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Migrant Rainbow – October 2024

26th November 2024 by ficheb

Our monthly summary of migration justice news

Local / Community Updates

As the move towards E-Visas draws closer and concerns grow, community has come together to provide E-Visa sessions by migrants, for migrants, which will build community resilience and understanding as this change draws closer. In Leeds, there are sessions being facilitated by RETAS, Migrant Action, and Leeds Refugee Forum.

DYS Academy are offering free haircuts for refugees and asylum seekers in Leeds.

The Yorkshire Integration Festival 2024 took place at The Piece Hall in Halifax featuring live musical acts, representatives of many local communities and a guest appearance from Little Amal.

Alford Gardner, Leeds resident and one of the last surviving passengers of the Empire Windrush, has passed away aged 98.

‘Sanctuary’, a musical story of an Iranian who searches for safety in a northern English church, is touring with performances in Leeds and Sheffield during early November.

Migrant Action Updates

Migrant Action hosted a workshop exploring the connection between health and migration justice which provided the community an opportunity to explore intersectional migration justice and learn ways they counter the Hostile Environment.

Migrant Action has established a peer review panel for our future publications! We hope this advances the quality of our research and re-affirms us as a trusted place for information and support.

Migrant Action CEO Fidelis Chebe and strategic partner Holly Mogford contributed to an International Forum titled ‘Intercultural Adaptation & Support in the Context of Globalisation: Challenges and Opportunities for International Students.’ Fidelis and Holly co-presented co-presented a short discourse on ‘Structural vulnerability, International students and Migration Justice’ which articulated articulated the ‘systemic’ vulnerabilities of international students and the urgency for a coordinated response by different stakeholders.

Migrant Action has launched a ‘Healing Justice’ Project, in response to the racist xenophobic attacks over the summer. This project provides a counter narrative to hate using a community created ‘Welcome Mat’, which will be visiting Doncaster, Rotheram, Barnsley, Scunthorpe and Goldthorpe and holding space for local communities to heal together, develop grassroots movements, and foster a welcome environment to counter fear. Migrant Action will be working with local communities to create their own Welcome Mats and legacy against hate.

General / National Updates

At the Labour Party conference, the Prime Minister promised to reduce net migration and address the UK’s dependency on overseas workers. The speech was followed by a Home Office announcement of further measures to tackle reliance on international recruitment in industries with skills shortages, and stricter action against employers who abuse the visa sponsorship system.

The Home Office is being urged to scrap the expensive 10 year settlement route due to the financial strain it provides on individuals, alongside concerns of racism as the majority of individuals on this scheme belong to minority ethnic groups.

Refugee Education UK released a report highlighting some challenges faced by teenagers seeking asylum in accessing education.

Micro-Rainbow released a new report highlighting the challenges faced by LGBTQI refugees. The report looks at progress in social inclusion and access to employment, health services and the job market since their 2013 report.

German and French ministers suggested that the EU should work towards an agreement on migration with the UK as the lack of such an agreement exacerbates smuggling and dangerous journeys across the Channel. Keir Starmer is reportedly reluctant to explore this possibility due to concerns it could appear similar to pre-Brexit freedom of movement

  • The Home Secretary confirmed that people seeking asylum will continue to be housed in hotel accommodation while the backlog of applications is cleared over the next three years.

Over 31,000 individuals claiming asylum were left in limbo under the previous government’s Illegal Migration Act 2023, which considered these claims to be inadmissible. As amendments to the regulations in July meant such asylum claims can now be processed, and research has outlined the important role of councils in the face of inevitable and increasing homelessness as the Home Office makes more decisions on asylum cases.

A 1% growth in the UK population has been attributed to immigration, without which the population would have decreased due to deaths outnumbering births.

UK universities are encouraging the government to negotiate plans with the EU to reopen the flow of EU students to the UK.

Councils across Yorkshire are being asked to sign up to a migrant work charter to protect international workers at risk of exploitation within the health and social care sector.

The Home Office updated its EU Settlement Scheme guidance for caseworkers to reflect recent changes to the Immigration Rules requiring a joining family member to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme within three months of their first arrival in the UK after the end of the transition period.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists has called on the government to review immigration policy, describing existing structures as a ‘public mental health concern’ that risks re-traumatisation.

Free movement released briefing on what work visa routes can lead to settlement, which can be found on their website.

A freedom of information request disclosed that last year, 1,500 complaints were made to the Home Office about sub-standard asylum hotel accommodation. Issues reported included sexual harassment, racism and scabies outbreaks.

New Home Office figures show a decline of 16% in study visas issued between January and September 2024 compared with the same period in 2023. The number of student dependent applications during the same period dropped by 85%.

Over 3,600 people have been removed from the UK since the new government formed in July, most recently 44 people were removed to Nigeria and Ghana on a single flight.

Sources

https://www.migrationyorkshire.org.uk/news

Which work visa routes lead to settlement?

