wife’s application, it was after eight months of stress, worry and anxiety. His complete sympathy goes out to all families that affected caught in the complicated web of these immigration rules.
Saturday, 13 July 2013
White weddings and forced marriages.
The plight of the couple kept apart by immigration rules shows the UK is again tying itself in knots over international unions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/19/forced-marriage-legislation-immigration
---
https://twitter.com/jitjindar - new on my Twitter radar, covering these issues. Think you'd do well to follow her.
The plight of the couple kept apart by immigration rules shows the UK is again tying itself in knots over international unions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/19/forced-marriage-legislation-immigration
---
https://twitter.com/jitjindar - new on my Twitter radar, covering these issues. Think you'd do well to follow her.
Congressman responds like real human person would after getting an absurd letter from his co-workers
http://www.upworthy.com/congressman-responds-like-real-human-person-would-after-getting-an-absurd-letter-from-his-coworkers-8?g=2&c=ufb1
Once a teacher always a teacher. Congrats on winning the Internet today.
http://www.upworthy.com/congressman-responds-like-real-human-person-would-after-getting-an-absurd-letter-from-his-coworkers-8?g=2&c=ufb1
Once a teacher always a teacher. Congrats on winning the Internet today.
Friday, 12 July 2013
Daniel & Kelsey
“I satisfy the requirements, yet they rejected my wife’s application.”
Daniel is a British citizen, living in China with his wife. They have been living there together for five years, and have been married for one.
Daniel is keen to return to the UK to be closer to his family. However they have had two UK settlement visas refused already. In both cases they found ECO cited incorrect immigration rules to refuse them, even though Daniel is confident, that having used a well-reputed London lawyer, they did meet all the requirements, including financial.
They have appealed the result of both applications, however it takes over nine months for any result.
Despite now also meeting the savings requirements, Daniel is not confident the application, third time round, would be processed correctly either. So he is considering using his rights as an EU citizen.
Yet another British citizen forced to leave his home just to live with his family.
“I satisfy the requirements, yet they rejected my wife’s application.”
Daniel is a British citizen, living in China with his wife. They have been living there together for five years, and have been married for one.
Daniel is keen to return to the UK to be closer to his family. However they have had two UK settlement visas refused already. In both cases they found ECO cited incorrect immigration rules to refuse them, even though Daniel is confident, that having used a well-reputed London lawyer, they did meet all the requirements, including financial.
They have appealed the result of both applications, however it takes over nine months for any result.
Despite now also meeting the savings requirements, Daniel is not confident the application, third time round, would be processed correctly either. So he is considering using his rights as an EU citizen.
Yet another British citizen forced to leave his home just to live with his family.
Brian
“ I won’t give up and will move to Ireland if that’s the only way I can be with my family.”
Brian is a British citizen. He is 70 years old and retired.
Brian is also married to a Brazilian woman – they knew each other for a year before getting married nearly a year and a half ago.
As almost every single married couple does, this couple too wishes to live together. As Brian needs to be in the UK – with 4 children and 10 grandchildren here, this isn’t surprising - he wishes to settle in the UK, with his wife.
However, the Secretary of State does not see it that way. Brian’s wife’s application for leave to remain was refused, with the advice they received from the government being that there was no reason why the couple could not carry on with their family life in Brazil.
Brian’s wife would have qualified under the pre-July 2012 rules, increasingly being dubbed inhumane, unfair and xenophobic.
Brian will not give up, however is considering exercising his treaty rights as an EU citizen to ensure his family is now broken up – which would mean coming out of retirement and finding a job in another EU/EEA country, just to be able to one day, return home. At any age, but especially his, he shouldn’t have to fight for his right to live with his own family, in his own country.
Putting a 70 year old in a situation where he has to come out of retirement, move countries and prove his right to be with his wife is something worthy of politicians hanging their heads in shame.
‘No free man shall be arrested, imprisoned, dispossessed, outlawed, exiled or in any way victimised, or attacked except by the lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land' - Magna Carta.
“ I won’t give up and will move to Ireland if that’s the only way I can be with my family.”
Brian is a British citizen. He is 70 years old and retired.
Brian is also married to a Brazilian woman – they knew each other for a year before getting married nearly a year and a half ago.
As almost every single married couple does, this couple too wishes to live together. As Brian needs to be in the UK – with 4 children and 10 grandchildren here, this isn’t surprising - he wishes to settle in the UK, with his wife.
However, the Secretary of State does not see it that way. Brian’s wife’s application for leave to remain was refused, with the advice they received from the government being that there was no reason why the couple could not carry on with their family life in Brazil.
Brian’s wife would have qualified under the pre-July 2012 rules, increasingly being dubbed inhumane, unfair and xenophobic.
Brian will not give up, however is considering exercising his treaty rights as an EU citizen to ensure his family is now broken up – which would mean coming out of retirement and finding a job in another EU/EEA country, just to be able to one day, return home. At any age, but especially his, he shouldn’t have to fight for his right to live with his own family, in his own country.
Putting a 70 year old in a situation where he has to come out of retirement, move countries and prove his right to be with his wife is something worthy of politicians hanging their heads in shame.
‘No free man shall be arrested, imprisoned, dispossessed, outlawed, exiled or in any way victimised, or attacked except by the lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land' - Magna Carta.
Izzy and Phil
Argus hoping letter will help Haywards Heath dad stay in UK.
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10544301.Argus_hoping_letter_will_help_Haywards_Heath_dad_stay_in_UK/
BritCits Phil and Izzy step up their campaign. It was a real pleasure to meet Izzy and their lovely son Cooper at the 9th July demo. Cooper even led some chanting - 'Don't deport my daddy'. The question arises - why does a 9 year old know what the word 'deport' means? What kind of society is this???
There is also a magnificent campaign on behalf of the family, with support from the local press. Beautiful to see.
The Argus has sent a letter to the Home Secretary as it steps up its Don’t Deport Our Daddy campaign.
Australian father-of-three Phil Sommerville was told in April that he will be sent back to Australia – despite his British wife of 12 years and their three children who live in the UK.
His worried wife, Isabel, hopes the letter will spark an interest from Home Secretary Theresa May.
She said: “I hope the letter will be taken seriously and that TheresaMay will listen to us. As a family we have to have hope because what other choice do we have?
“It’s such a terrible situation to be in and I can’t really believe that it is my situation, mine and my family’s.”
The nightmare is based on a letter the Home Office claims to have sent in March requesting more documents to support Mr Sommerville’s visa application, but the family say it never arrived.
The family sent off the required papers for their second appeal on July 3, however they are still in the dark about when the judge will make his decision.
Mrs Sommerville said: “We are just playing a waiting game.
“We don’t get a court date as we chose not to go to court in the original appeal because we were assuming the outcome of the appeal would be fine.
“We appealed in April and only got the decision last week so we don’t know if it will take another three months or will it be quicker. We’re just in limbo really.”
Yesterday, Mrs Sommerville and her son Cooper, 12, were among hundreds who attended a protest outside the Home Office in London.
The demonstration marked a year to the day from when immigration laws ruled the spouse of the visa applicant must earn at least £18,000 before their visa can be approved.
MrsSommerville said: “There must have been a good couple of hundred people there and sadly there were about 35 other families that have an equally terrible story to tell.”
Links :
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10544301.Argus_hoping_letter_will_help_Haywards_Heath_dad_stay_in_UK/
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10533520.Support_for_Haywards_Heath_father_facing_deportation/
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10529653.___Mistakes____by_Home_Office_in_case_of_Haywards_Heath_dad_facing_deportation/?ref=nt
---
Argus hoping letter will help Haywards Heath dad stay in UK.
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10544301.Argus_hoping_letter_will_help_Haywards_Heath_dad_stay_in_UK/
BritCits Phil and Izzy step up their campaign. It was a real pleasure to meet Izzy and their lovely son Cooper at the 9th July demo. Cooper even led some chanting - 'Don't deport my daddy'. The question arises - why does a 9 year old know what the word 'deport' means? What kind of society is this???
There is also a magnificent campaign on behalf of the family, with support from the local press. Beautiful to see.
The Argus has sent a letter to the Home Secretary as it steps up its Don’t Deport Our Daddy campaign.
Australian father-of-three Phil Sommerville was told in April that he will be sent back to Australia – despite his British wife of 12 years and their three children who live in the UK.
His worried wife, Isabel, hopes the letter will spark an interest from Home Secretary Theresa May.
She said: “I hope the letter will be taken seriously and that TheresaMay will listen to us. As a family we have to have hope because what other choice do we have?
“It’s such a terrible situation to be in and I can’t really believe that it is my situation, mine and my family’s.”
The nightmare is based on a letter the Home Office claims to have sent in March requesting more documents to support Mr Sommerville’s visa application, but the family say it never arrived.
The family sent off the required papers for their second appeal on July 3, however they are still in the dark about when the judge will make his decision.
Mrs Sommerville said: “We are just playing a waiting game.
“We don’t get a court date as we chose not to go to court in the original appeal because we were assuming the outcome of the appeal would be fine.
“We appealed in April and only got the decision last week so we don’t know if it will take another three months or will it be quicker. We’re just in limbo really.”
Yesterday, Mrs Sommerville and her son Cooper, 12, were among hundreds who attended a protest outside the Home Office in London.
The demonstration marked a year to the day from when immigration laws ruled the spouse of the visa applicant must earn at least £18,000 before their visa can be approved.
MrsSommerville said: “There must have been a good couple of hundred people there and sadly there were about 35 other families that have an equally terrible story to tell.”
Links :
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10544301.Argus_hoping_letter_will_help_Haywards_Heath_dad_stay_in_UK/
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10533520.Support_for_Haywards_Heath_father_facing_deportation/
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10529653.___Mistakes____by_Home_Office_in_case_of_Haywards_Heath_dad_facing_deportation/?ref=nt
---
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.
---
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).
---
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!
