Migrant Action

Empowerment Advocacy Justice

Migrant Action says; THANK YOU and best wishes to all our fabulous student volunteers

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Over the last 12 months, our organisation has had a fantastic group of student volunteers who have brought a vast range of skills, passions and energy to the organisation and offered their time for the benefit of the organisation.  

Thanks to the volunteers, the organisation has a stronger social media presence and a better communications overall. They have also helped to enhance fundraising and community engagement through crowd fundraising and community outreach.  Our research volunteers have generated important knowledge that would inform future service development to address the problem of deskilling amongst migrants.  

Overall, our volunteers have raised the profile of Migrant Action and contributed significantly to development and progress of the organisation. 

Volunteers speak



Volunteering at Migrant Action was a fun experience that really helped me improve my communication, leadership and event planning skills. I was able to be closely involved in many aspects of the charity from social media to events,  learning a lot about the organisation and issues facing migrants.  

Volunteering was also a great way to improve my confidence as I was given autonomy on exciting projects like setting up the organisations university society – I was able to network with others and create events with my team. As a result of being given freedom to implement my own ideas, I have gained skills in events and social media that I can now apply to work life and interview questions. Meeting with like-minded people every week to discuss how we could positively impact the community was so enjoyable and always felt like a  positive break from university life. (Bailey) 

We would like to say a big THANK YOU! to Maddie, Megan, Paddy, Bailey, Lina, Rohde, Celeste and Alex and we wish you all the very best for the future. 

Rethinking leadership development in the Migration Sector

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Migrant Action and Migration Exchange jointly held a consultation workshop in Leeds attended by a host of agencies to explore leadership development in the migration sector. The workshop formed part of a wider national consultation to evaluate the current state of leadership development in the sector and based on its findings, set out a new model for leadership development. 

Participants recognized the importance and urgency to develop leadership capacity for people from refugee and migrant backgrounds who have lived experience of migration system. Participants critiqued the acute lack of diversity and inclusion in leadership in the migration sector which they attributed fundamentally to an entrenched ‘systemic problem’ underpinned by the undervaluing and devaluing of leadership abilities and potential of individuals from refugee and migrant backgrounds. 

Participants recognized the positive ‘shift’ over the last decade as more people with lived experience of migration take up management and leadership positions in the sector. However, these were largely individualistic rather than systemic. To ensure greater and sustainable progress requires a step-change brought about through systematically growing leadership and management capacity and increasing access to leadership opportunities for people with lived experience of migration. Embedding leadership development within the communities would ensure sustainability and a shift the mind-set from deficit to asset based communities. 

Migrant Action strongly believes that in order to achieve such a step-change, leadership development model must produce ‘whole leaders’ who fully grasp the relevance of synchronizing the intellect, body, mind and soul to provide effective leadership in increasingly diverse and inclusive societies. As an organization, we are committed to developing leadership capacity amongst migrants.

Migration Partnership in Barnsley

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Migrant Action has joined other partners to form a new collaborative platform for supporting migrant communities in Barnsley. We are excited about the new partnership working together with The Youth Association, Barnsley Refugee Advice Project, ELSH (Education Learning Support Hub)to better understand the local migration landscape in order to identify gaps and collaboratively deliver vital interventions for migrants and local communities.

The migration partnership opens up new operational and strategic opportunities for Migrant Action and its partners in Barnsley to increase awareness and access to vital services for migrants, improve collaboration between migration services and other voluntary, statutory and private services, develop and share good practice and influence system change.

The Partnership aims at forging an integrated and whole approach to migration working to prevent vulnerability and maximise opportunities for migrants to realise their potential and increase integration and social harmony. The Partnership hopes to broaden and strengthen in the months ahead. This is a very exciting development for Migrant Action as we look to brighter days ahead working in Barnsley/South Yorkshire.

Migrant Action and partners

Migrant Action hosts Consultative Workshop on Leadership Development in the Migration sector

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In an increasingly challenging migration environment underpinned by global political instability, protracted conflicts, increasing economic insecurity and a resurgence of nationalist sentiments across Europe, there is urgency for effective leadership in the migration sector. Such leadership needs to be reflective of contemporary realities of issues and societies whilst strategically focused on the bigger picture and long term challenges. 

In the development of this leadership response, people with lived experience of migration play an integral part recognising and building on their experiences. This shift from being ‘recipients’ of leadership to ‘Givers’ of leadership would add significant value to leadership and service delivery experiences across the sector.

It is against this backdrop that Migrant Action hosted a Leadership Development consultative workshop in Leeds organised by Migration Exchange as part of a national consultation on Leadership and Development in the Migration sector. Workshop participants from the Refugee Council, Leeds City Council, HANA project-Hull, Migrants Organise, MERMEC and Migrant Action shared experiences (personal and organisational). 

Participants recognising the value of good leadership in ensuring quality service delivery, growth and sustainability acknowledged that leadership development does not often constitute ‘investment priority’ for most organisations who are struggling with small budgets. Ever limited funds prioritise frontline service provision responding to client needs rather than staff leadership development. Therefore, funders have a role in shaping organisational cultures and attitudes towards leadership development.