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/oct/02/starmer-vows-to-turn-page-on-uks-relationship-with-the-eu

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/sep/24/germany-and-france-call-for-europe-wide-deal-with-uk-on-migration

https://www.ein.org.uk/news/micro-rainbow-highlights-persistent-challenges-lgbtqi-refugees-uk-limited-progress-2013

Little Amal brings message of hope to Halifax

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/sep/23/teen-asylum-seekers-school-year-no-mans-land-report

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/sep/19/home-office-urged-to-scrap-long-expensive-10-year-visa-route-racist

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Migrant Rainbow, october

‘Migrant Rainbow’ – June/July 2024

16th August 2024 by ficheb

Our new monthly summary of migrant justice news

Created by Nova Jaszkiewicz, Intern at Migrant Action

Introducing Migrant Rainbow

Migrant Rainbow aims to summarise key updates and developments on migrant justice in the UK on a monthly basis. Aiming to provide information and education to all, we hope Migrant Rainbow will allow migrants in the UK to remain informed of their rights and support options whilst also providing wider public education on migrant justice issues and experiences.

Much like a rainbow, this monthly summary will discuss issues of migration and migration justice, but will also include migrant stories of resilience, community and solidarity. The RAINBOW, we hope, will effectively articulate the complexities of migration and migrant experiences’ and work to counter the simplistic, partial, misguided and often harmful characterisation of migration as well as distorted perceptions of migrants including the portrayal of many migrants as passive victims of experience and charitability.

Migrant Rainbow will be structured in 3 parts:

Local / Community updates for Leeds and surrounding areas

Migrant Action specific updates, to inform you of what we have been up to!

General / National News

You will also be able to find our migrant rainbow on Instagram:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Migrant Action (@migrant_action_)

Local / Community Updates

On the 28th June, Migrant Action collaborated with Empowering Parents of African Children in the UK (EPACUK) to host a Migration and Parenting Seminar and Workshop titled ‘Bridging Cultures and Laws’ in Leeds. This public education workshop was facilitated by Chenai Machinjike a social worker with over a decade of experience in safeguarding and family support. This workshop highlights the strength and unity of the Leeds migrant community, and is a positive story of migrant resilience. Workshops like this one work to empower migrants in our community by creating spaces to share knowledge, ensuring understanding of equity of rights, and supporting access to justice.

New to Leeds, Leeds Asylum Seekers Support Network’s definitive guide for individuals arriving in Leeds, has been updated and revised as of 24 June 2024, with specific information for asylum seekers. All links have been checked and all information is up to date, and it’s been designed for use on a smartphone, and can easily be translated into 20 languages- providing a welcoming resource for migrants in Leeds.

Migrant Action Updates

Over July, Migrant Action became a registered independent charity! This is an excitement development for us, and we hope it will enable us to improve the quality of our services for those in our community.

Migrant Action CEO Fidelis Chebe was a guest speaker at Casework Solidarity Forum- Casework to Resistance, organised by Haringey Migrant Support Centre. The event captured the centrality of caseworkers and frontline organisations in enabling transformative system change. Our participation in the event demonstrates our passion for lived experience and grassroots inspired change, knowledge sharing, casework solidarity, collective resilience and collaboration in our efforts towards migrant justice and empowerment.

In the coming weeks, Migrant Action will be publishing a briefing paper on wage theft and the exploitation of migrant workers written by CEO Fidelis Chebe and Trustee Jon Burnett. This briefing paper, based on their article ‘Wage Theft and Contours of Accumulation’ in the journal Justice, Power and Resistance, is a development in Migrant Action’s commitment to public education. We are also planning a series of public education and legal workshops on different themes emerging from but not limited to casework.

We have captured some client feedback from July to help capture and measure our impact within our community and assess the quality of our services, and we are pleased to share some!

94% of clients reported being ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with the services provided by Migrant Action

98% of clients indicated that the service positively impacted their lives, particularly in areas of legal assistance and social integration.

100% of clients are likely to recommend our services.

We are also so happy to share some beautiful client quotes from this feedback capture:

“ [Migrant Action] has positively impacted my social situation. I council tenant now. I feel emotionally well and am also able to sort new issue by myself.”

“Migrant Action made possible a change of perspective.”

“I can handle new situations by myself and only ask for help when necessary.”

“I lost my papers and Babita helped me with the Home Office to get them again. Babita is like my friend, my daughter, my everything.”

General/National Updates

The Home Office have announced that they are phasing out Biometric Residence Permit (BRP) cards and replacing them with a digital visa system by the end of 2024. Migrants will now have to make a UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) account in order to access their visa and prove their immigration status. To do so, you will need: your date of birth; your BRP number; your passport (if you do not have a BRP), access to an email address and phone number, and access to a smartphone. The Home Office will provide individuals with a link to create this account.