---
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."
---
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.
---
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
---
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!
---
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
Thursday, 11 July 2013
Open letter to the Children's Commissioner, from someone affected by the family division rules
Per a previous post ( http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/u-rgent-message-from-migrants-rights.html ), the Children's Commissioner for England has requested stories from families affected by these devastating family division rules.
Here is one family's story, shared with permission.
Get in touch with her at childrens.commissioner@childrenscommissioner.gsi.gov.uk
Dear Maggie Atkinson;
I received your information through a group that I am involved in trying to fight the immigration rules. My name is John Cobb and I am an English citizen currently living in Texas, in the US. I want to tell you my story and explain why we need your help changing these unfair rules.
I was born in England, as was my father, and his parents. I came to the US 7 years ago. I met my wife, Hayley in 2009 and married her in 2011. In 2012 we had a beautiful baby boy who we call Ryan in honor of my late mother. I also have a 17 year old daughter from a previous relationship who is still in England named Lauren. Lauren comes to visit us whenever possible and she and Ryan adore each other. Hayley and I always intended to move back to the UK but it was only once we had the baby that we began to seriously look into the process and realized how difficult this move would be. Our son, Ryan has a British passport and we foolishly believed once we had that the hard part was over.
You see, I'm an unskilled laborer. In England I worked for Royal Mail for 10 years and I enjoyed my time there and hope to return to that position once I am finally home again. In America I work part time for a bank. Hayley, my wife, is the primary wage earner here. She works as a supervisor in a corporate office for JP Morgan Chase & Co. We had hoped she would be able to use her reputation with the bank to find a new position in England. Hayley works during the day while I take care of our son, and I work in the evenings. We make enough to support ourselves without government assistance and have no reason to believe we wouldn't be able to find work in England. However, the amount of money that must be in savings to qualify to bypass the minimum wage requirement is simply impossible.
To meet the minimum wage requirement to bring my family to England I would have to leave Texas, find a job (Possibly two depending on the area of the country we decide to settle in and the wages available there) and wait for 6 months to qualify to apply for a visa for my wife. I would expect to be away from my family for at least 9 months, and from what we are finding out the more we research it will probably be a lot longer than that.
If I want to return to the place of my birth, the only place I have ever considered home I have to make an impossible decision: When do I leave my family? Do I leave now, when Ryan is too young to ask where his Daddy is and miss his first words, his first explorations into art, his discoveries on what he is capable of? Do I leave when Ryan is older, when his memory will have the ability to miss me, to wonder where I went and why I'm not there to kiss him each morning? If I have to force my wife to live as a single parent do I do it now while so much of our energy is spent worrying over teething and ear infections, or do I do it later when she'll need help preparing him for school and the life ahead?
I hope you understand the difficulty here. Of course neither of those options is a good choice for my son. What he needs is his mother and father together, working to raise him to be the man we both know he can be. What he needs is a stable home near his sister in a good community with people who know him and care for him. However, what he's got right now is a father who is not meant to be an American but is no longer allowed to be British.
Please help us.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
---
No Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseised of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any other wise destroyed; nor will We not pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the land. We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right.
- Magna Carta.
Per a previous post ( http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/u-rgent-message-from-migrants-rights.html ), the Children's Commissioner for England has requested stories from families affected by these devastating family division rules.
Here is one family's story, shared with permission.
Get in touch with her at childrens.commissioner@childrenscommissioner.gsi.gov.uk
Dear Maggie Atkinson;
I received your information through a group that I am involved in trying to fight the immigration rules. My name is John Cobb and I am an English citizen currently living in Texas, in the US. I want to tell you my story and explain why we need your help changing these unfair rules.
I was born in England, as was my father, and his parents. I came to the US 7 years ago. I met my wife, Hayley in 2009 and married her in 2011. In 2012 we had a beautiful baby boy who we call Ryan in honor of my late mother. I also have a 17 year old daughter from a previous relationship who is still in England named Lauren. Lauren comes to visit us whenever possible and she and Ryan adore each other. Hayley and I always intended to move back to the UK but it was only once we had the baby that we began to seriously look into the process and realized how difficult this move would be. Our son, Ryan has a British passport and we foolishly believed once we had that the hard part was over.
You see, I'm an unskilled laborer. In England I worked for Royal Mail for 10 years and I enjoyed my time there and hope to return to that position once I am finally home again. In America I work part time for a bank. Hayley, my wife, is the primary wage earner here. She works as a supervisor in a corporate office for JP Morgan Chase & Co. We had hoped she would be able to use her reputation with the bank to find a new position in England. Hayley works during the day while I take care of our son, and I work in the evenings. We make enough to support ourselves without government assistance and have no reason to believe we wouldn't be able to find work in England. However, the amount of money that must be in savings to qualify to bypass the minimum wage requirement is simply impossible.
To meet the minimum wage requirement to bring my family to England I would have to leave Texas, find a job (Possibly two depending on the area of the country we decide to settle in and the wages available there) and wait for 6 months to qualify to apply for a visa for my wife. I would expect to be away from my family for at least 9 months, and from what we are finding out the more we research it will probably be a lot longer than that.
If I want to return to the place of my birth, the only place I have ever considered home I have to make an impossible decision: When do I leave my family? Do I leave now, when Ryan is too young to ask where his Daddy is and miss his first words, his first explorations into art, his discoveries on what he is capable of? Do I leave when Ryan is older, when his memory will have the ability to miss me, to wonder where I went and why I'm not there to kiss him each morning? If I have to force my wife to live as a single parent do I do it now while so much of our energy is spent worrying over teething and ear infections, or do I do it later when she'll need help preparing him for school and the life ahead?
I hope you understand the difficulty here. Of course neither of those options is a good choice for my son. What he needs is his mother and father together, working to raise him to be the man we both know he can be. What he needs is a stable home near his sister in a good community with people who know him and care for him. However, what he's got right now is a father who is not meant to be an American but is no longer allowed to be British.
Please help us.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
---
No Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseised of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any other wise destroyed; nor will We not pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the land. We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right.
- Magna Carta.
Beautiful
Out of the blue, this arrived in the BritCits inboxes this morning :
Please find attached a copy of the judgment in our Jr against the Imm Rules - we were successful in part you will be pleased to hear!
Thank you for your contribution. -
Stuart Luke
Bhatia Best Ltd
A copy of the judgement was attached, which I've uploaded here for posterity : http://www.scribd.com/doc/153242486/05-07-13-approved-judgment
A number of BritCits and Family Immigration Alliance supporters and associates contributed evidence to this case, in the form of their stories.
When we were approached, we rounded a few people up whose stories fitted the profiles they were looking for, and let them tell their stories.
Getting a note like this is the icing on the cake which was a truly excellent week. Thanks to all who contributed, WE MADE A DIFFERENCE. I can't emphasise that enough.
Along with the APPG report, this emphasises to me how all aspects of this campaign - legal, political, grassroots, social media, even academic and artistic - are intedependent, and move forward together. And how people supporting each other and showing solidarity can make a difference.
Previously : 'High Court finds minimum income rules disproportionate and unjustified.' - http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-big-news.html
Almost exactly a year after they were first introduced, Mr Justice Blake sitting in the High Court has in a lengthy, complex and very carefully considered judgment found that the controversial immigration rules requiring a minimum income of at least £18,600 for spouse visa applications are ‘unjustified and disproportionate’ where the sponsor is a refugee or a British citizen.
So - if you are affected by the iniquitous family division rules and haven't sent your story in yet, get in touch. You never know where it might lead.
Out of the blue, this arrived in the BritCits inboxes this morning :
Please find attached a copy of the judgment in our Jr against the Imm Rules - we were successful in part you will be pleased to hear!
Thank you for your contribution. -
Stuart Luke
Bhatia Best Ltd
A copy of the judgement was attached, which I've uploaded here for posterity : http://www.scribd.com/doc/153242486/05-07-13-approved-judgment
A number of BritCits and Family Immigration Alliance supporters and associates contributed evidence to this case, in the form of their stories.
When we were approached, we rounded a few people up whose stories fitted the profiles they were looking for, and let them tell their stories.
Getting a note like this is the icing on the cake which was a truly excellent week. Thanks to all who contributed, WE MADE A DIFFERENCE. I can't emphasise that enough.
Along with the APPG report, this emphasises to me how all aspects of this campaign - legal, political, grassroots, social media, even academic and artistic - are intedependent, and move forward together. And how people supporting each other and showing solidarity can make a difference.
Previously : 'High Court finds minimum income rules disproportionate and unjustified.' - http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-big-news.html
Almost exactly a year after they were first introduced, Mr Justice Blake sitting in the High Court has in a lengthy, complex and very carefully considered judgment found that the controversial immigration rules requiring a minimum income of at least £18,600 for spouse visa applications are ‘unjustified and disproportionate’ where the sponsor is a refugee or a British citizen.
Another step forward in the Divided Families Campaign.
http://www.jcwi.org.uk/blog/2013/07/10/another-step-forward-divided-families-campaign
9 July marked the first anniversary of the divisive and cruel family immigration rules, and was marked by a very successful day of action in and around Parliament. It also came at the end of a period of about a month that saw the campaigning take great leaps forward.
Over the previous month we’ve seen the excellent report from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Migration launched, which condemns the Rules in no uncertain terms, we’ve seen Mark Reckless, Tory MP admit freely in the media that these rules are designed to curb immigration (and not to increase integration or lighten the burden on the taxpayer as claimed by the Home Office). We’ve had good coverage in the media about the rules and ways of dealing with them. There’s also been the good result in the court case in Birmingham, where Mr Justice Blake, sitting in the High Court, found these rules to be "disproportionate and unlawful" which has tempered the Home Office’s enthusiasm to refuse applications for want of satisfying the income requirement.
---
Don't forget...
http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/u-rgent-message-from-migrants-rights.html
We gained a new influential supporter - the Children's Commissioner for England, Maggie Atkinson - who voiced her concerns about the impacts of the family migration rules on children in Parliament.
