Family immigration campaigners planning meetups in Manchester and London in next few weeks.

http://www.migrantsrights.org.uk/news/2013/family-immigration-campaigners-planning-meetups-manchester-and-london-next-few-weeks

 The family immigration campaign group, BritCits , is planning meetup events for people directly affected by the immigration rules which have now been in place for 12 months.

There are dates for two of these events:  Manchester on the 20th July ( 1130am near Manchester Piccadilly) and London on 4th August in London, (midday Southbank, nearest stations: Waterloo, Blackfriars).

BritCits are hoping to meet with people who want to get active in the campaign to change the rules by undertaking work in their local areas by, for example, getting their stories told in the local meda and lobbying local MPs.  It will be an opportunity to brainstorm for ideas on best ways to raise awareness and drive change.

If you would like to join BritCits at these meetups please register at http://www.meetup.com/BritCits/
---

'List of documents we had with us'.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/154582430/List-of-Documents-We-Had-With-Us

Found on Facebook. List of documents used when entering the UK via Surinder Singh. Very useful for those considering this route.

We moved to Greece as my husband had an employment contract. The contract wentsouth rather quickly, so we planned our escape, so to speak.After he had been there for three months (I was there for two as I joined him after amonth),we gathered our documentation and headed for England. We did not apply for entry clearance prior to arrival.As I am American, I did not need to apply for an entry visa ahead of time. Additionally, Istill had a valid multi-entry visit visa in my passport, as I entered the UK in March andreceived a multi entry visa at that time.When we arrived at Gatwick, we entered the non EU line. I approached the ECO andsaid we were not sure which line to go through, as he is British and I am American andwe are asking for the family permit visa and were executing Surinder Singh...
---

https://twitter.com/Ad_Matt :
OCC inundated by accounts of children divided from loving parents by 2012 Family Migration Rules. Find out more at http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk

Policy advisor on children subject to immigration control at the Office of the Children's Commissioner. (Views are my own.)
---

https://twitter.com/emmabmoussa :
hubbie said he thought the west had human rights but here we are in the situation where our son either loses mummy or daddy

http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/driss

'I thought western countries were very civilized. I don’t really understand why this is happening. I am sure no other country would allow a mother to be taken from her child or expect a father and child to live in another country.'
- http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/on-1st-september-2013-british-family.html
---

https://twitter.com/BritCits :
UK Ireland plan to have a common visa system to encourage tourism and business
https://www.sharehoods.com/en/uk-and-ireland-plan-visa-free-common-travel-area-to-boost-growth-n518.html
---

https://twitter.com/BritCits :
How very interesting..different angle on reality tv shows..observe the immigrant learning english
http://www.ukimmigrationbarristers.com/blog/why-dont-you-speak-english-channel-4-to-televise-reality-uk-immigration-documentary/

The reality show will feature ordinary British families teaching four immigrants how to speak English in their own homes.

The immigrants featured in the show all entered the UK over one year ago, coming from nations including: Poland, Colombia, China and the Democratic Republic of Congo. None of them have managed to grasp the English language and the purpose of the show is to offer them much needed assistance and determine how they have survived in the UK for over 12 months without learning the language.

Each immigrant will spend one week with a British family, each of whom will use their own unique tactics to teach them the English language.
---

https://twitter.com/BritCits :
Radical thought:remove immigration conditions for Brits married to non-EU person returning home for elderly parents
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jul/18/elderly-care-state-insurance-scheme
---

https://twitter.com/BritCits :
What can Lebanon teach Australia and UK about refugees.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-18/wakim---a-global-perspective-on-refugees/4828412
---

https://twitter.com/BritCits :
MPs urged to stop stoking anti-migrant mentalities as a result of failure of public policies
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23343089
---

https://twitter.com/BritCits :
Life in the UK test a barrier to immigration, and ripe with inaccuracies.
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/07/life-uk-test-has-morphed-barrier-immigration

The Life in the UK test has always included what many of us might consider trivia. Information such as the number of MPs in the House of Commons or how to claim a National Insurance number is not probably known by most British citizens. But the test has gone from a test about practical trivia to the purely trivial. Information about how to contact an ambulance, how to report a crime or how to register with a GP has been removed. Instead, applicants are required to know the year that the Emperor Claudius invaded Britain, the approximate age of Big Ben’s clock and the height of the London Eye in feet and meters. Consider the following dates in the life of Sake Dean Mahomet that must be memorised by rote: birth (1759), first came to the UK (1782), eloped to Ireland (1786), opened first curry house (1810) and death (1851). Furthermore, it must be known that he married a woman from Ireland named Jane Daly, that his curry house was called the Hindoostane Coffee House and it was established on George Street in London.

---

https://twitter.com/BritCits :
UK needs MORE immigrants to cope with our ageing population and rising ublic debt.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/415509/UK-needs-MORE-immigrants-to-cope-with-ageing-workforce-and-public-sector-debt
---

https://twitter.com/APPGMigration :
Backlogs hit half a million at immigration service say @CommonsHomeAffs in latest report
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/home-affairs-committee/news/130713-ukba-rpt-published/
---

OBR predicts prolonged austerity if net migration falls below 140,000 a year.

http://www.migrantsrights.org.uk/news/2013/obr-predicts-prolonged-austerity-if-net-migration-falls-below-140000-year

 The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), an independent expert body set up by the coalition government to assess the prospects for the UK economy, published its third fiscal sustainability report (FSR) yesterday, Its central focus is the anticipated costs to the economy of supporting an ageing population.

The report features a chapter on “the impact of inward migration in the long-term projections” which considers the contribution which can be expected from migration to the sustainability of public services as the economy develops in the future.