Participants also reinforced concerns about the lack of diversity in leadership in the sector acknowledging that too many organisations in the sector have leadership and governance structures/personnel that do not reflect the communities they serve. They observed this trend reflected a wider structural problem of prejudice, discrimination and racism which is under serving people of lived experience of migration and other groups. This needs to be acknowledged within organisations and leadership take responsibility in systematically addressing it. There was also recognition that people of lived experience need to get better in mobilising and organising themselves in order to be able to influence and achieve the change they seek.

Finally, the model for delivering leadership development needs to fundamentally change. A real shift is required towards a more inclusive, nurturing, empowerment and sustainability-led model. At the heart of the new model must be a thriving partnership between migration and other sectors. Equally, a good partnership with migrant communities to identify, develop and embed good leadership.

Migrant Action will continue working with Migration Exchange on this consultation whilst continuing conversations with local partners.

Detention Centres – Deliberate, Destructive and Distant – Paddy Smith

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27,331 people were held in UK detention estate in 2017 on grounds of ‘breaching’ immigration rules. Detention is integral to UK immigration policy as an instrument for immigration control, economic exploitation and the institutionalisation of social injustice. For many detainees, detention violently robs them of their humanity and dignity. Detention centres are a regular and significant mechanism in the government’s immigration system and central to the its hostile environment agenda.

In 2018, Alex Sobel MP, in a talk at the University of Leeds captured vividly some of the unique and defining characteristics of UK detention estate; He revealed the structural violence and abuses within the system unique in comparison to the rest of Europe. One of the defining features of the UK detention system is its accommodation of unlawful and indefinite detention. The Home Office have the power to detain people indefinitely, without authorisation from judges. For Sobel, this policy does not reflect what he thought a liberal democracy was, but instead an authoritarian, undemocratic government. In 2017, one person had been held for 1,514 days, more than four years. What has been suggested as an improvement is a 28-day limit on immigration detention. However this has been shunned by the government who argue this is just a ‘slogan’ and has no real evidential backing. However, the fact that one can be held in detention for two months and in some cases years without access to justice is at odds with their human rights and the fundamental premise of the UK judicial system.

Along with the indefinite time period, Sobel describes the inhumane conditions of detention centres. Firms like G4S who are contracted to manage these centres, provide the bare minimum conditions under the government’s watch. For example, there are regular cases of unlawful and fatal use of restraint, which has a detrimental physical and mental effects on migrants. Since 2010, there has been six rulings in UK courts on the treatment of migrants in detention centres, as the treatment is seen in breach of rights under Article 3 of the European convention of human rights (right not to suffer torture or inhuman and degrading treatment). No doubt, many more cases would have been taken to court, however it is common for migrants to lack knowledge of their own legal rights, which is another problem. 

Despite these problems laid out by Sobel, there is a distinctive lack of engagement with the topic of detention centres by the public, even though around £108 million of taxpayer’s money funds this abusive system every year. In the 2018 Shaw Report, it is stated that detention centres are “little known and little understood” by the public and the media. Migrant Action believe that this public ‘amnesia’ and culture of distance about the institutional violence within the UK detention estate embolden the state apparatus to pursue unnoticed rampant state harm on vulnerable migrants behind the walls of detention centres.

 It is our mission to lift the veil off the injustices and violence in detention centres and help build public consciousness towards greater accountability by the state.

Migrant Action believe detention centres are embedded in a wider issue of chronic, systematic underinvestment in the immigration system. They are emblematic of government’s approach towards migrants, described by MP Joan Ryan as “going after low hanging fruit to meet immigration numbers”. There is a strong view that the government have an abundance of evidence for action, however they strategically shuffle around this. For example recently, the Immigration Regulations and the Detention Centres Rule 2018 was formed right before Stephen Shaw’s second review into detention centres. This was so the Home Secretary could push through a new definition of torture within the detention centres through parliament, preventing Shaw voicing his own concerns about torture and vulnerable migrants.

In addition, it is a mistake to believe detention centres within the UK are necessary. There are workable alternatives to detention centres. Sweden shows how with political will, a better system can be in place. Detention centres are rarely used, as in 2013 only 2,900 people were detained, despite receiving high numbers of asylum-seekers. The system in place is one of case management, where a case manager will work with a migrant to provide a link for the individual to the authorities and the community. This allows the migrant to engage with support services of the community, and with their own immigration process. In Sweden this method meant that 68% of people ordered to leave the country went voluntarily.