Her office would now like to hear directly from families about how these devastating rules are affecting children, so that she can keep speaking out on this issue.
If your children or grandchildren are being affected by the rules, please take 10 minutes as soon as possible to write an email about it to Maggie on childrens.commissioner@childrenscommissioner.gsi.gov.uk
---
https://twitter.com/migrants_rights :
Completely packed room in parliament. Over 140 ppl.
pic.twitter.com/lXlD5HZKUf
A beautiful day, to see so many standing up for their rights, and for the rights of others too.
---
Spotted on Facebook, breaks my heart :
I've taken my son from last year in primary school to do the EU route. He is already feeling homesick, most days he is ok but some nights he is very upset because he misses his grandparents and just our old life generally. Also our new baby only 2 months old. Given up our home, my business. So I will send them a letter definitely.
And putting people in this position helps the economy, HOW, Cameron, May?
---
"You know the best welfare system of all, it's called the family." - David Cameron.
"Stronger families and a more responsible society - is so vital for the future of our country." - David Cameron.
What an absolute joke.
---
Here's another quote...
No Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseised of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any other wise destroyed; nor will We not pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the land. We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right.
- Magna Carta.
---
Introducing our new 'co-conspirators' - the Children's Commissioner for England ( https://twitter.com/ChildrensComm ), Sarah Teather MP ( https://www.facebook.com/sarahteather ), and Julian Huppert MP ( https://twitter.com/julianhuppert ).
They are of course in good company on the right hand panel ----------->
---
Travel requirements for non-EU family members.
http://www.euronews.com/2013/03/07/travel-requirements-for-non-eu-family-members/
Spotted on Facebook :
This video explains amazingly as to what the travel requirements are for Non-EU citizens who are travelling with or joining their EU family members, detailing the process that the border authorities should adhere to and what evidence is required.
---
Visa rules for Chinese people visiting are "colonial" and costing Britain "£4m-£5m a day", said Simon Thomas, chief executive of the Hippodrome Casino in London's West End.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/china-business/10173095/Visa-rules-for-Chinese-cost-Britain-5m-a-day.html
A magnificent day
http://www.demotix.com/news/2241442/family-immigration-law-protest-uk#media-2241232
UK divided wife/husband children and family "voice" - powerful testimonies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5WzWuCzwZo
Petitioning Downing Street.
https://twitter.com/migrants_rights/status/354906388817911808/photo/1
Fantastic rally.
https://twitter.com/JCWInews/status/354632345778786305/photo/1
Support the right to family life!!!
http://www.demotix.com/news/2241442/family-immigration-law-protest-uk#media-2241282
Follow the expanding circle :
https://twitter.com/BritCits
https://twitter.com/migrants_rights
https://twitter.com/JCWInews
http://familyimmigrationalliance.wordpress.com
https://twitter.com/MigRightsScot
https://twitter.com/Michael_K_Allen
https://twitter.com/BaileyYamamoto
https://www.facebook.com/TheUkbaAreDestroyingMyFamily
http://www.freemovement.org.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/LondonMRCF
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhHpaq4KBxY
http://www.kanlungan.org.uk/
http://bihr.org.uk/
https://twitter.com/SalCardiff
https://twitter.com/emmabmoussa
New BritCits pack : http://www.scribd.com/doc/153040959/BritCits-Pack-Beg-July-2013
Expect more stories and material from here soon!
http://www.demotix.com/news/2241442/family-immigration-law-protest-uk#media-2241232
UK divided wife/husband children and family "voice" - powerful testimonies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5WzWuCzwZo
Petitioning Downing Street.
https://twitter.com/migrants_rights/status/354906388817911808/photo/1
Fantastic rally.
https://twitter.com/JCWInews/status/354632345778786305/photo/1
Support the right to family life!!!
http://www.demotix.com/news/2241442/family-immigration-law-protest-uk#media-2241282
Follow the expanding circle :
https://twitter.com/BritCits
https://twitter.com/migrants_rights
https://twitter.com/JCWInews
http://familyimmigrationalliance.wordpress.com
https://twitter.com/MigRightsScot
https://twitter.com/Michael_K_Allen
https://twitter.com/BaileyYamamoto
https://www.facebook.com/TheUkbaAreDestroyingMyFamily
http://www.freemovement.org.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/LondonMRCF
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhHpaq4KBxY
http://www.kanlungan.org.uk/
http://bihr.org.uk/
https://twitter.com/SalCardiff
https://twitter.com/emmabmoussa
New BritCits pack : http://www.scribd.com/doc/153040959/BritCits-Pack-Beg-July-2013
Expect more stories and material from here soon!
Urgent message from Migrants Rights Network
Dear friend,
Yesterday was a great day for the divided families campaign fighting the family migration rules.
We gained a new influential supporter - the Children's Commissioner
for England, Maggie Atkinson - who voiced her concerns about the
impacts of the family migration rules on children in Parliament.
Her office would now like to hear directly from families about how these
devastating rules are affecting children, so that she can keep speaking
out on this issue.
If your children or grandchildren are being affected by the rules, please take 10 minutes as soon as possible to write an email about it to Maggie on childrens.commissioner@chil
Best wishes,
Please follow up on this urgently if you have children affected by these iniquitous rules. More on the role the Children's Commissioners are taking is here : http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/uk-childrens-commissioners-endorse.html
It is so very important to get your stories out there.
Please follow up on this urgently if you have children affected by these iniquitous rules. More on the role the Children's Commissioners are taking is here : http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/uk-childrens-commissioners-endorse.html
It is so very important to get your stories out there.
Update on 9th July from Sonel
Wow. What a wonderful day yesterday was..thinking about it still makes me smile. Lovely to see so many of you during the day, and those who couldn’t make it, you were there in spirit with the ribbons being used. I’m disappointed I didn’t get to catch up with you all, despite seeing familiar faces (e.g. Andy!)..and others who I knew by name would have been great to place face to name. However, I did spend the time speaking with Julian Huppert MP who is very much on side, and the lawyers handling the parents case. Julian indicated that while some MPs are aware of these rules, many aren't (so it's up to us that every single one of our MPs at least knows this is HUGE). The lawyers have recently filed a case against the new rules on elderly parents - they cited an example of another lawyer whose salary was in 7 figures (so over £1m)..whose father is Canadian...and that even this guy would not qualify to bring his parent over. They did not give specific details on their case, however, its definitely one to watch out for.
Wow. What a wonderful day yesterday was..thinking about it still makes me smile. Lovely to see so many of you during the day, and those who couldn’t make it, you were there in spirit with the ribbons being used. I’m disappointed I didn’t get to catch up with you all, despite seeing familiar faces (e.g. Andy!)..and others who I knew by name would have been great to place face to name. However, I did spend the time speaking with Julian Huppert MP who is very much on side, and the lawyers handling the parents case. Julian indicated that while some MPs are aware of these rules, many aren't (so it's up to us that every single one of our MPs at least knows this is HUGE). The lawyers have recently filed a case against the new rules on elderly parents - they cited an example of another lawyer whose salary was in 7 figures (so over £1m)..whose father is Canadian...and that even this guy would not qualify to bring his parent over. They did not give specific details on their case, however, its definitely one to watch out for.
No matter how many notes I managed to scrawl down, there is so
much more that happened. Others will also be writing up on the day,
Steve will post something on the website; there may be recordings
available at some point and hopefully not too much of what I say below
needs correction. (If you know anyone - perhaps someone you met
yesterday - who isn't already on the BritCits database, please ask them
to join us so they receive such updates going forward.)
No.10 Downing Street: 2pm saw an alliance of JCWI, MRN, FIA, Preethpal Singh (active in Southampton region) and BritCits meet at Downing Street. Hugely grateful to MRN for arranging this for us all..to present a petition, the BritCits pack and other supporting documentation, evidencing the unfairness of the rules, to go straight to David Cameron and his staff. You may well have seen some photos of us outside the number 10 door via the MRN newsletter, twitter, FB etc. BBC camera people were present...I’m not sure yet where our footage will be used..but it’s there and they cared enough about this issue to be there.
Home Office protest: From there we moved on to the Home Office, where I’m told there were 150-200 protestors..chanting led by Guy (JCWI) and britcit Asthika, sharing their situations and campaigning for a change in the rules. It was fun and just good to feel as well as be, united in the journey to force change. Fantastic group showing the diversity of the impact of the rules..something I’m actually grateful for. If it only affected one minority group, or one region, perhaps we wouldn’t have felt the togetherness which is so required to ensure we get the politicians being paid to represent us, to do so fairly. I was saddened that a child of about 12 knew the word deport..and enough to say ‘don’t deport my daddy’. Lost innocence.
Parliamentary meeting: Finally the meeting at Houses of Parliament ..it was packed..people were sitting in the aisles, others standing on the side and photos of only some of the families along the walls showed that in the interest of a migration target, what some politicians have been able to overlook is that their rules are impacting real people, real families..honest hardworking decent Brits, because they dared to have family members from a region of the world outside the European Economic Area.
Michael Allen, a student at Warwick University said 20% of the students at his uni are international; he pushed for immigration taking account of humans and mocked Cameron who on a trip to Kazakhstan made a comment about missing his wife after a few days apart, when with his rules, many Brits have not seen their family for months or even years.
Fawzia Whittuck then spoke of her son Steve, her daughter in law Yoko and her granddaughter, Rika..all stuck in Japan. This family JUST satisfies the savings threshold...however they are still having trouble getting through the rules. They are convinced the rules as they are breach article 8 of the Human Rights Act, and despite the fact that both of Steve’s parents were born in the UK, he now feels unwelcome in his own country because of the way his wife has been treated. A feeling echoed no doubt by many in the room.
