Thread by @ZoeJardiniere

PORTUGAL PORTUGAL PORTUGAL PORTUGAL

Portuguese government has decreed that ALL asylum seekers and ALL undocumented migrants with pending applications for residence are AUTOMATICALLY granted and may access ALL STATE PROVISION including healthcare and benefits. I'm going to faint. publico.pt/2020/03/28/soc…

20 NGOs that assist migrants & refugees wrote to the government a joint letter saying the Covid-19 outbreak was putting people in the asylum system and without status at risk. The government has said, we see your point & give them equal rights.

Imagine a country like that 😶

I'm reading the decree and trying to find out all the detail now, but for a start, it seems the Portuguese system for undocumented migrant regularisation is an immeasurably more sensible one than ours at the best of times - applications on basis of work much more common therefore

So a serious proportion of at-risk people will be covered here. It also wipes out the misery of the asylum process. This is so common sense that it hurts me in a physical way. I cannot send enough love to the Portuguese NGOs that made this happen. The lives they are saving 😭❤️❤️

All visas of all kinds that are running out are automatically extended until the end of June.

One day, the UK government will publish a decree that starts by stating its purpose as "to guarantee unequivocally the rights of all foreign citizens with pending claims"
One day we will make this happen here. dre.pt/home/-/dre/130…

And of course I do agree with those saying, in a sense, that this move is "generous". But let's be clear - this is something we CANNOT AFFORD NOT TO DO. The cost of leaving migrant populations without access to state support & healthcare in a crisis like this are incalculable.

There are of course questions over how long this reprieve will last, and how well it will be applied in practice. There are always these concerns, and the policy will need those brilliant NGOs who achieved this to keep on working, but...

It's worth noting that the effectiveness of this policy is also based on the fact that Portugal already has a less brutal & draconian treatment of all migrants on its territory at the best of times. Most migrants there already have access to public funds, unlike in UK.

UK's response to this crisis must be both in urgent, radical, immediate measures to suspend brutal enforcement of draconian immigration conditions, but also to think longer term about total reform of a hostile system that treats people poorly as the norm, putting us all at risk.