The FSR assumes that net immigration will stabilise at 140,000 incomers a year from 2016 onwards. It defines this as a ‘low migration’ projection. The coalition government is currentluy aiming to push net migration well below this figure, to reach 'tens of thousands' by 2015.
---

Spotted on Facebook :

Job vacancy, over 18.600. Bear in mind it's dealing with UKBA in part, but I love the irony of someone being able to sponsor their spouse due to a job which has been created due to UKBA's demands.

http://www3.uwic.ac.uk/English/AboutUs/JobsAtUWIC/Documents/International%20Office/V653%20Administration%20Asst%20-%20Immigration%20Compliance%20LSC%20doc%2012%2007%2013

Sarah

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Samantha

“Although I satisfy it, the income threshold is too high; and the best place to learn English should be in the UK..why make our family take very difficult tests other than to encourage us to give up?”

Samantha is a British citizen. She married her husband, an Egyptian citizen, in May 2012.

They were together for four years before tying the knot, and Samantha lived in Egypt for nine months before returning to the UK in September 2012.

She returned home to get a job. She knew the immigration rules had changed and so she thought of herself especially lucky to find a job immediately, paying well over the £18,600 required.

For this couple, the hurdle proving insurmountable, is the English language test. Her husband speaks good English but his reading and writing are not so good. He took a test in February which he failed; July sees his second attempt.

Samantha understands that at the end of the day, it’s up to her husband to pass the exams. But she is bemused by how difficult they make it for candidates..almost as if they want the candidates to give up.

Results for the test are due in August/September; hopefully he passes. If not, he will have to wait till November to re-take. To Samanatha it’s a joke that she can’t be in her home country, with her own husband, without recourse to public funds.

Despite satisfying the income threshold, Samantha believes it’s too high; she doesn’t understand why foreign spouses need to take an English test, which is not remotely basic, with hours of speaking, listening, reading and writing. She doesn’t understand why the test can’t be taken in the UK – surely it would be easier to learn English surrounded by it.

More Facebook campaigns

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

We meet ALL the requirements but UKBA still refused our visa : https://www.facebook.com/WeMeetAllTheRequirementsButUkbaStillRefusedOurVisa

Married and living apart due to UKBA's current unrealistic requirements : https://www.facebook.com/keptapartbyunrealisticrequirements
---

Spotted on Facebook ( https://twitter.com/GuidoTallman ) :
Sometimes, even after 3 years of working in immigration, you just have to pick your jaw off the ground when you hear of decisions made by the Home Office over who to refuse visas to.

We hear of a British National who's brother is Jamaican (and lives in Jamaica). The Brit is ill, in the kidney section of a London hospital. His brother is willing to donate a kidney to save his life, one of the few matches available anywhere. The Home Office refuse to grant the brother a visa as they suspect he might try and overstay.

WTF? I mean he might leave a kidney behind, or even all of him stay behind, but saving a life isn't worth the risk - is it?

On the 1st September 2013, a British family will be divided

On the 1st September 2013,  a British family will be divided

Background on Sean's story was posted here : http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/sean-i-am-desperate-to-return-home-to.html . Sean is a British citizen, with a non-EEA spouse, who has lived in South East Asia for a few years. The couple has a son, also a British citizen. Because the rules lock so many expat Brits into exile, Sean is desperate to return to the country of his birth to care for his elderly, sick parents. Sean is in the process of pursuing the EEA route to be with his family - a family divided. He continues to fight to be with all his loved one.

On the 1^st of September 2013, a British family will be divided. A British father and his three year old British son will be forced to live in exile. They will have to live and find work in Spain. They have never been there and don’t speak the language.

Father and husband:

I desperately want to stay in the UK, work and help look after my aging parents. They are in their seventies and both have been fighting cancer. My father had a fall this week and mother is in severe pain with her back. I worry so much and I can’t bear to leave them. I can’t help thinking I may never see them again.

My little boy has brought them so much pleasure over the last months and he in turn has learned so much from them. He loves them so much it will be a terrible thing to take him away from them. There will be real heartache and lots of tears when we leave. I really do not want to go, but if we stay my son will loose his mother. What choice do I have?

I have chosen Spain as I think it might be the best place for me to find work as an English teacher. I am scared though. How will we cope? What about language and culture problems? How will my son get on? If I we can’t survive there what will we do? I can’t work in my wife’s country and she will not even be able to enter mine. We will be in limbo. We will have to split up. My son will have a broken family.

Grandparents:

We are coming to the end of our years and all we want is our family around us. Having our son and grandson around is the best medicine we could possible get. But now we have to say goodbye to them at the airport. We don’t know when we will see them again. This is tragic.

We don’t understand why after all these years as hard working, law abiding British citizens we are faced with this situation. What makes us really angry and ashamed to be British is that any other European citizens can just walk into England and live and work just like that. An unmarried Polish/Thai couple with no children can just move here without restriction, yet our British grandson is expected to live without his mother.

Wife and mother:

This is all my fault. I feel so bad for breaking up my husband’s family. My parents in law need their son and grandson. I said maybe I should just leave and go home. I couldn’t though. How can any mother be expected to leave her child. I would be quite happy to go back to my rice farming village in Thailand, but it is not a good place for my child and my husband cannot work in my country. I only want what is best for them. I don’t really matter in all of this.

I thought western countries were very civilized. I don’t really understand why this is happening. I am sure no other country would allow a mother to be taken from her child or expect a father and child to live in another country.

Three year old boy:

I want to be with nanny and grampy. I don’t want to see anyone cry. I don’t want my daddy to be so anxious and sad. I don’t want to loose my mummy. I want to go to school and learn. I want everyone to be happy.

