Category Archives: Immigration and asylum

US academic given two weeks to leave UK after eight years

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Visa system for researchers is hostile and costly and risks jamming a pipeline of talent, universities warn

After eight years researching music history at Glasgow University, Elizabeth Ford hoped her request for a visa extension would sail through this summer. Instead, the Home Office gave the American academic two weeks to pack up her life and leave the country.

Ford has held a research fellowship at Edinburgh University – which, like Glasgow is in the elite Russell Group – and is due to begin a new research fellowship at Oxford University. But this is in jeopardy after a letter from the Home Office in July, which said that her leave to remain, granted a year before, was erroneous, and that she must leave within two weeks.

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Guarantee the legal status of all EU migrants living in the UK | Letters

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Signatories including Diane Abbott and Alf Dubs say the rights of EU nationals should be guaranteed. Plus Richard Griffiths on his Swedish wife’s difficulty in getting settled status and Emanuele Maindron on her family being torn apart. And another contributor says spare a thought for non-EU nationals too

In his first statement as prime minister, Boris Johnson gave “unequivocally our guarantee to the 3.2 million EU nationals now living and working among us … that, under this government, they will have the absolute certainty for the right to live and remain”. In less than a day, the prime minister’s spokesperson rushed to clarify that this did not mean new legislation would be proposed. Instead Johnson would maintain the EU Settlement Scheme.

As campaigners have pointed out, the current scheme implies that migrants who fail to apply will lose their legal status and residency rights. Figures suggest at least 2 million EU nationals have not applied for settled status yet. In order to be given settled status, migrants have to prove they have lived in the UK for at least five years.

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Home Office refused thousands of LGBT asylum claims, figures reveal

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Exclusive: ‘culture of disbelief’ excludes at least 3,100 nationals from countries outlawing same-sex acts

The UK Home Office has refused at least 3,100 asylum claims from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) nationals of countries where consensual same-sex acts are criminalised, figures reveal.

At least 1,197 LGBT Pakistanis were refused asylum after making a claim for protection on grounds of sexual orientation between 2016 and 2018, analysis by the Liberal Democrats of figures published by the Home Office shows. A further 640 LGBT Bangladeshis and 389 Nigerians had their claims on same grounds refused during the period.

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Home Office planning to end family reunion for children after Brexit

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Exclusive: Current system for asylum-seeking minors set to end the day after UK leaves EU

The Home Office is preparing to end the current system of family reunification for asylum-seeking children if the UK leaves the EU without a deal, the Guardian has learned.

The government has privately briefed the UN refugee agency UNHCR and other NGOs that open cases may be able to progress, but a no-deal Brexit would mean no new applications after 1 November from asylum-seeking children to be reunited with relatives living in the UK. Even if there is a deal, the future of family reunion is not certain.

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Javid defends settled status scheme in response to criticism

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Campaigners point to rise in grants for pre-settled status, which has fewer rights

Sajid Javid has responded to concerns raised over thousands of EU citizens in the UK having no legal rights after 31 October , by saying “there shouldn’t be a single person that should be concerned about their status”.

The settled status scheme has been running since March for EU nationals living in the UK to establish their permanent right to live in Britain.

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Westminster looks at giving France money to curb Channel crossings

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Priti Patel discusses increasing financial support amid hike in attempted crossings

The UK government is considering increasing the amount it pays France to help deal with people trying to make the perilous Channel crossing to England using small boats, Paris has said.

The proposal was discussed during talks on Thursday between the British home secretary, Priti Patel, and her French counterpart, Christophe Castaner, that were prompted by an increase in the number of such attempted crossings over the summer.

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Johnson warns against Channel crossings after dozens intercepted

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People arriving illegally will be sent back to France, says prime minister

Boris Johnson has warned those thinking of crossing the Channel illegally that they will be sent back to France after dozens of people, including children, were intercepted on Thursday in several incidents at sea and on the south coast.