What can you do to help?  Don’t be a Bystander

Due to the evident lack of public knowledge, Migrant Action believe it is vital to spread awareness about the brutal regimes of the detention estate to your peers.  Raise the issue with your local MP and challenge them on what is being done about it. Press your local MP to engage with national campaigns on ending detention. Engage with local advocacy organisations like Migrant Action, or organisations who work directly with detainees. Add your voice to the national campaign ‘These Walls Must Fall’ http;//detention.org.uk

Stand up for the human rights and for justice for those incarcerated in detention centres

Extortionate immigration Fees for migrants: Unfair & Inhumane

Extortionate immigration Fees for migrants: Unfair & Inhumane

In the last decade, we have witnessed the exponential rise in the fees and charges attached to immigration applications for visas (permission to come or remain in the UK) made by migrants to the Home Office. Migrants and their families are crumbling under the burden of these fees & charges as some are forced into making precarious choices in order to afford the fees/charges.  In February 2021, the court of appeal ruled that the immigration fees for child citizenship applications were ‘illegal’. £1,000 fees for child citizenship are illegal, appeals court rules | The Independent

At Migrant Action, we are seeing increasing levels of hardship and precarious living amongst migrants. Often, they have no recourse to public funds and in low wage jobs hence struggle to afford not just the legal fees but worse still, the extortionate immigration fees & NHS surcharges.  One mother stated ‘we had to make a choice between heating and saving up for our application’.  During the Covid-19 pandemic, our ‘Access to Justice’ scheme funded by the Barrow Cadbury Trust, enabled us to support vulnerable migrants/ families impacted by Covid-19 to secure legal advice and assistance with immigration applications which involved fee waiver applications.

While our ‘Access to Justice’ offers a short term solution and makes a big difference to the lives of a few migrants, the charging of extortionate visa fees, NHS surcharges and other immigration related fees are widely viewed as punitive, unfair and represents an injustice in the immigration system.  A change in the immigration fee charging system is necessary and would offer fairness and equity allowing most migrants avert the throes of poverty, destitution and precarious living. 

Migrant Voice has been working with numerous organisations across the migration sector as well as organisations outside of the sector such as trade unions to ensure that we have a full understanding of the impact of extortionate Visa Fees on Migrants across the UK – this Includes Migrant Action. Migrant Action is delighted to be involved in this campaign against extortionate visa fees seeking system change.

See more below about the campaign.

Join the campaign against extortionate visa fees

Migrant Voice is leading a campaign against extortionate immigration fees, which are having a devastating impact on many of our migrant members and their families.

Most visa fees have risen exponentially in the last decade, while the NHS surcharge and the extortionate cost of appointments and other associated costs add hundreds of pounds to each application. For example a family of four on the 10 year route to settlement can expect to pay in excess of £40,000.  Our campaign wants to change this. We want to see all fees reduced to admin costs for adults, free for children.

Over the last months we have been listening to affected migrants and their families and gathering information from other organisations working on related issues to help shape our campaign. Through focus groups, a survey, and ongoing meetings we are developing the campaign’s strategy and plan, its priority areas, activities and recommendations. We continue to gather evidence of the impact extortionate visa fees is having and how this has been exacerbated due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Stephanie, 48, from Nigeria is one of those who wants the campaign to succeed. She is working as a healthcare assistant and has two children. She estimates she has spent close to £15,000 in visa fees to date. Her visa must be renewed every 2.5 years and at each visa renewal she must pay around £2,500 in fees, plus the £1,560 NHS surcharge.

It doesn’t have to be this way. A decade ago, fees in this country were more affordable. We believe it’s wrong for the government to continue to make a profit from migrants paying to stay in the UK,with some fees charged up to ten times the actual cost.

The costs are so high that they have a direct impact on Stephanie’s family finances: she says, “When it is time for you to renew you are looking everywhere for money. You have no money to save, for school, rent, car insurance. My son is finishing college and I want him to go into further education but that is hard, financially.” Because her visa is still temporary, she has No Recourse to Public Funds.

The costs to migrants aren’t just financial – many families suffer mental and physical health problems, with some families sacrificing food, heating and electricity to make sure they can make their payments to the Home Office when the time comes.

Stephanie works as much as she can to make ends meet, often giving up family time or sick leave. Still, she sometimes must borrow money from other people. “I work six days a week in order for me to pay for everything and it’s still not enough, I still have debt … I don’t have time with my kids because I have to work so much. There is no time to sit down with family or take them out.”

She says that her life is reduced to working in order to pay for her visa. “I don’t feel heard by the government; they don’t know what I am going through. We are human too. I want to be heard.”

Migrant Voice are currently running a survey online to collect information and experiences from people like Stephanie on their interaction with the UK Visas and immigration system and the impact it has had on them and their families. We would be grateful for anyone affected who could complete this survey, it should only take 15 minutes. Please also share it amongst your own networks to make sure we hear from those affected:

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/MV_Visa_Fees_Survey.

Migrant Voice are also conducting interviews with migrants and their families who have been affected by the extortionate cost of Visas in the UK. If anyone would like to participate in these interviews, or would like to know more about the campaign please contact our Campaigns Organiser Cameron Ball: campaigns@migrantvoice.org

Please join us in raising awareness of these issues. You can get involved in several ways by sharing your experiences, taking part in shaping the campaign, take part in our network meetings, training, and lobby activities, share the link to our survey and spread awareness of our campaign with people who are affected, collaborate with us on this and inter-related issues.

Migrant Voice is a migrant-led organisation working with migrants from all around the world with all kinds of status. We develop the media skills and confidence of migrants with the aim of strengthening their voices in the media and civil society in order to counter xenophobia and build support for our rights. We have offices and networks in London, the West Midlands and Glasgow.