Read and share, please. #spouse #child #elderlydependants #britishcitizens #surindersingh #expatinexile #dividedfamiliescampaign

Mirrored here : http://www.scribd.com/doc/154379210/British-Family-to-Be-Divided

 

Rob

 “Although not affected yet, I fear I won’t be allowed to be with my girlfriend..I can’t leave my three daughters in the UK”..

Rob is a British citizen living in Torquay, Devon. Although he is yet to be affected by the new immigration rules, he anticipates it being an issue for him and his girlfriend, an American citizen from Oklahoma. It is an issue that is already affecting Rob’s ex-wife.

They’ve only been going out a few months, but are considering their future in the event the relationship, as they anticipate it to be, becomes more serious. However it hasn’t been plain sailing to date either. Already they have had their brush with UKBA, who refused Rob’s girlfriend entry for the three months visit they had planned; instead they only got three days together - sadly something for which they consider themselves lucky, despite the disappointment.

Rob is a single dad with three daughters, two of who live with him full-time and another he sees a couple of nights a week and every other weekend. He works for a charity, a noble employer and earns below the £18,600 threshold required for the sponsorship of a visa in the event he were to marry his girlfriend. He is lucky in the respect that he has a family locally who help out with childcare. It allows him to save up for him and his girlfriend to meet each other again.

Rob has considered asking for a pay rise, but is hesitant only because he has been working for his employer less than a year. The pay rise he would need to earn the magic £18,600 is 75 pence an hour. Less than £1.

Rob is aware that his ex-wife is in an even worse situation. She is self-employed, earns very little and is currently claiming benefits. Her partner also lives in the US (in Maryland) but being in the financial sector, has the potential for earning a comfortable income to support them both.

The daughter who lives with them both is aged 7 and has learning disabilities and speech problems. She is a happy little girl but sometimes finds it hard to communicate and is at the sort of level of a much younger child. She adores both Rob’s girlfriend and her mum’s partner – Rob tells her that both her mummy's partner and his girlfriend are living in America for now but hopefully will be able to move over soon.

At the moment Rob and his girlfriend have good and bad days; they keep in touch via Skype and email and when they can, speak for hours. Rob’s girlfriend doesn’t have the same ties to America as Rob does to England; they are not in a long distance relationship by choice.

Twitter roundup

https://twitter.com/quigonsmith :
The Government's greatest, barely-reported cruelty against its own citizens “@ColinYeo1: Divided families http://wp.me/p1Zj2l-2lC

https://twitter.com/ColinYeo1 :
British families are being broken by the very State that ought to nurture and protect them
---

https://twitter.com/emmabmoussa :
Looking out at my boys having fun in the sun wish I could join them, please god don't let the home office break up father and son :-(

Sent my email off to the children's commissioner makes me cry every time I have to explain what hubbies deportation would do to my baby

http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/driss
---

https://twitter.com/donflynnmrn :
Campaigners call for new family migration rules on one-year anniversary - photos of protest here http://j.mp/13l7Emm  by @migrants_rights
---

https://twitter.com/migrants_rights :
Letter from #greenparty leader @natalieben in support of Sarah Teather's principled stance on immigration http://bit.ly/12uJlUp  #welldone
---

https://twitter.com/migrants_rights :
Morton Hall immigration detainee held for nearly 3 years http://bbc.in/12Un2r7  @Detentionaction calls for end of indefinite detention
---

https://twitter.com/APPGMigration :
Britain needs millions more immigrants to reduce strain of ageing population via @Telegraph http://fw.to/eFXsTKT

https://www.facebook.com/LondonMRCF :
We don't normally share the Daily Mail links in order to contain and minimize the ‪#‎HostileEnvironment‬ but this headline is irresistible because it is in the Daily Mail. Enjoy :)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2366934/Britain-needs-7million-MORE-immigrants-50-years-meet-cost-ageing-population.html 
---

https://twitter.com/ColinYeo1 :
RT @BarrowCadbury: Powerful post by Dave Stamp @ASIRT1 on one family's struggle as undocumented migrants
http://barrowcadbury.wordpress.com/2013/07/17/supporting-undocumented-migrants-in-a-hostile-environment/

ASIRT, for now, is here to fight for the rights of people denied them in a “hostile environment”. But the decimation of advice and advocacy organisations across the country makes it likely that thousands of families in similar situations will be left in precarious “limbo” situations for many years to come.
---

https://twitter.com/AdamWagner1 :
Crikey, UK immigration laws change every 6 weeks on average, 83 times in a decade....
http://www.pressking.com/press-releases/83-times-UK-Immigration-Laws-have-been-altered-in-10-years-reveals-UK-Immigration-Barristers-061519
---

Narnia residents delighted as immigrant loophole through wardrobe is finally closed.

http://newsthump.com/2013/07/17/narnia-residents-delighted-as-immigrant-loophole-through-wardrobe-is-finally-closed/

Via https://www.facebook.com/LondonMRCF
---

https://twitter.com/ColinYeo1 :
Sick: RT @jamiejkerr: Had an asylum appeal today and UKBA submission was that extensive scarring on a Tamil asylum seeker was self inflicted
---

https://twitter.com/DavidWardMP :
#Bradford MP welcomes court's family #visa judgement http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/10547143.Bradford_MP_welcomes_court_s_family_visa_judgement/
---

https://twitter.com/JusticeGap :
Can't afford a lawyer? If you are representing yourself in court, try @thebarcouncil new guide.
http://thejusticegap.com/News/diy-lawyers-arent-the-problem-the-problem-is-the-courts/
---

https://twitter.com/alinamuller :
33 Beautiful Vintage Portraits Of America’s Immigrant Past From Ellis Island
http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/33-stunning-portraits-of-immigrants-at-ellis-island

Update on Neil


Verbatim from Facebook :

So... WE WON!!!!!!! With Emily Solomon. Damn you Home Office for threatening to break up my family in the first place. The judge saw sense! Put that in your pipe and smoke it. Happy day :-)

Neil's story : http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/neil-and-emily-neil-tells-his-story.html

A good day indeed. :) Another situation resolved. Another one bites the dust!