Problems have been identified by several migrant justice groups. Firstly, the sudden nature of the change means individuals will be left at a ‘cliff edge’ with the deadline to switch to digital visas. Migrant rights lawyers have identified that there is a potential risk of another ‘Windrush Scandal’ where individuals with leave to remain may be left unable to prove their immigration status. Many migrants in the UK use their solicitors’ email address for Home Office correspondence, meaning that email invitation links may be lost, especially as personal details are excluded from the invitations for data security reasons (leaving lawyers unable to forward invitations correctly). Further, other individuals may not have internet access which will limit their ability to prove their status. Critics also warn that the Home Office does not have measures in place to deal with possible technical failures.

Migrant Rights Network have identified the move to E-Visas as a further digitisation of the Hostile Environment, which works to create inequality for all migrants. They have shared that this change has caused anxiety and scepticism for many members of their community, whilst expressing concern that particular groups who are disproportionately harmed by borders and the Hostile Environment may face increased harm.

The Home Office have stated that “E-visas provide secure confirmation of someone’s UK immigration status, enhance security and bring cost savings for the UK public. They also offer greater convenience for customers and status checkers, using tried and tested technology.’ They also have announced a funding opportunity for organisations who can support people in the transition to digital status, suggesting awareness of the many potential challenges in implementing this plan so suddenly, and without proper support.

The change to E-visas comes at a similar time as The High Court ruling that the Home Office acted unlawfully by failing to provide people with digital proof of status where they have made a valid, in-time application to renew their status and are able to remain in the UK under the same conditions until they receive a decision.

A report by the British Academy warns that the decline in international students could have a severe impact on courses in media studies at UK higher education. The report reveals that 54% of postgraduate students enrolled in media-related studies are from abroad.

The new Labour Government, has already made some changes to migration policy. Most notably, the Rwanda Scheme has been scrapped. The Home Office plan to invest the money previously assigned to this Scheme towards a new ‘Border Command Force’ to ‘destroy the business model’ of ‘smuggling gangs’. The reallocation of resources under the Border Command Force also may be allocated to immigration raids: Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said Immigration Enforcement has been directed to intensify operations over the summer, with a particular target on car washes and the beauty sector. The new Labour government has also pledged £84m to projects in the Middle East and Africa ‘tackling the root source’ of ‘irregular’ migration, and to work to reduce regular migration generally, removing the need to fill ‘skills shortages’ with migration. The government has also dropped the terms illegal and legal migration replacing these terms with ‘regular’ and irregular’ migration. Whilst some of these policy pronouncements are indicative of a different approach, they do not represent yet a fundamental departure from the Hostile Environment policy framework for migrants in the UK, in some respects they suggest a continuation. Hence the need for more organising, campaigning and strategic engagement.

The Home Office has issued guidance on transitional periods for absences for those on the 10 year settlement route. The guidance states that ‘continuous residence will be broken if an applicant has been absent from the UK for more than 184 days at any one time where the absences started before 11 April 2024, or for more than a total of 548 days overall in any part of their qualifying period before 11 April 2024’.

The National Centre for Social Research has released a new paper on changing attitudes towards migration showing that between 2014 and 2024 attitudes had improved, including that people felt migration was good for the economy.

Sources and Further Resources

BRP phase out and move to E-Visas:

eVisas and BRP Expiry Update
Manchester Immigration Aid Unit website. This page contains information and links to Home Office videos explaining e-visas, as well as a link to online webchat and a place for reporting issues with E-visas
Going digital: change to online e-visas to prove immigration status
Right to Remain guide and resources

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/may/18/digital-visa-switch-uk-immigrants-december-deadline

@migrants_rights_network on Instagram

High Court Ruling on the Home Office:

https://www.gardencourtchambers.co.uk/news/high-court-rules-home-secretary-acted-unlawfully-by-failing-to-provide-document-to-thousands-of-migrants-with-valid-immigration-status

Report on International Students and Media Studies:

https://erudera.com/news/decline-in-international-students-could-threaten-uk-media-courses-new-report-warns

Labour Government new approaches to migration:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/6/keir-starmer-says-scrapping-uks-rwanda-migrant-deportation-plan#:~:text=British%20Prime%20Minister%20Keir%20Starmer%20has%20said%20he%20will%20not,and%20buried%20before%20it%20started.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czvxp9d5lrko

Labour’s immigration and border policy: How we’ll create a fair system and stop the small boat crossings

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c29d14lwnkro#:~:text=Car%20washes%20and%20parts%20of%20the%20beauty%20sector,over%20the%20summer%2C%20the%20home%20secretary%20has%20announced

Home Office Guidance on Absence during 10 year settlement:

https://freemovement.org.uk/new-home-office-guidance-clarifies-transitional-provisions-for-absences-in-the-10-year-long-residence-route/#:~:text=any%20single%20absences%20started%20before,in%20any%2012%2Dmonth%20period

https://natcen.ac.uk/publications/bsa-41-immigration

Report on changing attitudes to Migration

https://natcen.ac.uk/publications/bsa-41-immigration

New to Leeds:

https://lassn.org.uk/new-to-leeds-has-been-revised-and-updated

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Filed Under: frontpage, frontslider Tagged With: community engagement, community resilience, counter harmful characterisations, Migrant Action, Migrant Rainbow, migration justice, migration solidarity, public education

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