Foreign Born Carers : Residency & Potential Deportation Issues / UK Born Carers Returning To Dear Old Blighty

[Chris From The Gulag]

It does take any reader into areas well outside caring ... but dovetails back into practical solutions for the staffing crisis in both the NHS and social care.

Consider the question WHY ? ... apply that to the " Windrush " generation ... outsiders brought over to fill the lower pay jobs that , for one reason or another , could not be filled by your average Brit.

Fast forward to 2018 ... the ideal solution IF the policies on immigration were different , and all countries could , quite , literally , determine their own.

And , most importantly , what do you do with the now surplus labour bought in when the economic climate is different ... the very essence of the " Windrush " problem ?

Unlike physical goods , one cannot have a garage sale to sell of surplus supplies !

Now , take a step back and consider this from a different prospective.

A business has the opportunity to source a new supply of raw materials , from another country , at a cheaper price.

Any asute business man would welcome that opportunity and complete the purchase.

Now , consider that analogy with the " Windrush " generation , and the reasons why they were encouraged to uproot , and move across to the UK.

Raw materials ... goods and labour ... both needed for greater efficiency ... and also PROFIT ... by the UK.

Don't lose sight of the resentment first shown to the " Windrush " generation , and more recently , to East Europeans ... both ostracized / demonized in certain quarters for taking away British jobs ... and why weren't the Britiah taking those jobs ? ... the answer to which is NOT for this forum.

Even today , zero contracts are fact of life for those towards the bottom of the employment market.

In our world , would make perfect sense for both the NHS and social care to have the labour resources so needed in many areas.

Only one problem beyond the immigration laws ?

We are dealing with human beings as if there were merely " Raw materials " ... just like cheaper goods available abroad.

Sure , there is the minimum wage ... on many manors , the greatest increase in those now needing food banks is from those on the minimum wage.

London / South East ... what does the minimum wage buy you in terms of housing ?

If additional labour is needed , and there is a housing shortage .... ???

A whole jigsaw puzzle with pieces that simply do not fit together no matter how hard you try.

[Chris From The Gulag]

Gwendolyn Banks updates ?

NONE ... as far as I can trace.

For the first ... and last ... time , I'll let The Sun have the last word ... for now.

( APOLOGIES to any readers in the Merseyside area ! )

STARS AND GRIPES Nan, 62, who has lived in UK for 57 years has Universal Credit cut after being deemed American

Gwendolyn Banks, who is legal guardian to her four-year-old granddaughter, moved to England with her parents when she was just five years old

In CarerLand , nobody is forgotten ...

Fifteen minutes of fame ?

Sorry Andy , not in our world !

[Chris From The Gulag]

UK born ex pats now returning to the UK ?

Three links posted on another thread ... the RESIDENCY issue ... when it comes to claiming any benefits / allowances on your return :

CAB : https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benef ... -benefits/

Age UK : https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-ad ... d-heading/

Independent Age ( 30 pages worth in .pdf format ) : https://www.independentage.org/sites/de ... road_0.pdf

I hope that they prove to be of assistance to anyone reading this thread ... even though they do make depressing reading for most.

Working abroad ?

Perhaps a case of ... Auf Wiedersehen , Benefits ?



Good luck to any official in Oz's local job centre when he returns seeking a hand out ???

[Chris From The Gulag]

Warning of legal limbo for 3m EU citizens living in UK after Brexit.

Free movement, housing and social security rights at risk, says parliamentary report.

EU citizens living in the UK would be stripped of their freedom of movement, housing and social security rights by Home Office legislation introduced to regulate immigration following Brexit, a parliamentary report has warned.

Despite repeated government reassurances that their privileges will be protected, a study by the joint committee on human rights (JCHR) concludes that more than 3 million Europeans living in Britain would be left in legal “limbo”.

The cross-party committee, whose members are drawn from the Commons and the Lords, argues that EU citizens’ rights should be protected by primary legislation rather than reliant on statutory instruments approved by ministers at a later date.

The JCHR also cautions that Irish nationals’ rights, guaranteed by separate common travel area agreements, would be “diminished”. Their ability to bring in a spouse from a non-EU state, for example, would be limited, the report says.

To prevent EU citizens being exposed to such uncertainty, the committee has drafted amendments to the bill – about to enter its report stage – to ensure rights are protected.

“Removing their rights without a legislative alternative in place raises significant human rights issues which the wide statutory instrument-making powers … do little to satisfy,” the report says. Without the necessary protections, the bill could leave individuals in a precarious situation over such issues as “housing, social security and property rights”.

The Labour MP Harriet Harman, who chairs the JCHR, said: “Human rights protections for EU citizens must not be stripped away after Brexit. EU citizens living in this country right now will be understandably anxious about their futures. We’re talking about the rights of people who have resided in the UK for years, decades even, paying into our social security system or even having been born in the UK and lived here their whole lives.

“When it comes to rights, promising that everything will be worked out in the future is not good enough, it must be a guarantee, which is why the committee have reinserted rights guarantees back into the wording of the bill.”