Divided families.

An excellent writeup of a very good day :

http://www.freemovement.org.uk/2013/07/16/divided-families/

'It was, frankly, distressing to be surrounded by so many fragmented, broken half families, bitterly angry at the violence done to them by Theresa May and her rules. I lost count of the apparently single mothers around the crowd, accompanied by babies, toddlers and a few children old enough to be consciously aware and articulate about what it was like to be separated from one’s father. Bailey Yamamoto spoke. At eight months pregnant she faces giving birth alone, and her husband will never be able to recover the lost opportunity to be with his new born baby.

'... There are some interesting grassroots groups springing up to campaign on these issues. The best known and most effective seems to be BritCits ... There are Facebook groups galore:'

'... Politicians seem to be swayed by money and power. There are no doubt plenty of anti immigration votes to be garnered, but if there are enough dissenting voices and enough people start to realise the awful effects of these rules on their friends, families and communities then that creates its own electoral issues for the Coalition. Keep at it!
---

The ‘Hostile Environment Working Group’.

http://www.freemovement.org.uk/2013/07/16/the-hostile-environment-working-group/

'I have previously written about the need for responsible journalism, but in hindsight this was probably unfair on the media. While their tone can be abhorrent, they are only following the example set by Government, who see little wrong in attempting to establish a ‘Hostile Environment Working Group’ to make life difficult for ‘unwanted’ migrants.'
---

Spotted on Facebook, via https://twitter.com/GuidoTallman :

MPs demand a salary of £18,600 before someone can live with their non-EU spouse here. Their pay should be fixed at £18,599. Simples.

---

Support gathers for Haywards Heath dad facing deportation back to Australia. ( http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/izzy-and-phil-argus-hoping-letter-will.html )

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10548357.Support_gathers_for_Haywards_Heath_dad_facing_deportation_back_to_Australia/

 '... Sadly, the campaign has also highlighted more families who are facing an equally bleak and uncertain future.

'On Tuesday, hundreds of campaigners – including Phil’s wife Isabel and their son Cooper – gathered outside the Home Office in London for a Divided Families Day of Action campaign.

'The campaign, organised by the Migrants Rights Network, finished with a meeting in the House of Commons.

'Fawzia Whittuck, of Hartfield Road, Seaford, spoke at the meeting about her British son and his Japanese wife of four years who are currently unable to move to the UK due to new migration rules.

'Steve Cuthbert, 34, an English teacher, and his wife Yoko, 35, an auditor for an international bank, applied for a visa to allow them to return to theUKin November 2012. '

 

Those affected by the rules with children, who haven't written to the Children's Commissioner already - please write.

Here's how to do it :
http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/uk-childrens-commissioners-endorse.html

Feedback from the Children's Commissioner's office is that they have been 'inundated' with emails and letters, which have left many officials in tears.

This came up at the 9th July demo debriefing meeting today (MRN, JCWI and BritCits).

You can still writine to them. Keep writing.
---

Natalie writes :

... This is causing a lot of stress and strain on our marriage. My daughter 25 weeks thinks my laptop and phone is where Daddy is. We will not be traveling to see him until August 31st for 2 weeks due to work...
https://www.facebook.com/FamilyLifeIsARightNotAPrivilege?fref=ts

The Children's Commissioner's office responds
 :
'Dear family member affected by the family migration rules,

'Can I first apologise for not replying individually to your email. We are a very small organisation, and we have been rather overwhelmed by the number of emails recounting the effects of the new Family Migration Rules on your families since last week when the Children’s Commissioner addressed a public meeting in Committee room 10 of the House of Commons on this matter. (photos : http://www.flickr.com/photos/migrants-rights-network/page1/ )

I must make clear that the Children’s Commissioner has no remit, and therefore is not permitted, to advocate for or intervene in individual cases. Rather our role is to influence Government policy on behalf of children and to promote their interests and views. Please be assured, however, that we have read every piece of correspondence we have received on this matter with great care. We have also begun compiling the information you have all sent into a database which we will use to help us analyse trends, and to seek to influence government thinking and action on the issues identified in the letters you have all provided.

We will be engaging with the Government from a position of real strength now that we have heard directly from all of you about the very serious impact these rules are having on you, your partners, children, grandchildren or step-children.

In due course we will be letting you, and the organisations with which many of you are also working, know what we are doing to take the issue forward with Government. Many of your letters and emails to us included detailed, and deeply moving, accounts of the impact of separation on the children from a parent or about the affected child’s inability to access their rights as British citizen children. It was a privilege to read them, and we would like to thank you for your honesty and openness in sharing them with us. We will ensure that these personal accounts are fully reflected in our correspondence with Government Ministers or officials, but we will ensure, by the ways we present this and our own evidence, that individuals cannot be identified.