Next speaker was KeithVaz, MP. We should of course be grateful he gave us the 5 or so mins for which he was in the room. He once again spoke of his family history; Keith’s parents are the quintessential migrants, moving from Goa to Mumbai, then to Yemen, and then to the UK, where they arrived with Keith and his two sisters. He expressed his gratitude to the campaign group and his pleasure that Sarah Teather MP had escaped captivity, allowing her to speak out against these rules (in this I believe he was referred to the fact that Sarah is no longer a Minister and therefore less restrained in what she is and isn’t allowed to say).
He said he was glad the High Court challenged the current limits, mentioning the average salary in his constituency in Leicester is around £16k...Leicester, a city of migrants he called it. He said the Home Affairs Select Committee would have a look at the rules at the request of Julian Huppert MP (lovely, lovely man who grew up in the same area in Australia as me..small world!). He also said that the Home Affairs Select Committee had Boris Johnson as their star witness, who when questioned on whether amnesty should be given to ‘illegal’ (I’m sure he meant undocumented) migrants, said yes.
BritCits along with no doubt other groups, will be contacting his staff to ensure he fulfils the promised re: looking at the rules.
Maggie Atkinson, Children’s Commissioner for England then spoke about the impact of these rules on kid; she said fairness has been sacrificed to achieve a goal, which is just numbers. Also said the rules do NOT reflect the commitment from the coalition. She gave a example of case with a British woman with a child in South Africa from a marriage which broke down; here neither the entry clearance officer, nor the immigration judge’s appeal took account of the child’s wishes, which is something required under Article 12. She supports the APPG’s call on the govt to review the rules..waiting to April 2015 is too long, especially in the life of a child. These kind of rules are not right for a family friendly nation.
Marianne Bailey then spoke up..this is someone who is a designer, entrepreneur and even involved in an eco-vehicle project which will not only reduce the impact on the environment, but also taxpayers money. Her husband is Japanese and she is likely to give birth in the next week or so. She is a lecturer at two universities, and despite the fact that she earns over £18,600, because of the nature of her contracts being by term, three out of her four sources of income have been disregarded by UKBA. She was clearly gutted her husband’s income..even while she was on maternity leave, would not count. At one point I thought Marianne would breakdown in tears, and all in the room were likely ready to console her..when her next announcement of the fact that she owns TWO properties in London, and one outright..NO MORTGAGE!..don’t count towards the savings..which means she will need to sell a property just to hit the strangely concocted savings figure. Despite having assets, savings, qualifications needed in the UK and an exciting project for our country, she has already been disqualified with Mark Harper telling her husband he had to leave the country. This is one woman who was intent on not giving birth without her husband..which several young mums in the room had already been forced to go through.
Marianne made an excellent point in that where a spouse applies for any other visa allowing them to enter the UK, even for a visit, they are refused as UKBA considers this as circumvention of the spouse visa rules. She said these rules were against our fundament rights as laid out in the Magna Carta to live in our country of nationality. These rules prevent 61% of EMPLOYED British women from sponsoring their spouses based on the £18,600 threshold..when Marianne questioned whether the government then thought this 61% were benefit scroungers, a resounding yes was given by Don Flynn of Migrants Rights Network.
Marianne’s story especially seemed to touch the following speakers; it is very hard to remain untouched when a woman about to give birth is imploring you to let her family just be.
Next up was the amazing SarahTeather, MP. She said the rules are based on a policy divorced from real life. In her words, they are ‘bonkers’, and fail even on their own criteria about economic impact on the UK. Her view is that these rules are ONLY about driving down numbers based on an arbitrary cap. She requested we all contact our MPs, ensure they know this is an issue and force them to take it up on our behalf in parliament. As much as she and several others MPs are doing, they need more on the panel, more MPs to stand up against the Home Office..and this is something that only we, as constituents and voters can get pushed through.
Kate Green MPre-affirmed these rules are not about saving money..they are not in the interest of children and not in the interest of families.
Baroness Hamwee – who spoke up loudly on this issue at the House of Lords debate last week, had just one main message: Let’s keep fighting.
Fiona McTaggart MP has been campaigning for migration and justice since the 1970s. Her message was and always has been that there should not be a means test on love. She spoke of her earlier associations with Mark Harper..where he had promised to consider some concessions, such as allowing for the using of property as an asset...however, weeks later no response which she finds is typical of the Home Office. She was amused to see that some UKBA officers earn below £18,600 – so the people keeping spouses apart are earning an insufficient amount themselves. She echoed Sarah Teather in saying the rules are bonkers, and went one further, also calling them stupid J She spoke of one of her constituents, who despite working at Sainsburys and having a second job earns below £18,600. His wife is from Pakistan and is a university graduate, so would likely to be able get a good job here herself job = paying taxes and NI contributions!). She quoted the min wage figure annualised being £12,627.
There was a bit of an attack on the Tories (not undeserved of course), that if they wanted to be family friendly, the record should be looked at. Labour she said is the only part which has made it easier for families to be together, getting rid of the Primary Purpose rule which kept couples in genuine, albeit arranged, marriages apart. (Note, arranged marriages are not sham marriages..they’re a concept that has existed in UK’s own not too distant history. So glass houses, stones and all that.)
Stephen Bowen, of British Institute of Human Rights then spoke regarding his view that the rules are a startling breach of human rights obligation, and that they’re unlikely to survive scrutiny by courts. All human rights apart, there is none more important than the right to a family life. He expressed concern over the threshold being so much above the minimum wage..saying the people most affected by these are going to be care workers in hospitals, soldiers in the army..and those who serve us coffee even. Every day people. He is convinced these rules are so shocking a breach of human rights that they will NOT survive court scrutiny. The right of a British citizen to live in their own country is a constitutional right...so imposing self-exile of divided family on Brits is not on.
Thomas Ebsford spoke about his family in Ghana..and was applauded when he pointed out UK does not complain when migrants pay their taxes, happily taking these.
Don Flynn of MRN summarised the immigration policy as ill-considered and ill-thought out...and that the consequences were identifiable immediately from when the rules were announced. Yet Mark Harper indicating the consequences –couples forced apart, kids born without their dad present, well-off professionals being unable to look after ageing parents, Brits forced into self-exile – were not unintended. (!)..begging the question how does he sleep at night?!
Finally we had comments from the floor from several people. Elderly dependants issue was mentioned as inhumane (ban masquerading as a rule); sex discrimination hitting women even more, with lower average salaries though the rules were hitting all including men in regions outside London/South East. Another member of the audience spoke of her inability to look after her mum living alone overseas (Russia). There was a primary school teacher currently undergoing training for when he starts his job (paying over £18,600) in September..which means he will only be able to apply for a spouse visa after March 2014 (plus however long it takes to process the application is how long this couple will be apart). The irony here though is that a man entrusted with the welfare of our children is being forced to be apart from his family and even miss the birth of his own child. I’ve said this before and I can’t say it enough times. Even if the rules change right now, those who have already been affected will never forget; kids will grow up knowing their dad missed the first few days, weeks, months and in some cases years of their life..and they won’t forgive.
Concluding the meeting was the fantastic Habib Rahman from JCWI: he said these rules have attacked everybody and implored everyone to keep sharing their stories (pls pls pls send in your story for inclusion in the pack....collating the stories makes it much more powerful), lobby your MPs, don’t let them brush you off. Be vocal about things, go to your local paper even. Raise awareness. His message very clearly was an unequivocal, we will win!
The message across the board therefore is, contact your MP..ask them for a surgery appointment. Ask them to raise your case with Mark Harper and Theresa May (don't be disheartened as the first response you get back will be standard spiel about not being a burden on taxpayers etc). Pursue. Keep writing. Take up your MPs time on this issue so much that they will be overloaded with immigration casework. So mcuh so they will want the rules changed just to get you to leave them alone. These people represent us. Thats what theyre paid for. So while being reasonable, don't let them get away with ignoring you, brushing away your concerns. Get your friends and family to also lobby their MP. Ask questions. Ask why.
We are in this together, and together, as Habib said, we will win.
Sonel (BritCits)
No.10 Downing Street: 2pm saw an alliance of JCWI, MRN, FIA, Preethpal Singh (active in Southampton region) and BritCits meet at Downing Street. Hugely grateful to MRN for arranging this for us all..to present a petition, the BritCits pack and other supporting documentation, evidencing the unfairness of the rules, to go straight to David Cameron and his staff. You may well have seen some photos of us outside the number 10 door via the MRN newsletter, twitter, FB etc. BBC camera people were present...I’m not sure yet where our footage will be used..but it’s there and they cared enough about this issue to be there.
Home Office protest: From there we moved on to the Home Office, where I’m told there were 150-200 protestors..chanting led by Guy (JCWI) and britcit Asthika, sharing their situations and campaigning for a change in the rules. It was fun and just good to feel as well as be, united in the journey to force change. Fantastic group showing the diversity of the impact of the rules..something I’m actually grateful for. If it only affected one minority group, or one region, perhaps we wouldn’t have felt the togetherness which is so required to ensure we get the politicians being paid to represent us, to do so fairly. I was saddened that a child of about 12 knew the word deport..and enough to say ‘don’t deport my daddy’. Lost innocence.
Parliamentary meeting: Finally the meeting at Houses of Parliament ..it was packed..people were sitting in the aisles, others standing on the side and photos of only some of the families along the walls showed that in the interest of a migration target, what some politicians have been able to overlook is that their rules are impacting real people, real families..honest hardworking decent Brits, because they dared to have family members from a region of the world outside the European Economic Area.
Michael Allen, a student at Warwick University said 20% of the students at his uni are international; he pushed for immigration taking account of humans and mocked Cameron who on a trip to Kazakhstan made a comment about missing his wife after a few days apart, when with his rules, many Brits have not seen their family for months or even years.