The prime minister’s comments came as the home secretary, Priti Patel, prepared to hold talks with her French counterpart about the crossings, which have sometimes been linked to fairer weather conditions.

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Brexit free-movement cutoff plans worse than Windrush, says Abbott

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Senior Labour MP says no-deal Brexit proposal would create chaos for EU citizens in UK

Ending the free movement of people with a no-deal Brexit on 31 October would cause chaos and confusion for EU citizens on a scale that would make the Windrush scandal look like a minor blip, Diane Abbott has said.

The shadow home secretary said Boris Johnson’s policies were taking the country “towards a catastrophe” as 2 million EU citizens resident in Britain had not yet registered for settled status, having been told the deadline was December 2020.

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‘Reckless’ plan to cut off free movement alarms EU nationals

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European citizens in UK fear they could be caught up in hostile environment policies

Plans to end freedom of movement for EU citizens immediately after a no-deal Brexit have caused anxiety and confusion among European nationals in the UK, with concerns they could be caught up in hostile environment policies.

Downing Street confirmed rules allowing EU nationals to move to live and work freely in the UK would end abruptly if the UK leaves the bloc without an agreement at the end of October.

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Asylum seeker locked out of home in London despite active claim

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Gambian woman, 46, has no access to possessions after being evicted without notice

An asylum seeker with an active case has been locked out of her Home Office accommodation in west London by a government contractor who told her: “When you’re asked to leave this country you have to leave.”

The woman, 46, who fled her country in west Africa after refusing to perform FGM on young girls, has an active asylum claim. She said her life will be at risk if she is forced to return to Gambia where FGM is prevalent because she defied her community by opposing the practice.

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Lack of intelligence in passport checks | Letter

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Professor Peter Dawson shares his personal experience of being stopped at airports and the justification given

I was intrigued to read about Professor David Baker’s problems at airports and his failure to get an explanation from the Home Office (Border farce: 100 stops in seven years for scientist, 7 August).

For three or more years I was routinely rejected at the electronic entry gates at Heathrow airport and would always have to present myself and passport to an officer who would very carefully check some database. None of them would engage with me or even tell me if it was a passport chip problem that I could get fixed until, finally, one did.

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Professor hits out at Home Office after 100 border stops in 7 years

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David Baker says attempts to get explanation about airport questioning have failed

A university professor has hit out at the Home Office after being stopped around 100 times in seven years at airports despite having no criminal record.

Professor David Baker, a specialist in neuro-immunology at London’s Queen Mary University, who has carried out pioneering work into treatments for conditions like multiple sclerosis, travels frequently for his work was once stopped three times in a single week by Border Force officials at airports.

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Home Office fees are trapping asylum seekers | Letters

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The government is making a huge profit out of people seeking a place of safety, writes Barbara Forbes

Your article about the iniquitous and exorbitant fees charged by the Home Office for renewal of leave to remain gives a clear account of the situation (Report, 31 July, theguardian.com). I am, however, disappointed that you did not mention that many people who have applied for asylum are also caught up in this, having had their asylum claim rejected and been granted discretionary leave to remain instead. So after suffering hardship, persecution and possibly torture in their own countries, having made the difficult decision to leave their homeland, and having struggled for years through the UK asylum system with the humiliations and frustrations that entails, they too are now caught in the DLR trap. As you mention, the fees are calculated per person, including for even the tiniest children. The government is making a huge profit out of people who have come to this country seeking a place of safety. Guardian readers might wish to join asylum and refugee support groups up and down the country who are campaigning on this issue.
Barbara Forbes
Birmingham

• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

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Windrush scandal continues as Chagos Islanders are pressed to ‘go back’

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British passport holders say they are routinely pressed by council officers to leave the UK

British passport holders from the Chagos Islands are being systematically targeted in a “shameful” attempt to have them removed from the UK, the Observer can reveal.

The revelations expose a fresh dimension of the UK’s hostile environment, showing that the strategy also persecutes passport-holding British citizens of colour.