We will be in touch again once we have more to tell you. In the meantime, thank you again for getting in touch with the office

Yours Sincerely,
---

Divided Families campaign video.

http://www.jcwi.org.uk/blog/2013/07/16/divided-families-campaign-video

Here are some of the highlights (if that is the right word) of the demonstration outside the Home Office last week, (Tuesday 9 July). It is a succession of stories from people affected by the Rules that were introduced a year beforehand. We'll let the people on the film do the talking for themselves:

---

Progress marked by Divided Families Day.

http://familyimmigrationalliance.wordpress.com/2013/07/16/progress-marked-by-divided-families-day/

'A week ago the Divided Families Campaign made it’s strongest display of objection and unity against the family immigration rules.

'The day began with the presentation of a petition to 10 Downing Street – a sure sign that the campaign is beginning to reach a new level of importance.

'This is not least because it came on the back of an important High Court judgement dubbing the income threshold unfair, and recommending a level closer to £13000.  This a fantastic result so close to the anniversary of the rules. It represents a huge success for the contributions and evidence submitted by the FIA and other colleagues ( http://www.britcits.com  ) in the campaign.'
---

Via the JCWI link above :

'Due to the July 9th immigration changes in the UK, my family and I are living 3,000 miles apart, here's our story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFxCcrBcWmU. Thanks for sharing this powerful video, I think it is very effective in showing the personal stories of all that are suffering from this ridiculous requirement. The more we become real people the less we're a statistic!

'Please share and encourage others to do so, united we can win this fight and bring our families back together!
---

'Red tape' keeps teen lovers apart.

http://www.barnsley-chronicle.co.uk/news/article/6744/red-tape-keeps-teen-lovers-apart

Two teenagers who fell in love and got engaged are being forced to live thousands of miles apart by the UK's tough new immigration red tape.

Alex Firth, 18, is in Barnsley while sweetheart Jamie Freeman, 19, is in Georgia, USA - but they can't get permission to live together despite asking Home Secretary Theresa May for help.
---

Mirrored copy of 'Divided families: Some more divided than others' :
http://www.scribd.com/doc/154185875/Ctbi-Divided-Families-Some-More-Divided-Than-Others-Submission-to-the-Appg

Contains an important table with data on differences in median salaries across gender and ethnic groups, highlighting the discriminatory nature of the rules.

Original : http://www.ctbi.org.uk/pdf_view.php?id=862

More on discrimination :
http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/government-accused-of-dismantling.html
---

https://twitter.com/APPGMigration :
Lab MP @KateGreenSU asks @ukhomeoffice about recent High Court finding on #familymigration & response from government
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2013-07-15a.763.0

Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston, Labour)

What changes will the Home Office make to the family migration rules in the light of the recent High Court finding that the income threshold is onerous and unjustified?

Mark Harper (Forest of Dean, Conservative)

That is not quite what the judgment said. We are considering the judgment very carefully. The judge made it quite clear that the Home Office was perfectly entitled to have an income threshold that applied nationally. The judge said that in certain circumstances he had some concerns. Applications where that is the only issue on which the case would have been rejected are being held and we will make an announcement in due course.

BritCits meetup in London -

4th August, to build on post-9th July momentum :
http://www.meetup.com/BritCits/events/129895662/

To plan, share experiences, discuss next steps, share campaigning ideas, celebrate the progress we've made ... and be sociable. #dividedfamiliescampaign #grassroots

Also a possible last minute meetup in Manchester this Saturday :
http://www.meetup.com/BritCits/events/129549922/

Megan & Max

“Love is and should not just be a privilege for the rich.”

Megan is a British citizen married to Max, from Ukraine. They are both performers, who met whilst working on board a cruise liner…and fell deeply in love.

After two years together, they decided they wanted more than a ship life..they wanted a family; to build a future on land; to be close to Megan’s family in south Wales; to be there for Megan’s mum who is disabled.

So they married in February 2012, excited at a future together. Max returned to Ukraine to prepare for the visa. Megan remained in south Wales and embarked on a new career as a carer, taking her NVQ’s and a starting on a promising career ladder. A carer, a role which the government is crying out for more people to take on, and one Megan is enjoying immensely, in spite of, or perhaps because of, the long hours and hard study it requires.

In this, Megan feels like she has found her calling and is thriving.

She rented a small flat and decorated it, expecting it to be their starter marital home. Not once did they consider the option of any government handouts. Being together is their dream, their responsibility. They are just a young couple in love.

So when they were hit with the July 2012 rules, it felt like their lives had been torn apart. As a carer, Megan earned enough to support them both if needed, though Max would work as well, well able to cover their expenses living in a small Welsh village. However, determined to be with Max, Megan gave up her dream job in favour of a job in the insurance industry, paying £18,000..a role she detested.

Since then, Megan has been in two car crashes, suffering from anxiety and depression. A direct result of the stress, pain and heart ache she has had to endure because of the immigration rules. Ironically, rather than reduce the burden on the taxpayer, Megan’s medicines have required government funding – an expense which would not have been incurred in the first place if the rules had been fair. (Revealed : The financial cost of Theresa May's immigration policy : http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/revealed-financial-cost-of-theresa-mays.html )

Megan loves her husband. He is her world, her heart, her everything. All she wants is for them to be together. They have so much support from their family and a strong youthful passion to succeed.

They don’t want handouts.. They just want to be together.

Love is not and should not be a privilege for the rich.

Louise

“There are better ways of managing immigration than punishing British citizens and the people we love.”

Louise is a British citizen from Manchester. Her husband is Kenyan.

They met in 2011 on a family holiday there. Their relationship started off as just friends, but by the time she returned to the UK, she was so much in love with him, she decided to visit him for Valentines Day. Since then, she has visited him three times a year with her family offering her financial support.

Louise lives at home with her family. They are supporting her while she works in a volunteer and low-income role. She is also searching for full-time work.

