Re: New Immigration Family Proposals

Last week Migrants Watch UK (MWUK) brought to your notice the new proposal on Family Migration being considered by the government.

It claims it is still consulting on the new proposal but on close scrutiny MWUK thinks that the new proposal bears no good news to Migrants therefore are now calling on well meaning people of this country especially Migrants to take a stand to oppose it, as failing to do so, might well allow it to become a reality.

Some of the problematic areas of the new proposals are:

Spouses
• The introduction of a specific minimum income requirement (for maintenance purposes) for British and settled sponsors to bring family members over;
• An extension of the probationary period for spouses from the current 2 years to 5 years;
• Pushing up the language level requirements for settlement purposes from A1 to B1 level; The possibility of a requirements to take out medical insurance for certain family members;

Other Family Members
• The ending of indefinite leave to enter for adult dependants and dependants aged 65 or over ……;
• The introduction of pre-entry language requirements for dependants aged 16 or 17, or aged under 65 (level A1 standard);
• Introducing changes to the length of leave granted to 17 year old dependants nearing their 18th birthday;
• The introduction of more exacting settlement language requirements at B1 level for the above groups

Family Visit Visas
• Limiting the grounds of appeal in relation to family visit visa decisions only in ECHR/Race discrimination Cases;

Article 8 ECHR
• Seeking views on the balance between the right to private and family life and the public interest.

These are areas that calls for serious concern and needs all well meaning people to lend their voices and opinions to the consultation to ensure that government do a serious rethink on these matters.

We are all aware that this government came into the saddle last year claiming it values family life yet barely a year into its tenure; it is now trying to muscle into law a policy that is surely going to disintegrate the same family values it claims to cherish. It just doesn’t add up.

You will all recall that this same government brought in the “English Test Requirements” for families seeking to join their spouses in the UK. This English Test for Spouse Visas became law on 29th November 2010.

Since this policy came into effect, we have read countless stories of many families that have been denied the opportunity to join their spouses and live together as a family unit because of this policy.

The sad aspect of this policy is that it affects people from English speaking and non-English speaking countries.

Migrants Watch UK is not arguing that people coming into the UK should not integrate or learn to speak English but believes that the best place to learn and improve one's English is here in England and not in some remote village in Timbuktu or thereabout.

Many of these families have been separated for years whilst battling to regularise their status in the UK. Many of them fled their native countries fearing for their life. They fled leaving their wives and – in most cases – children who barely knew them at the time they departed in fear of their life. Came into the UK and spent years struggling to get their status regularised. Many even spent months in detention awaiting decision on their cases. During this waiting period many are unable to work and forced to live off food vouchers offered by the government.

Some aspect of the Immigration Rule gives confusing signals in that it sometimes does not just make sense.

For instance a Migrant granted Refugee Status has an automatic right to reunion with his/her family whilst another Migrant granted Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) has no such privilege.

The Migrant with Refugee Status is still subject to Immigration Control while the one with (ILR) is not, yet the former has an automatic right to family reunion while the latter hasn’t.

To make matters worse, the visa application fee for families of a Migrant granted (ILR) (with families in Nigeria, for example) is about N166000.00 (One hundred and Sixty Six Thousand Naira) per family member. If the Migrant has a family of 4, that means he/she has to pay around N664000.00 (non refundable) just to obtain visa for the family. By the time you add up costs of flight tickets etc., you know the rest.

I know of a Migrant who fled his country for fear of persecution because of his political views. He came into the UK and applied for Asylum. This Migrant was finally granted Indefinite Leave to Remain after 16 years of painful waiting game and separation from his dear family. This is despite the fact that he tried to do everything by the book, and even shunned the idea of marrying a citizen to short cut the system. During these 16 years of waiting, this Migrant got detained and denied bail despite his good intentions and the fact that he came into the UK with evidence of his partisan political activities and no criminal record.

Needless to say that 2 years after being granted (ILR) (making it a total of 18 years of separation from his family) this Migrant still cannot afford to bring his family to join him in the UK – all because of the cost of visa application.

I very much doubt it if anyone in this Coalition government can stand being kept apart from their family for a day left alone for years as is the case with most Migrants.

We all know how top people in this government have tried to balance their work life in order to spend “quality” time with their family – all in the name of proving to everyone that they value family life.

This is the reason Migrants Watch UK is appealing to its readers to please respond to this consultation and let this Coalition government know how we all feel about this New Immigration Family proposal.

Please bear it in mind that this consultation will close on 6th October 2011. So get your response in NOW!!!

You can respond online to the consultation at: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/family-migration-consult

Or Contact
Family Consultation
UK Border Agency
1st Floor Seacole
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

Email: Familyconsultation@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

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