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African lives are measured in fighting UK visa rejections | Nesrine Malik

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The Home Office’s hostile handling of visiting African professionals doesn’t bode well for Global Britain

An African passport is the most egalitarian of documents, in that if you have one then class, employment status and professional invitations from the country you are visiting all count for nothing. From university professors to unskilled labourers, anyone holding a passport issued by a country in Africa will be treated the same by UK border officers. They will also show no compassion for or recognition of the need for people to be reunited with family or to see friends.

In fact it’s not too far-fetched to say an African passport is a no-travel document. Even countries within Africa are miserly with each other. I am a veteran visa applicant, and I can tell you there is no respite. A European visa is as prohibitively hard to secure as one to a neighbouring African country. My Sudanese passport meant that I had to become an Olympian visa-applier in order to visit, study and settle in the UK. You can’t slouch with a passport from a country on a terror watchlist.

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The Syrian refugees changing the UK’s food scene

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Mohamad Rahimeh found a talent for cooking in the Calais refugee camp. Now he has a viable business in London

When Mohamad Rahimeh arrived in the Calais refugee camp that was nicknamed “the Jungle”, cooking was the last thing on his mind. He was a political scientist from Syria with a journey from hell behind him. Food was just a means to an end.

But when a close friend fell sick, he rustled up a meal of eggs. A hidden talent was uncovered.

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Johnson pledges to make all immigrants learn English

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Tory leadership contender says English is not first language in ‘too many parts of our country’

Boris Johnson has said there are “too many parts of our country” where English is not spoken as a first language and that he would require all immigrants to Britain to learn English.

At a hustings event for the Conservative leadership race in Darlington on Friday, the former mayor of London praised the capital’s diversity but suggested some communities were not doing enough to integrate into society.

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Home Office to rewrite controversial advice on trafficked Nigerian women

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Claim that victims could return to Africa ‘wealthy and held in high regard’ sparked outrage

The Home Office is to rewrite guidance on handling asylum claims for women trafficked into the UK from Nigeria after it emerged the advice claimed victims could return to the African country “wealthy from prostitution” and “held in high regard”.

The comments were found in an official policy and information note on the trafficking of women from Nigeria, which is used by Home Office decision-makers dealing with protection and human rights claims.

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Summer Rolls review – fascinating tale of Vietnamese family in Essex

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Park theatre, London
A mother’s fierce love lies at the heart of Tuyen Do’s nuanced portrait of a family forging a new life in the UK

A light Vietnamese dish served at a family’s restaurant? Or a sneaky spliff rolled by their unruly daughter? Double meanings lie at the heart of the intriguing Summer Rolls by Tuyen Do. It’s an intimate domestic drama, sketched with compassion and steely honesty, about a family who have left war-torn Vietnam and are struggling to forge a shared future in the safety (or is that boredom?) of Essex.

The shifting dynamics – as slippery as the language that young Mai’s parents struggle to adopt – are fascinating to observe. At the centre of the home (coolly lit by Jessica Hung Han Yun) is the mother, otherwise unnamed and played with a brittle ferocity by Linh-Dan Pham. She is the family’s fulcrum: the one who sets the tone (tense), who holds together the family sewing business (fragile), who later runs the restaurant (success!) and who still, when desperately ill, commands the family with a blazing love that is both frightening and comforting.

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A refugee’s story

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There are no mass graves in Britain, but there are other ways people can vanish.

By Jonathan Wittenberg

I looked online and immediately found the title of Jean Paul’s book (Jean Paul is not his real name). It was exactly as the judge who eventually granted him asylum had noted: anyone who wanted to check Jean Paul’s political record in his native country had only to Google his name. The book is a study of democracy and its failings in Africa. Jean Paul has also published scholarly papers on the nature of language.

I met Jean Paul for the first time at the British Library, an institution devoted to the preservation of words, voices, testimony and knowledge. He told me about his experiences of flight and refuge, focusing on what he saw and heard while held in indefinite detention here in the UK. “You’ve no voice when you’re inside there,” he said.

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