The agony of being separated was tearing them apart but their determination to maintain their long distance relationship grew more and more, communicating on bbm (every day) and by talk home calling cards.

A year later, they formalised their love and commitment to each other by getting married in a religious ceremony in Kenya. At the time, neither Louise nor her family were aware of the changes to the family migration rules – they were caught out like so many others.

Unsurprising given the speed and quietness with which the rules were brought in..they weren’t even taken through Parliament in the proper manner!

However, upon finding out they remained unwavering in their determination to stay together no matter what – to maintain their union as husband and wife.

The only family Louise has is her mum, step-dad and young brothers. Louise’s mother-in law passed away when her husband was only a child; her father-in-law is an alcoholic.

Love is blind and isn’t a conscious decision based on earnings or influence; nor family background or nationality.

Louise and her family firmly believe that Theresa May's family migration policy is unfair and punitive. There are better ways of managing migration than punishing British citizens and the people they love.

Government accused of dismantling equity laws.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jul/14/coalition-accused-of-assault-on-equality

Fawcett Society report says coalition has been reversing and dismantling equality laws.

Includes a picture of our protest on 9th July 2013 -
'Protests outside the Home Office on the anniversary of the UK's new family migration policy, which prevents UK citizens and refugees earning less than £18,600 from bringing non-EU spouses to live in the UK.'

Equality campaigners have accused the government of a systematic assault on measures designed to protect women and minorities, amid fears that a key requirement to end discrimination is to be scrapped.

In a report out this week, the Fawcett Society accuses the coalition government of "weakening the legal and institutional measures concerned with equality".

https://twitter.com/fawcettsociety :
Preview of our new report out tmrw http://bit.ly/13bLfMM  'Red Tape Red Lines warns of 'dismantling of equality law'

Let's be clear. As recently as the end of June, the government (in the form of Mark Harper, Immigration Minister) said : “the Government is satisfied the minimum income requirement is working as intended” ( via http://www.migrantsrights.org.uk/blog/2013/07/attacks-house-lords-and-high-court-build-momentum-family-migration-campaign ) :

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2013-06-25a.161167.h :

Fiona O'Donnell (East Lothian, Labour):
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will review the effects of the minimum income requirement for UK citizens to bring a spouse or partner of non-European Economic Area nationality to settle in the UK.

Mark Harper (Forest of Dean, Conservative) :
The Government is satisfied the minimum income requirement is working as intended. However, as with all new policies, we will keep the impact under review in the light of the published immigration statistics and other sources of information available. These will include the information and representations provided by those affected by the rules, such as are contained in the report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Migration published on 10 June 2013.

One may reasonably conclude that discrimination was an intended consequence. As Migration Observatory warned last year ( 'Women, young people and non-Londoners are most affected by changes to family migration policy' - http://www.migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/press-releases/women-young-people-and-non-londoners-are-most-affected-changes-family-migration-polic ) :
             61% of women and 32% of men will not qualify to bring in a family member. 

(In addition to regional, class and race discrimination - The areas of England with the lowest eligibility are Merseyside, where 56% of people will not be eligible, North West England (53%) and Yorkshire and Humberside (52%). There's also a strong ethnic element to this - see the Middlesex University submission to the APPG inquiry 'Divided families but some more divided than others' : http://www.ctbi.org.uk/pdf_view.php?id=862


Ethnicity                       Male median wage        Female median wage
UK population              £24,000                      £15,000
British                           £24,000                      £14,600
Other White                 £22,000                      £15,600
Pakistani                       £15,500                      £9,700
Indian                           £23,000                      £18,000
Bangladeshi                  £8,400                        £10,700
Chinese                        £20,000                       £19,000
Other Asian                  £18,000                      £13,200
Black Caribbean           £20,800                      £19,200
Black African                £19,500                      £15,600
Other Black                  £19,800                      £16,900
White & B Caribbean    £28,000                     £18,000
White & B African         £24,000                     £15,600
White Asian                   £26,400                     £19,200
Other Mixed                  £22,000                     £17,500

Clearly women, and especially women from the Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities, are hit hard by these rules.

'Can't buy me love' - 'As of 9 July, the UK will have one of the world’s highest income requirements for people to reunite with their family.' : http://www.mipex.eu/blog/cant-buy-me-love

It's also worth noting the underhand way the rules were brought in in the first place ( http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/introduction.html ). The rules, which have been so far-reaching and had such dramatic, life-altering consequences for so many people ( http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/stories ) was brought in through secondary legislation. Through no vote in Parliament. When the courts forced the government to do something about that ('Alvi' - http://www.freemovement.org.uk/2012/07/18/analysis-of-alvi/ ), there was a somewhat lacklustre debate in the Lords (as the Commons had gone to recess - http://www.freemovement.org.uk/2012/07/19/new-immigration-rules-brought-in-immediately/ )

Life-altering for many, yes. Even for me. I -meet- the requirements but might not have done under slightly different circumstances. I'm a placid kind of fellow. It takes a lot to get me this wound up, for so long - every day for over a year now.

https://twitter.com/BaileyYamamoto :
Votes for Women! - ooops sorry that was last century, this century - Family Life for Women!!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jul/14/coalition-accused-of-assault-on-equality

Campaigners call for new family migration rules on one-year anniversary.

http://www.migrantsrights.org.uk/blog/2013/07/campaigners-call-new-family-migration-rules-one-year-anniversary

What a day! 9 July 2013 was one to remember in the Divided Families campaign with a lively day of action in Westminster.