Fawzia Whittuck then spoke of her son Steve, her daughter in law Yoko and her granddaughter, Rika..all stuck in Japan. This family JUST satisfies the savings threshold...however they are still having trouble getting through the rules. They are convinced the rules as they are breach article 8 of the Human Rights Act, and despite the fact that both of Steve’s parents were born in the UK, he now feels unwelcome in his own country because of the way his wife has been treated. A feeling echoed no doubt by many in the room.
Next speaker was KeithVaz, MP. We should of course be grateful he gave us the 5 or so mins for which he was in the room. He once again spoke of his family history; Keith’s parents are the quintessential migrants, moving from Goa to Mumbai, then to Yemen, and then to the UK, where they arrived with Keith and his two sisters. He expressed his gratitude to the campaign group and his pleasure that Sarah Teather MP had escaped captivity, allowing her to speak out against these rules (in this I believe he was referred to the fact that Sarah is no longer a Minister and therefore less restrained in what she is and isn’t allowed to say).
He said he was glad the High Court challenged the current limits, mentioning the average salary in his constituency in Leicester is around £16k...Leicester, a city of migrants he called it. He said the Home Affairs Select Committee would have a look at the rules at the request of Julian Huppert MP (lovely, lovely man who grew up in the same area in Australia as me..small world!). He also said that the Home Affairs Select Committee had Boris Johnson as their star witness, who when questioned on whether amnesty should be given to ‘illegal’ (I’m sure he meant undocumented) migrants, said yes.
BritCits along with no doubt other groups, will be contacting his staff to ensure he fulfils the promised re: looking at the rules.
Maggie Atkinson, Children’s Commissioner for England then spoke about the impact of these rules on kid; she said fairness has been sacrificed to achieve a goal, which is just numbers. Also said the rules do NOT reflect the commitment from the coalition. She gave a example of case with a British woman with a child in South Africa from a marriage which broke down; here neither the entry clearance officer, nor the immigration judge’s appeal took account of the child’s wishes, which is something required under Article 12. She supports the APPG’s call on the govt to review the rules..waiting to April 2015 is too long, especially in the life of a child. These kind of rules are not right for a family friendly nation.
Marianne Bailey then spoke up..this is someone who is a designer, entrepreneur and even involved in an eco-vehicle project which will not only reduce the impact on the environment, but also taxpayers money. Her husband is Japanese and she is likely to give birth in the next week or so. She is a lecturer at two universities, and despite the fact that she earns over £18,600, because of the nature of her contracts being by term, three out of her four sources of income have been disregarded by UKBA. She was clearly gutted her husband’s income..even while she was on maternity leave, would not count. At one point I thought Marianne would breakdown in tears, and all in the room were likely ready to console her..when her next announcement of the fact that she owns TWO properties in London, and one outright..NO MORTGAGE!..don’t count towards the savings..which means she will need to sell a property just to hit the strangely concocted savings figure. Despite having assets, savings, qualifications needed in the UK and an exciting project for our country, she has already been disqualified with Mark Harper telling her husband he had to leave the country. This is one woman who was intent on not giving birth without her husband..which several young mums in the room had already been forced to go through.
Marianne made an excellent point in that where a spouse applies for any other visa allowing them to enter the UK, even for a visit, they are refused as UKBA considers this as circumvention of the spouse visa rules. She said these rules were against our fundament rights as laid out in the Magna Carta to live in our country of nationality. These rules prevent 61% of EMPLOYED British women from sponsoring their spouses based on the £18,600 threshold..when Marianne questioned whether the government then thought this 61% were benefit scroungers, a resounding yes was given by Don Flynn of Migrants Rights Network.
Marianne’s story especially seemed to touch the following speakers; it is very hard to remain untouched when a woman about to give birth is imploring you to let her family just be.
Next up was the amazing SarahTeather, MP. She said the rules are based on a policy divorced from real life. In her words, they are ‘bonkers’, and fail even on their own criteria about economic impact on the UK. Her view is that these rules are ONLY about driving down numbers based on an arbitrary cap. She requested we all contact our MPs, ensure they know this is an issue and force them to take it up on our behalf in parliament. As much as she and several others MPs are doing, they need more on the panel, more MPs to stand up against the Home Office..and this is something that only we, as constituents and voters can get pushed through.
Kate Green MPre-affirmed these rules are not about saving money..they are not in the interest of children and not in the interest of families.
Baroness Hamwee – who spoke up loudly on this issue at the House of Lords debate last week, had just one main message: Let’s keep fighting.
Fiona McTaggart MP has been campaigning for migration and justice since the 1970s. Her message was and always has been that there should not be a means test on love. She spoke of her earlier associations with Mark Harper..where he had promised to consider some concessions, such as allowing for the using of property as an asset...however, weeks later no response which she finds is typical of the Home Office. She was amused to see that some UKBA officers earn below £18,600 – so the people keeping spouses apart are earning an insufficient amount themselves. She echoed Sarah Teather in saying the rules are bonkers, and went one further, also calling them stupid J She spoke of one of her constituents, who despite working at Sainsburys and having a second job earns below £18,600. His wife is from Pakistan and is a university graduate, so would likely to be able get a good job here herself job = paying taxes and NI contributions!). She quoted the min wage figure annualised being £12,627.
There was a bit of an attack on the Tories (not undeserved of course), that if they wanted to be family friendly, the record should be looked at. Labour she said is the only part which has made it easier for families to be together, getting rid of the Primary Purpose rule which kept couples in genuine, albeit arranged, marriages apart. (Note, arranged marriages are not sham marriages..they’re a concept that has existed in UK’s own not too distant history. So glass houses, stones and all that.)
Stephen Bowen, of British Institute of Human Rights then spoke regarding his view that the rules are a startling breach of human rights obligation, and that they’re unlikely to survive scrutiny by courts. All human rights apart, there is none more important than the right to a family life. He expressed concern over the threshold being so much above the minimum wage..saying the people most affected by these are going to be care workers in hospitals, soldiers in the army..and those who serve us coffee even. Every day people. He is convinced these rules are so shocking a breach of human rights that they will NOT survive court scrutiny. The right of a British citizen to live in their own country is a constitutional right...so imposing self-exile of divided family on Brits is not on.
Thomas Ebsford spoke about his family in Ghana..and was applauded when he pointed out UK does not complain when migrants pay their taxes, happily taking these.
Don Flynn of MRN summarised the immigration policy as ill-considered and ill-thought out...and that the consequences were identifiable immediately from when the rules were announced. Yet Mark Harper indicating the consequences –couples forced apart, kids born without their dad present, well-off professionals being unable to look after ageing parents, Brits forced into self-exile – were not unintended. (!)..begging the question how does he sleep at night?!
Finally we had comments from the floor from several people. Elderly dependants issue was mentioned as inhumane (ban masquerading as a rule); sex discrimination hitting women even more, with lower average salaries though the rules were hitting all including men in regions outside London/South East. Another member of the audience spoke of her inability to look after her mum living alone overseas (Russia). There was a primary school teacher currently undergoing training for when he starts his job (paying over £18,600) in September..which means he will only be able to apply for a spouse visa after March 2014 (plus however long it takes to process the application is how long this couple will be apart). The irony here though is that a man entrusted with the welfare of our children is being forced to be apart from his family and even miss the birth of his own child. I’ve said this before and I can’t say it enough times. Even if the rules change right now, those who have already been affected will never forget; kids will grow up knowing their dad missed the first few days, weeks, months and in some cases years of their life..and they won’t forgive.
Concluding the meeting was the fantastic Habib Rahman from JCWI: he said these rules have attacked everybody and implored everyone to keep sharing their stories (pls pls pls send in your story for inclusion in the pack....collating the stories makes it much more powerful), lobby your MPs, don’t let them brush you off. Be vocal about things, go to your local paper even. Raise awareness. His message very clearly was an unequivocal, we will win!
The message across the board therefore is, contact your MP..ask them for a surgery appointment. Ask them to raise your case with Mark Harper and Theresa May (don't be disheartened as the first response you get back will be standard spiel about not being a burden on taxpayers etc). Pursue. Keep writing. Take up your MPs time on this issue so much that they will be overloaded with immigration casework. So mcuh so they will want the rules changed just to get you to leave them alone. These people represent us. Thats what theyre paid for. So while being reasonable, don't let them get away with ignoring you, brushing away your concerns. Get your friends and family to also lobby their MP. Ask questions. Ask why.
We are in this together, and together, as Habib said, we will win.
Why I'm supporting the Divided Families Campaign. - by https://twitter.com/Michael_K_Allen
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/michael-allen/why-im-supporting-the-div_b_3553974.html
Imagine if you were woken up in the middle of the night by government officials banging on your door saying they had come to take your partner away from you. The reason? You earn less than £18,600 per year.
This is not precisely how it happened, but it gives the uninitiated an idea of how thousands of Brits in love with non-EU citizens would have felt like on July 9, 2012, when the government introduced the new family migration rules.
These stipulated that a British person must earn £18,600 to sponsor a foreign spouse from outside the EU to stay with them in the UK. If they have a child, the figure rises to £22,400 plus an additional £2,400 for every child after that.
Up until these rules were introduced, I never thought politics would affect me much. Sure, I'd studied it as part of my degree in an abstract fashion and knew all the latest developments on the political scene from my keen interest in the news. Policy after policy was churned out, none of them changing my life in any observably significant way. I even managed to avoid the tuition fee hike, being one of the last fortunate group of students to pay the lower fees.
But when these rules came in, my life was changed forever. The person I had fallen in love with at university and was hoping to make a life with after graduation would have to be taken away from me....
---
One year on BIHR looks at migration and family rights.
http://www.bihr.org.uk/news/one-year-on-bihr-looks-migration-and-family-right
It seems as though barely a week goes by without the “controversy” of human rights in immigration cases hitting the headlines. Last year the Immigration Rules were changed, and took effect on 9 July 2012. These changes seek to, among other things, define the conditions in which the right to respect for private and family life (Article 8) will apply in all family migration cases - not only cases of deportation of those convicted of crime, and in cases involving children.
