Migrants in professional occupations protested outside Downing Street today to raise awareness of what they say are discriminatory, inhumane and hostile Home Office policies.
The group called Highly Skilled Migrants which claims to represent more than 600 doctors, engineers, IT professionals, teachers and their families in Britain, has raised over £25,000 to challenge the Home Office in the courts. Many in the group have young children and no right to work. The protest focuses on applicants applying for indefinite leave to remain in the UK after being on a tier-1 general visa, a category designed to attract skilled migrants from other countries which category was later closed by the then home secretary, Theresa May, in 2010.
“These are people who have spent over a decade in the UK, working in highly reputed professions, many of which have serious employee shortages. They have devoted their professional lives contributing to the growth of Great Britain, contributing over £25bn towards its economy… They have made the UK their home, bought properties, invested in businesses. They all are law-abiding citizens. None have been convicted of any – criminal offence.”
Aditi Bhardwaj, protest organiser
Most members of the group no longer have any social, economic or family ties to their country of origin. Many have school-aged children born in the UK who have never travelled to their foreign parent’s country of origin and for whom English is a first language.
The group notes that the Home Office is also exercising the use of discretionary powers under Immigration rules 322-5 to refuse applications if there are any tax rectifications. The discretionary powers were designed to tackle criminals and those judged a threat to national security but are being used under the rules which allow the Home Office to refuse an applicant by inferring that their “character and conduct” make them undesirable to be allowed to live in the UK even in circumstances where the mistakes have since been rectified and settled. Tax error rectification is not illegal or unlawful in the UK and often migrants have not been penalised, let alone criminalised, by HM Revenue and Customs, the body charged with collecting tax.
Further, they allege that the Home Office is taking an unreasonably long time to process applications, in some cases between 18-24 months which delays have been characterised as inhumane. Applications processed by the Secretary of State are often inconsistent, for example, some people with the same immigration history are successful with one application and unsuccessful with another. It is the group’s view that these issues are tactics employed by the government to reduce immigration by creating a hostile atmosphere for immigrants and their families.