Last Tuesday showed the united front in support of the campaign against the new family migration rules, as people from across the UK gathered in Westminister to make their voices heard. MRN, JCWI, Britcits and the Family Immigration Alliance organised a day of action to spread the word about the campaign, with the close involvement of many other organisations and affected families.

Lovely photos from 9th July : http://www.flickr.com/photos/migrants-rights-network/page1/
Photos courtesy of Jason Wen www.jasonwenphoto.net

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https://twitter.com/dc_stevens :
@nusuk has voted to officially affiliate with the @migrants_rights & @JCWInews and to help their campaigns for migrants in the UK. #nusnec

https://twitter.com/Michael_K_Allen :
@dc_stevens @nusuk @migrants_rights @JCWInews That's really great news.
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https://twitter.com/anamacouzet :
Apparently the High Court Judgement will have consequences
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/newsfragments/87-min-income-threshold

On 5 July 2013 the High Court delivered its judgment on a legal challenge to the minimum income threshold for spouses/partners and children applying in the family route.

The Home Office has paused decision-making on some spouse/partner and child settlement visa and leave to remain applications to enable us to consider the implications of the judgment.

The pause applies to applications made under Appendix FM to the Immigration Rules where the application would be refused solely because the rules relating to the minimum income threshold are not met, including where relevant the evidence requirements in Appendix FM-SE.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_law
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The Life in the UK: Impractical and Unfair.

http://www.migrantsrights.org.uk/migration-pulse/2013/life-uk-impractical-and-unfair

Impractical, unfair and ERROR-PRONE. http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/error-in-life-in-uk-book-image-below-is.html … #epicmedievalhistoryfail
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http://www.freemovement.org.uk/2013/07/15/weekend-twitter-catch-up/ :
Morning! Unusually, there were several interesting snippets on immigration over the weekend. Here’s a reasonably random small selection via Twitter for your Monday morning delectation...

Leanne

“My husband is my life and he's the best thing that's ever happen to me..it kills me every day I am forced to be without him”

Leanne is a British citizen. Her husband is Egyptian and therefore not allowed to live in the UK with
her.

Leanne met her husband in Greece, where he has lived and worked for over six years. They have been together for the last four, and got married in April 2013, in Greece. They know they will need to be apart for over six months – possibly twelve if not longer. Six months to show Leanne’s payslips and savings (she earns less than £18,600 but together they have £22,000 savings to supplement this for satisfying the financial requirement). Another six months or longer for processing of the application.

Although the financial considerations are in hand, Leanne is petrified her husband’s visa will be refused. Their view very much (not surprisingly!) is that UKBA seems to be finding reasons to refuse visas left, right and centre, often for spurious reasons.

At 31, Leanne already feels like she doesn’t have enough time. Her hospital has indicated she may be able to have IVF..another ray of hope for having dreams fulfilled; however they can’t take it further without her husband by her side. Leanne is scared..if her husband can’t join her any time soon, with that not only are her rights as a British citizen jeopardised, but so is her very natural human right to have a family

On 25th June 2013, Leanne cried tears of joy. This is the day she was returning from hospital after one of her regular checkups for cancer. She was diagnosed with bowel cancer at the age of 20; after bouts of chemotherapy and surgery, she was told she would not be able to have her own biological kids, hence the IVF option so urgent and important.

However, the reason for the tears was the ray of hope for her being united with her husband. Leanne’s brother sent her a link to a BBC article, following which she watched a Newsnight programme telling her of EU providing justice where the British government snatched it away, via the Surinder Singh route.

The resulting questions though show more than anything that this route isn’t one taken lightly; nor are British citizens with non-EEA families expecting our streets to be paved with gold. They also show the shameful fear the government has successfully instilled in the very people it’s being paid to represent.

Does this mean I don’t have to be apart from my husband any longer?
Can the government close this route too?
How long do I have to be working there?
Can my husband work there as well?
Will my husband then be allowed to work in the UK, if we return here using Surinder Singh route?

At no point have there  been any questions on accessing benefits which under UK’s immigration rules non-EEA family members don’t qualify for any way. If anything people have been adamant that with their spouse here they would have less need to claim benefits because of the multiple incomes the family would be earning.

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An important, and relevant, piece of research -

Revealed: The financial cost of Theresa May's immigration policy.

http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2013/07/09/revealed-the-financial-cost-of-theresa-may-s-immigrationl

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

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

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

Hayley & Mehmet

“We won’t ever give up, we will win, we will be together”

Hayley is a British citizen. Mehmet, her husband is Turkish. So for reasons only due to accident of birth, this married couple has seen each other for one week since their wedding in September 2012.

They expect to have seen each other for a total of two weeks by the time of their first anniversary.

Hayley lives in South Wales, where finding a job in her line of work, paying over £18,600 is very difficult. And so Hayley works two jobs. One as a selfemployed beauty therapist, and the other as an administrator. So she works from 9am to 3pm in the office job, and 4pm to 9pm running her own business. That’s twelve hours. Every working day, and often, Saturdays as well.

She has been doing this since March 2012 because rules for proving income as a self-employed person in love with a non-EEA citizen are anything but simple.

Hayley has never worked this hard. She is extremely tired and has no life outside of work. Because of the rules as they were; because of the July 2012 rules making it even more difficult.

Hayley recalls the change in her life, after returning from their lovely wedding in Turkey with family and friends bearing witness, when she started to gather everything they needed for the spouse visa, only to realise after many many late nights pouring over the UKBA website that because she was self-employed, they could not actually apply until April 2013, to allow for the relevant tax year to end.

She was absolutely devastated reading this and realising that they had a long wait before they could even apply. So they both cracked on, working hard, sitting it out, battling on.