One year after the Immigration Rules became law, there remains significant confusion– including in public commentary - about the Rules, whether they represent the intention of Parliament, and who they affect. Whilst there is no dispute that controlling immigration is a legitimate aim explicitly recognised by human rights law, the important question is whether the solution that has been pursued in the Rules is a fair and proportionate response, or whether there are better, more appropriate avenues to explore.
As Stephen Bowen of British Institute of Human Rights said : These rules are bonkers.
---
The UKBA are destroying my family.
Powerful testimony.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIaG-udohcs&feature=youtu.be
Facebook :
https://www.facebook.com/TheUkbaAreDestroyingMyFamily
---
Kingswinford church pastor’s Brazilian wife denied entry to UK in rule change.
A church pastor says his 13-year marriage to a Brazilian woman is being ‘ripped apart’ by immigration bosses who are refusing her entry to the UK - because he cannot provide six payslips.
http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2013/07/08/kingswinford-church-pastors-brazilian-wife-denied-entry-to-uk-in-rule-change/
Robert Cooper immediately fell in love with his wife Adna while working as a missionary in Sao Paulo and after six months married her at Kingswinford Christian Centre. The pair then worked and settled in the region for three years.
But after returning to the South American country for nine years to teach English at a private school and then run a church, Mr Cooper has been told by the Border Agency that he cannot bring back his wife to this country.
The problem lies with new immigration rules brought in last July which mean only British people who show they have earned more than £18,600 a year can sponsor their non-European spouse’s visa.
---
Government gets sums wrong over migrant family rules, says report.
http://www.relocatemagazine.com/immigration-a-visas/immigration-a-visa-news-main/8218--government-gets-sums-wrong-over-migrant-family-rules-says-report
Tough new regulations aimed at curbing the number of migrants entitled to bring their families into Britain could end up costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds, according to a report published on Tuesday.
Last year, the UK set a minimum earnings requirement of £18,600 – or more if there were children involved – for a non-EU immigrant wishing to bring his or her spouse into the country. The government has estimated that the move will save taxpayers £660 million over 10 years through welfare, NHS and education savings.
But Tuesday's report from Middlesex University claims that the new rules will actually cost the taxpayer up to £850 million, rather than make any savings.
The report argues that the government has failed to take fully into account migrants' earnings and says that preventing a partner from entering the UK is likely to increase welfare claims as single people are more likely to draw on state support if alone.
---
Jimmy Mubenga: Heathrow deportee 'unlawfully killed'.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23244203
A man being deported to Angola on a British Airways flight was unlawfully killed by guards who were restraining him, an inquest jury has found.
---
"They took all our money and beat my sister": Migrants at the mercy of the Greek coastguard.
http://www2.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/press-release-me-let-me-go/they-took-all-our-money-and-beat-my-sister-migrants-mercy-greek?utm_source=Social&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_campaign=Refugee&utm_content=Greece_report_blog
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/michael-allen/why-im-supporting-the-div_b_3553974.html
Imagine if you were woken up in the middle of the night by government officials banging on your door saying they had come to take your partner away from you. The reason? You earn less than £18,600 per year.
This is not precisely how it happened, but it gives the uninitiated an idea of how thousands of Brits in love with non-EU citizens would have felt like on July 9, 2012, when the government introduced the new family migration rules.
These stipulated that a British person must earn £18,600 to sponsor a foreign spouse from outside the EU to stay with them in the UK. If they have a child, the figure rises to £22,400 plus an additional £2,400 for every child after that.
Up until these rules were introduced, I never thought politics would affect me much. Sure, I'd studied it as part of my degree in an abstract fashion and knew all the latest developments on the political scene from my keen interest in the news. Policy after policy was churned out, none of them changing my life in any observably significant way. I even managed to avoid the tuition fee hike, being one of the last fortunate group of students to pay the lower fees.
But when these rules came in, my life was changed forever. The person I had fallen in love with at university and was hoping to make a life with after graduation would have to be taken away from me....
---
One year on BIHR looks at migration and family rights.
http://www.bihr.org.uk/news/one-year-on-bihr-looks-migration-and-family-right
It seems as though barely a week goes by without the “controversy” of human rights in immigration cases hitting the headlines. Last year the Immigration Rules were changed, and took effect on 9 July 2012. These changes seek to, among other things, define the conditions in which the right to respect for private and family life (Article 8) will apply in all family migration cases - not only cases of deportation of those convicted of crime, and in cases involving children.
One year after the Immigration Rules became law, there remains significant confusion– including in public commentary - about the Rules, whether they represent the intention of Parliament, and who they affect. Whilst there is no dispute that controlling immigration is a legitimate aim explicitly recognised by human rights law, the important question is whether the solution that has been pursued in the Rules is a fair and proportionate response, or whether there are better, more appropriate avenues to explore.
As Stephen Bowen of British Institute of Human Rights said : These rules are bonkers.
---
The UKBA are destroying my family.
Powerful testimony.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIaG-udohcs&feature=youtu.be
Facebook :
https://www.facebook.com/TheUkbaAreDestroyingMyFamily
---
Kingswinford church pastor’s Brazilian wife denied entry to UK in rule change.
A church pastor says his 13-year marriage to a Brazilian woman is being ‘ripped apart’ by immigration bosses who are refusing her entry to the UK - because he cannot provide six payslips.
http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2013/07/08/kingswinford-church-pastors-brazilian-wife-denied-entry-to-uk-in-rule-change/
Robert Cooper immediately fell in love with his wife Adna while working as a missionary in Sao Paulo and after six months married her at Kingswinford Christian Centre. The pair then worked and settled in the region for three years.
But after returning to the South American country for nine years to teach English at a private school and then run a church, Mr Cooper has been told by the Border Agency that he cannot bring back his wife to this country.
The problem lies with new immigration rules brought in last July which mean only British people who show they have earned more than £18,600 a year can sponsor their non-European spouse’s visa.
---
Government gets sums wrong over migrant family rules, says report.
http://www.relocatemagazine.com/immigration-a-visas/immigration-a-visa-news-main/8218--government-gets-sums-wrong-over-migrant-family-rules-says-report
Tough new regulations aimed at curbing the number of migrants entitled to bring their families into Britain could end up costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds, according to a report published on Tuesday.
Last year, the UK set a minimum earnings requirement of £18,600 – or more if there were children involved – for a non-EU immigrant wishing to bring his or her spouse into the country. The government has estimated that the move will save taxpayers £660 million over 10 years through welfare, NHS and education savings.
But Tuesday's report from Middlesex University claims that the new rules will actually cost the taxpayer up to £850 million, rather than make any savings.
The report argues that the government has failed to take fully into account migrants' earnings and says that preventing a partner from entering the UK is likely to increase welfare claims as single people are more likely to draw on state support if alone.
---
Jimmy Mubenga: Heathrow deportee 'unlawfully killed'.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23244203
A man being deported to Angola on a British Airways flight was unlawfully killed by guards who were restraining him, an inquest jury has found.
---
"They took all our money and beat my sister": Migrants at the mercy of the Greek coastguard.
http://www2.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/press-release-me-let-me-go/they-took-all-our-money-and-beat-my-sister-migrants-mercy-greek?utm_source=Social&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_campaign=Refugee&utm_content=Greece_report_blog
Tuesday, 9 July 2013
How new UK spouse visa rules turned me into an Englishman in exile.
A great article by one of our supporters.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/09/uk-australia-spouse-visa#start-of-comments
Think of exiles in modern history, and you think of people forced to live away from where? Castro’s Cuba? Franco’s Spain? Apartheid South Africa? Well, now you can add David Cameron’s UK to that list. And no, that’s not a typo – nor am I about to make a leftie jibe about people who can’t bear to live under the Tories or another series of Downton Abbey. I’m talking about real exiles; people who cannot go back to their homeland. People like me.
Today marks the first anniversary of draconian changes introduced by the British government to visas for foreign spouses brought in by home secretary Theresa May. There are two key features of the new rules: first, the Brit (and only the Brit) has to have an income of £18,600 before the visa can even be applied for; second, the probationary period before permanent residency is granted ("indefinite leave to remain"), increased from two years to five.
The changes are barring thousands of British expats around the world from going home. In my own case, my Australian wife and I planned a 2013 return to England with our two sons after almost five years in Sydney. But when we looked into getting her a visa earlier this year – something I’d always assumed would be a simple formality – we discovered it would be impossible...
http://www.scribd.com/doc/152597079/An-Englishman-in-Exile
---
High Court delivers the final nail to the Government’s absurd £18,600 minimum income requirement.
http://43templerow.co.uk/high-court-delivers-the-final-nail-to-the-governments-absurd-18600-minimum-income-requirement/
...The Court noted that it was a fundamental domestic law right for a British sponsor to reside in the United Kingdom without let or hindrance and that it is unreasonable to expect him/her to have to leave the United Kingdom solely in order to live with their spouse or family (even where such a move is perfectly possible). To expect a British citizen to relocate amounts to a serious interference with the right of residence which the judge described as “considerably more intrusive interference” than ‘colossal’. A Refugee, by virtue of the very status, does not have the ability to relocate to their home country or a third state in order to live with their spouse or family.
Further, the Judge noted that to set the figure significantly higher than even the £13,400 gross annual wage at minimum wage levels effectively denied young people and many thousands of low-wage earners in full time employment the ability to be joined by their non-EEA spouses from abroad unless they happen to have wealthy relatives or to have won the lottery. This frustrates the right of British citizens and Refugees to live with their chosen partner and found a family unless such modest earnings could be supplemented by any reasonably substantial savings, third party support of the future earnings of the spouse seeking admission.
The Judge further criticised the minimum income provisions for excluding in its calculation verifiable third party support, future earnings of the incoming spouse and any savings below £16,000.
The decision is a huge national and international public importance and will affect and impact lives of many British Citizens who have been affected by the rule changes.