The report voices concerns that the government’s proposed EU citizen registration scheme post-Brexit does not provide physical proof of status. “Getting this right is extremely important considering the similarities of some of these concerns with problems that have arisen with the treatment of the Windrush generation,” the report says.

The JCHR fears that vulnerable people risk missing the registration deadline because of difficulties finding out about and accessing the EU settlement scheme. Their rights should not depend on registration within a specific time limit, the report says.

EU citizens have until 31 December 2020 to make an application under the scheme. In January, the home secretary, Sajid Javid, told the committee: “We have given unilateral assurances to EU nationals and their family members resident in the UK that they can stay if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

“Although future policy for social security coordination is yet to be decided, the government has been clear that EU citizens and their family members in the UK at the point of exit will continue to have broadly the same access to benefits and services as now.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The government has already committed to protecting the rights of the millions of EU citizens living in the UK.

“We want them to stay and, whatever the outcome of the ongoing discussions about our exit from the EU, we will protect their rights and ensure they get the UK immigration status they need.

“The EU settlement scheme is designed to be as simple and straightforward as possible and during testing more than 200,000 people have applied. Today we launched a nationwide marketing campaign to encourage EU citizens to apply for the scheme, with other activity planned over the next two years to ensure people understand what they need to do.”

[D_1706]

Reminds me of the post 9/11 treatment of widows and orphans of British Ex-pats in New York

[Chris From The Gulag]

American woman with two disabled British children wrongly threatened with deportation from UK.

Exclusive : ​Home Office continues to hold woman on immigration bail despite court ruling that removing her from children would be breach of UK law.

An American woman with two disabled British children has been threatened with removal from the UK, in what lawyers and campaigners have described as “utterly reprehensible” conduct by the Home Office.

Lauren Cullen, 31, was returning from a holiday in the US last October when she was told by Border Force officials that she would be removed from the country, which would have meant her children – aged eight and nine and both of whom suffer from learning disabilities – would have to have been taken into care.

The removal directions were quashed days before she was due to be deported by a High Court judge, who accused the Home Office of failing to take into consideration the best interests of her young children in breach of UK law.

But despite this and although Ms Cullen had her UK status confirmed in January, the department is still holding her on immigration bail, meaning they have retained her passport and she is liable to be detained at any time.

It also means the 31-year-old is unable to travel to the US to see her sick mother, who was recently placed in a care home after having a stroke three months ago.

Lawyers and campaigners said it was “astonishing” that no attention had been paid to the best interests of Ms Cullen’s children and that the failure to return her passport highlighted “complete incompetence” in the Home Office.

Ms Cullen and her British husband moved to the UK from Ireland with their children in 2017 on a family permit which they were granted under EU law. She has since been caring full-time for her two children, one of whom has severe autism.

In October 2018, the US national travelled to America for two weeks due to the father being ill. On her return, she was told she had no right to enter, and days later she received a notice from the Home Office stating that there was a ticket booked for her removal the following Thursday morning.

Speaking to The Independent, Ms Cullen said: “I was just panicking because I couldn’t even contact a barrister over the weekend. My children would’ve gone into care because my husband was out of the country at the time. I was living like there was no tomorrow. It felt like everything was falling apart.

“They said that if I didn’t board the flight I’d be arrested where I lived and forcibly removed. We were making preparations with social services and school. My children would have been devastated. This is the life that they know.”

Ms Cullen’s barrister Morgan Read successfully sought an emergency injunction on the grounds that the department had failed to consider the welfare of her children in breach of UK law.

Despite this, and the fact that she was granted a British residence card in January, Ms Cullen is still on immigration bail, and the Home Office still has her passport.

“I felt like I was finally getting over it, that the judge said I could stay. It just doesn’t make sense. They’ve agreed that I do have the right to be here. It’s like I’m allowed to be here but not allowed to leave,“ said Ms Cullen. “It’s baffling really that they don’t seem to consider any human part of this. I feel like I’m just a number. They wanted to protect the border by tearing a mother from her children.

“My mother is starting to forget who I am because I’m not there. I just feel lost. This time is precious and they’re taking that from me.”

Ms Cullen’s solicitor Arta Heath, managing director of MyUKVisas, said the Home Office’s attempt to deport the mother-of-two was “absolutely outrageous”.

She said the passport issue was a symptom of both the hostile environment and “complete incompetence” in the department.

“This is a terrible situation. The Home Office said it knew she had British citizen children but that they could stay with their father, which is absolutely outrageous. They claimed that because had spent two weeks without their mum they could be without her forever,” said Ms Heath.

“But the issue now is the administrative process. There is no reason for them to hold onto her passport, but they haven’t sent it to her and the removal direction process is still continuing, meaning she can’t go see her mum.

“It shows how the inability of the Home Office to understand law and procedure, coupled with the hostile environment, is leading to shocking decisions being made.”

Responding to the case, shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said: “It seems the Home Office have ignored what is humane and sensible. Instead they have continued with the tick-box exercises, which have characterised this Tory government’s hostile environment.

“Until these dreadful policies end, families will live with the threat of being torn apart.”