Mehmet’s spouse visa is in process. However, she is very worried reading of people being refused even where they meet the income requirement. This couple has been working hard, saving up for their future together and they have borne the time apart, anticipating they will be together before long.

Hayley considered sharing her story only after receiving a response to the visa application, but often a burden shared is a burden halved..and so she decided to share with BritCits and somehow ease the enormous burden of stress they are under.

She is alone, she is lonely. Although she was welcomed in Istanbul in January 2013, where she went for a week to support her husband through the English exam, that’s the last time she saw him. Though they Skype regularly and speak over the phone several times a day, it’s just not the same.

For this couple time is also more precious with Hayley being in her 40s. Hayley lost a child 17 years ago, leading to a failed marriage..and years before she was granted this second chance at happiness. The couple want kids, but are being forced to postpone it because of these rules. We only hope it won’t be too late. Keeping a married couple apart is bad enough, but the government interfering on a couple’s decision to have kids is untenable.

Hayley just wants the chance to be happy, live with her husband, wake up to him every morning and come home to him every night. Is that really too much to ask for? They don’t want to claim benefits, just both work hard and be together like ‘a normal’ married couple.

They found the visa application process laborious – whichever way it goes, and we hope the result is positive, it has aged Hayley ten years. However, the couple love each other; there is nothing they wouldn’t do for the other...they just want to be together like all couples do.

Families divided then and now: UK spousal visa requirements in 1976 and 2013.

http://hatfulofhistory.wordpress.com/2013/07/14/families-divided-then-and-now/

'It is unsurprising to see that the bureaucratic requirements needed to be fulfilled have grown exponentially over the last 40 years as the legislation regarding who can enter the country has grown tighter and tighter. The fear by the authorities that people are exploiting the spousal visa system far outweighs the numbers of people ‘caught’ doing so and disproportionately places an unnecessary bureaucratic burden upon those wishing to accompany/join their families in the UK. The result of British immigration control policy is the 1970s-80s, as it is now, is families divided.'
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It shouldn't be this hard to bring in your spouse.

http://descrier.co.uk/magazine/2013/07/immigration-it-shouldnt-be-this-hard-to-bring-home-your-spouse/

'The immigration policy for Settlement Visas is now being dictated by one consideration and it sadly and somewhat enigmatically doesn't possess that humanistic quality one would expect from a party that has claimed to champion the institution of marriage and protect the family unit. The financial credentials of the sponsoring spouse (UK Citizen) is the only consideration that is of interest to the Government, and as with most Tory policies there is no Plan B (or a Plan A+, or a U turn) on the horizon.'
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Group rally outside the Home Office : more pictures.

http://www.demotix.com/news/2241591/group-rally-outside-home-office-against-separation-families
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Home Affairs Select Committee: Immigration casework backlog hits half million.

http://www.migrantsrights.org.uk/news/2013/home-affairs-select-committee-immigration-casework-backlog-hits-half-million

 'The Chair of the Committee, he Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP commented on the launch of the report:

“The backlog of cases has now hit a staggering half a million people. This could fill Wembley Stadium to capacity six times over. It has risen by 56% in just three months. At the current rate it will take 37 years to clear and the Home Office cannot confirm that this is the last of the backlogs.
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'Teather said Tories had argued in coalition that no Briton earning less than £40,000 should be able to apply for a visa to bring a non-European spouse into the country.'

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/07/13/immigration-language-sara_n_3590594.html

However, Lib Dem ministers successfully got the threshold reduced to £18,600.
'As well as plans to criminalise landlords who let property to illegal immigrants, the government has announced plans to charge immigrants to use the NHS and give UK citizens priority for social housing, and are even considering asking schools to check whether pupils are illegal migrants, according to leaked emails revealed by the Guardian.

'"We're going to end up in a situation where if you look a bit foreign or sound a bit foreign, you'll struggle to rent a property from a reputable landlord," Teather said.'
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'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.”'
http://www.libdemvoice.org/sarahteather-immigration-35304.html
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Marseille's history as a city of refugees.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n14/neal-ascherson/marseille-1940-43
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https://twitter.com/MigRightsScot :
While Sarah Teather gets angry theres no altrntve 2 party rhetoric, Green Party leader slams #immigrant #scapegoating
http://brightgreenscotland.org/index.php/2013/07/green-party-leader-slams-immigrant-scapegoating/
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https://twitter.com/HannaIngber :
Powerful personal stories on what it means to be Muslim in Myanmar. My blog on the Lede: http://nyti.ms/16z2KVe

Skype family :(

Read Lizzie's story here : http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/lizzie

Fara

“My parents need us..but all three of their kids are British citizens living in the UK and so we don’t qualify to look after them when they need us most.”

Fara is a British citizen living here since 2001. Her husband is also British. Her parents are Indian, aged 59 and 69.

Due to a death in the family, her parents 'home must be sold (as per the terms of her uncle’s will who owned their apartment). Her parents don’t have enough money to buy their own home, and because of their ages, are unable to obtain a mortgage. They get by, with the pension her dad receives, and help from their three children. Children all of whom are British citizens, yet unable to bring over their parents to live with them, and care for them.

There is no financial clause Fara or her siblings can satisfy to show they have the means to look after their parents. The rules just don’t allow this, no matter how well off you are; no matter if all your children are British citizens living in the UK.

Fara is considering going down the EEA route – the only route left open to her. However with two children under the age of six, one of whom is physically disabled, it’s not going to be easy. Fara is feeling the weight of the burden of having a child requiring surgery and parents due to become homeless.

Three British siblings, British spouses and British kids - being denied the right to look after their parents without recourse to public funds.