---
Divided Families ribbon :
https://twitter.com/BritCits/status/354351055032692737/photo/1
Monday, 8 July 2013
Affected families and charities protest against the immigration rules splitting up families
Marking the first anniversary of the new family migration rules, hundreds of British families are planned to gather outside the Home Office building in London to voice their frustration with the rules keeping them apart from their spouses, children and parents.
The protest comes soon after a series of Parliamentary debates and a report which condemned the rules for being unfair and last week’s court decision which rules the income level of £18,600 disproportionate.
Prior to the demonstration a delegation of Divided Families campaign representatives will present a petition letter to David Cameron, calling him to review the rules in light of his promise to lead the most family friendly Government we've ever had.
The family migration rules introduced in July 2012 require British citizens wishing to sponsor a non-EU spouse to show minimum earnings of £18,600 per year. Rules include restrictions on individuals wishing to bring their parents to the UK.
JCWI Chief Exec, Habib Rahman said “The pain caused by Theresa May in her reckless pursuit of lower net migration is astounding. It hurts couples, children and families. It also hurts the economy, it denies the kind of upbringing David Cameron says he supports to thousands of children. The sooner this Government starts to prioritise family life over tabloid headlines the better.”
Chris Mead of the Family Immigration Alliance commented that the rules threaten a second class of citizenship for thousands of working British families. "By placing the onus of an income threshold solely on the sponsor, the government fails to acknowledge the modern reality of a family's income, with spouses supporting each other in tough times. These rules have consigned British sponsors to a painful and forced separation from their spouses and children. The government must stop 'means testing' such a basic human need."
BritCits founders Steve Green and Sonel Mehta are calling on the government to reconsider immigration rules devastating British citizens across the UK: those earning over £100,000 unable to sponsor parents because of rules impossible to meet; young mums forced to choose between kids and their spouse; Brits forced into exile or unable to return home with barriers to re-entry too high with a non-EU spouse in tow; debt-free pensioners pushed into working for income they don't need; couples delaying children out of fear of UKBA and ever-changing rules; birthdays, anniversaries, even birth of kids being celebrated on Skype...the legacy of broken relationships, marriages, families will not come cheap, affecting not only our economy but the very moral fabric of our nation.
Ruth Grove-White, Policy director at Migrants' Rights Network said, 'being able to start a family in your own country should not be subject to the amount of money you make. The rules are causing unneeded hardship for almost 18,000 families a year and it is time for the Government to take action and review this policy."
The Divided Families Ribbon
The creator says :
'We came up with the idea to wear a combination of red and orange ribbon. Red for love and orange in support of human rights and a harmonious multicultural society. (An orange ribbon is worn on Harmony Day in Australia which coincides with the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The Initiative Go Orange for Tibet also used an orange ribbon to encourage sportsmen to highlight human rights violation in Tibet before, during and after the Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing. In Singapore, the orange ribbon is also promoted as a symbol of racial and religious harmony.)'
Wear it with pride, especially on Divided Families Day.
'We came up with the idea to wear a combination of red and orange ribbon. Red for love and orange in support of human rights and a harmonious multicultural society. (An orange ribbon is worn on Harmony Day in Australia which coincides with the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The Initiative Go Orange for Tibet also used an orange ribbon to encourage sportsmen to highlight human rights violation in Tibet before, during and after the Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing. In Singapore, the orange ribbon is also promoted as a symbol of racial and religious harmony.)'
Wear it with pride, especially on Divided Families Day.
Ahead of the big day ...
https://twitter.com/ColinYeo1 :
Divided Families Day of Action - 9 July 2013 http://wp.me/p1Zj2l-2kf
Tomorrow is the Divided Families Day of Action, which will take place in London. It’s already been a year since the new rules were introduced and on the first anniversary, Migrants Rights Network, BritCits, JCWI, the Family Immigration Alliance and others have organised two main events:
Afternoon demonstration outside the Home Office with speakers and street performers – 4pm – Home Office, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF
Evening meeting in Parliament chaired by Baroness Ruth Lister bringing together campaigners, supporters and parliamentarians to hear about the impacts of the new rules. The meeting will welcome valuable supporters including Maggie Atkinson, the Children’s Commissioner for England, and will be a chance for families to share their stories and build the campaign for a change in the rules – 6pm – Parliament, Committee room 10, London SW1A 0AA
Hope to see you there.
---
https://twitter.com/migrants_rights :
Attacks from House of Lords and High Court build momentum of family migration campaign http://j.mp/12R7jri
Last week the campaign to end new rules on family migration took a major step forward with a debate in the House of Lords, followed by a significant judgment in the High Court.
---
https://twitter.com/JCWInews :
Tuesday pm: sit in office or chip off early and give Home Sec an earful over immigration controls splitting familes?
http://www.jcwi.org.uk/blog/2013/06/24/streets-come-westminster
In case you missed it on Friday, there was a pretty good result in court in Birmingham
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23198144#
---
https://twitter.com/GuidoTallman :
It's rough, it's ready, it does the job! Home Offuce, Tuesday 4pm
https://twitter.com/GuidoTallman/status/353983892778278912/photo/1
---
https://twitter.com/migrants_rights :
Tomorrow, we are taking the #FamilyMigration petition to @downingstreet Make sure you've added your signature!
http://www.migrantsrights.org.uk/support-the-right-to-family-life
https://twitter.com/ColinYeo1 :
Divided Families Day of Action - 9 July 2013 http://wp.me/p1Zj2l-2kf
Tomorrow is the Divided Families Day of Action, which will take place in London. It’s already been a year since the new rules were introduced and on the first anniversary, Migrants Rights Network, BritCits, JCWI, the Family Immigration Alliance and others have organised two main events:
Afternoon demonstration outside the Home Office with speakers and street performers – 4pm – Home Office, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF
Evening meeting in Parliament chaired by Baroness Ruth Lister bringing together campaigners, supporters and parliamentarians to hear about the impacts of the new rules. The meeting will welcome valuable supporters including Maggie Atkinson, the Children’s Commissioner for England, and will be a chance for families to share their stories and build the campaign for a change in the rules – 6pm – Parliament, Committee room 10, London SW1A 0AA
Hope to see you there.
---
https://twitter.com/migrants_rights :
Attacks from House of Lords and High Court build momentum of family migration campaign http://j.mp/12R7jri
Last week the campaign to end new rules on family migration took a major step forward with a debate in the House of Lords, followed by a significant judgment in the High Court.
---
https://twitter.com/JCWInews :
Tuesday pm: sit in office or chip off early and give Home Sec an earful over immigration controls splitting familes?
http://www.jcwi.org.uk/blog/2013/06/24/streets-come-westminster
In case you missed it on Friday, there was a pretty good result in court in Birmingham
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23198144#
---
https://twitter.com/GuidoTallman :
It's rough, it's ready, it does the job! Home Offuce, Tuesday 4pm
https://twitter.com/GuidoTallman/status/353983892778278912/photo/1
---
https://twitter.com/migrants_rights :
Tomorrow, we are taking the #FamilyMigration petition to @downingstreet Make sure you've added your signature!
http://www.migrantsrights.org.uk/support-the-right-to-family-life
Sunday, 7 July 2013
Be there!
Be there!
http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/9th-july.html
https://twitter.com/JCWInews :
Two days and 3 and a half hrs. See you at the home office to start beating down these pernicious migration rules!
---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanabata
7th July is Tanabata in the Japanese festival calendar, which is a suitable date to have in the run up to divided families day on 9th July.
From Wikipedia :
It is said that Tanabata asked Mikeran to weave one thousand sandals and bury them under the bamboo tree and they'd surely meet again. Mikeran wove the sandals and buried them under the bamboo tree as Tanabata had asked. When the tree grew, Mikeran climbed up to find that he was one step short. In his haste, he had used one sandal fewer than necessary, causing the tree to grow one step short. Mikeran called out to Tanabata and she came and lifted him up. Mikeran's father wasn't pleased so he gave Mikeran the difficult job of watching a melon field for three days and nights without touching a single melon. Mikeran however grew very thirsty watching the melons that he touched one. The melon immediately turned into a flowing river forever separating Mikeran and Tanabata. Tanabata pleaded with her father to let her see Mikeran again. Feeling sorry for his daughter, he allows them to see each other on the 7th day of the 7th month.
.jpg)
Tanabata is associated with the stars Altair and Vega, which are high in the northern hemisphere's summer sky; together with Deneb, they form the Summer Triangle.
---
National treasure David Attenborough's adopted sisters were asylum seekers and played a critical role in his interest in natural history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Attenborough
During World War II, through a British government initiative known as Kindertransport, his parents also fostered two Jewish refugee girls from Europe.
Attenborough spent his childhood collecting fossils, stones and other natural specimens. He received encouragement in this pursuit at age seven, when a young Jacquetta Hawkes admired his "museum." A few years later, one of his adoptive sisters gave him a piece of amber filled with prehistoric creatures; some 50 years later, it would be the focus of his programme The Amber Time Machine.
Scenes from Planet Earth, scenery to the max : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v2L2UGZJAM
Lest we forget ... we've fought these battles before :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/jun/08/immigration.immigrationandpublicservices
"'The way stateless Jews from Germany are pouring in from every port of this country is becoming an outrage . . .' In these words, Mr Herbert Metcalfe, the Old Street magistrate, yesterday referred to the number of aliens entering the country through the 'back door' - a problem to which the Daily Mail has repeatedly pointed."
Daily Mail, August 20, 1938
Never forget. - http://tabloid-watch.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/immigration
---
Doctors condemn plan to ban foreigners from organ transplants on NHS.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/10158331/Doctors-condemn-plan-to-ban-foreigners-from-organ-transplants-on-NHS.html
Dr Clare Gerada, chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said the proposals were unethical and “fuelled by hysteria”.
She said: “I don’t believe there is a problem with ‘health tourism’ to the extent that the Government has claimed - if someone is suffering renal failure they would usually be too sick to make the journey here, but if a person is here, and they need a transplant, what kind of country would deny them?”
Dr Gerada added: “We are supposed to have a humane health service. The idea that a woman goes into labour and a hospital won’t take her unless she has a credit card is something that is really unethical and deeply at odds with our values.”
https://twitter.com/TheHumanTorpedo :
Cameron is only at Wimbledon to make sure Djokovic pays for any medical treatment he receives.
---
In rural Tennessee, a new way to help hungry children: A bus turned bread truck.
wapo.st/180n2xv
A 5-year-old girl saw the dust trail of the bus and pedaled toward it on a red tricycle. Three teenage boys came barefoot in swimsuits. A young mother walked over from her trailer with an infant daughter in one arm and a lit cigarette in the other. “Any chance there will be leftover food for adults?” she asked. It was almost 1 p.m. For some, this would be the first meal of the day. For others, the last.
http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/9th-july.html
https://twitter.com/JCWInews :
Two days and 3 and a half hrs. See you at the home office to start beating down these pernicious migration rules!
---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanabata
7th July is Tanabata in the Japanese festival calendar, which is a suitable date to have in the run up to divided families day on 9th July.
From Wikipedia :
It is said that Tanabata asked Mikeran to weave one thousand sandals and bury them under the bamboo tree and they'd surely meet again. Mikeran wove the sandals and buried them under the bamboo tree as Tanabata had asked. When the tree grew, Mikeran climbed up to find that he was one step short. In his haste, he had used one sandal fewer than necessary, causing the tree to grow one step short. Mikeran called out to Tanabata and she came and lifted him up. Mikeran's father wasn't pleased so he gave Mikeran the difficult job of watching a melon field for three days and nights without touching a single melon. Mikeran however grew very thirsty watching the melons that he touched one. The melon immediately turned into a flowing river forever separating Mikeran and Tanabata. Tanabata pleaded with her father to let her see Mikeran again. Feeling sorry for his daughter, he allows them to see each other on the 7th day of the 7th month.
Paper crane for family safety, health, and long life.
Tanabata is associated with the stars Altair and Vega, which are high in the northern hemisphere's summer sky; together with Deneb, they form the Summer Triangle.
---
National treasure David Attenborough's adopted sisters were asylum seekers and played a critical role in his interest in natural history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Attenborough
During World War II, through a British government initiative known as Kindertransport, his parents also fostered two Jewish refugee girls from Europe.
Attenborough spent his childhood collecting fossils, stones and other natural specimens. He received encouragement in this pursuit at age seven, when a young Jacquetta Hawkes admired his "museum." A few years later, one of his adoptive sisters gave him a piece of amber filled with prehistoric creatures; some 50 years later, it would be the focus of his programme The Amber Time Machine.
Kindertransport statue, Liverpool Street station.
Kindertransport statue, Berlin.
Scenes from Planet Earth, scenery to the max : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v2L2UGZJAM
Lest we forget ... we've fought these battles before :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/jun/08/immigration.immigrationandpublicservices
"'The way stateless Jews from Germany are pouring in from every port of this country is becoming an outrage . . .' In these words, Mr Herbert Metcalfe, the Old Street magistrate, yesterday referred to the number of aliens entering the country through the 'back door' - a problem to which the Daily Mail has repeatedly pointed."
Daily Mail, August 20, 1938
Never forget. - http://tabloid-watch.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/immigration
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Doctors condemn plan to ban foreigners from organ transplants on NHS.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/10158331/Doctors-condemn-plan-to-ban-foreigners-from-organ-transplants-on-NHS.html
Dr Clare Gerada, chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said the proposals were unethical and “fuelled by hysteria”.
She said: “I don’t believe there is a problem with ‘health tourism’ to the extent that the Government has claimed - if someone is suffering renal failure they would usually be too sick to make the journey here, but if a person is here, and they need a transplant, what kind of country would deny them?”
Dr Gerada added: “We are supposed to have a humane health service. The idea that a woman goes into labour and a hospital won’t take her unless she has a credit card is something that is really unethical and deeply at odds with our values.”
https://twitter.com/TheHumanTorpedo :
Cameron is only at Wimbledon to make sure Djokovic pays for any medical treatment he receives.
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In rural Tennessee, a new way to help hungry children: A bus turned bread truck.
wapo.st/180n2xv
A 5-year-old girl saw the dust trail of the bus and pedaled toward it on a red tricycle. Three teenage boys came barefoot in swimsuits. A young mother walked over from her trailer with an infant daughter in one arm and a lit cigarette in the other. “Any chance there will be leftover food for adults?” she asked. It was almost 1 p.m. For some, this would be the first meal of the day. For others, the last.
Sunday morning
‘Mistakes’ by Home Office in case of Haywards Heath dad facing deportation.
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10529653.___Mistakes____by_Home_Office_in_case_of_Haywards_Heath_dad_facing_deportation/?ref=fbrec&fb_action_ids=10151708185509630&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582
The Government department which wants to deport a fatherof- three has admitted mistakes were made with his visa application.
Australian Phil Sommerville faces being shipped out of the country, leaving his British wife and three children behind in Bolnore Village, near Haywards Heath.
A Home Office employee has now admitted there were “several errors” in letters sent to the family – including spelling their surname wrongly, incorrectly recording dates and erroneous visa restrictions – giving the impression the application “was not carefully considered”.
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The Coalition's new policy: Blame the immigrants.
http://www.tmponline.org/2013/07/06/xenophobia-as-policy/
It is not dog-whistle politics when you can hear the xenophobic klaxon. We, the black, the migrant, can’t call it “racist”, as the definition of the word has been taken away from us. What is “racist”, is the hatred of the other, based on their biology, their skin pigmentation. Apparently it is not racist to the deny the basic humanity of those who were not born in the same artificial nation-state that you happened to find yourself in. We are instructed that “racism” is the murder of Stephen Lawrence, but not the state-orchestrated death of Ama Sumani, a Ghanaian woman who had children in Britain but was sent to die because of a bureaucratic oversight. Nick Griffin is showcased by liberals as the epitome of the politics of “hate” but apparently there is nothing hateful or racist about the murder of Jimmy Mubenga and treatment of asylum seekers.
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UK's confused immigration policy: Britain puts India on high-risk list after laying out red carpet.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/nri/visa-and-immigration/uks-confused-immigration-policy-britain-puts-india-on-high-risk-list-after-laying-out-red-carpet/articleshow/20947144.cms
The high-risk list proposal comes on the heels of sweeping immigration reforms announced by the UK government. Over the past few months the UK has unveiled a series of steps to clamp down on non-European Union immigrants. These include strict measures against landlords renting homes to illegal immigrants and charging non-European migrants to use the National Health Service. Potential immigrants from outside Europe must also earn at least £18,600 to bring their spouses to the UK.
Slight but important correction here : The rules apply to British citizens of whatever origin, including those native-born. Yet again the press is missing one of the key points about these iniquitous rules.
The rules are so bad no sane person can quite believe them.
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https://twitter.com/emmabmoussa :
Looking forward to the 9th July demonstration with my friends
Saturday, 6 July 2013
9th July
Tuesday 9th July plan of action.
All the details are here :
http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/divided-families-day-of-action.html
http://www.migrantsrights.org.uk/events/2013/divided-families-day-action
http://www.jcwi.org.uk/blog/2013/06/24/streets-come-westminster
The order of events is as follows :
4pm - Home Office, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF
Afternoon demonstration outside the Home Office with speakers and street performers - bring a banner!!
We'll meet outside the Home Office and start the protest on the dot at 4 pm. There's a great selection of speakers, bring a banner. Examples of flyers you can use or amend are here - http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/flyers - but be creative.
It's close to Westminster, St James's Park and Victoria Tube. Map here :
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=2+marsham+street&ie=UTF-8&ei=zDPYUfb0K8TK0AXq-4HYBA&sqi=2&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAg
6pm - Parliament, Committee room 10, London SW1A 0AA
Evening meeting in Parliament chaired by Baroness Ruth Lister bringing together campaigners, supporters and parliamentarians to hear about the impacts of the new rules. The meeting will welcome valuable supporters including Maggie Atkinson, the Children's Commissioner for England, and will be a chance for families to share their stories and build the campaign for a change in the rules.
Again, a very good selection of speakers.
There's a bit of a space issue (we're way over capacity) as there has been so much interest - so bear that in mind and do attend the 4 pm protest in any event.
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Why attend the protest?
On 9th July 2012, the government introduced rules which set an income threshold so high that 47% of British people could not live with their spouse, if their spouse or partner came from outside the EEA. At the same time, they did a lot of other things as well: closing the route for elderly dependants; drastically raising the bar on the language requirement; increasing the time to indefinite leave to remain from two to five years - thereby setting people up for failure by reducing the employability of foreign partners, for no good reason; discounting the income of the foreign partner, therefore locking even middle- or high- income families into exile; horrendously complicating rules for the self-employed, so that even the comfortably off will struggle; forcing working class women and men into single parenthood.
They did this without a proper debate in Parliament; they introduced this through secondary legislation. When challenged by the courts, a perfunctory debate was held in the Lords. Harsh, draconian rules which divide the families of British citizens were introduced without the knowledge of most people, or even many parliamentarians, in this country.
These rules are yet another attack on the rights of migrant communities. But they are also an attack on British citizens' rights. The right to fall in love, to marry and settle with whom you choose. The right of children to be with their parents, the right of people to be with their loved ones. Maybe more important than rights, they represent an attack on our values; the value of family, the value of marriage, the value of childhood itself. This is an attack on British citizens on the basis of income maybe unprecendented since the era of the workhouse. It must be challenged.
We had a great result in the courts last week, and we've had a great result with the APPG report and parliamentary debates, as well as media interest. The pressure needs to be maintained.
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