Thread by @ltormey

After 9 years in the UK, I'm finally a permanent resident.

If your instinct is to congratulate me, don't. Don't congratulate me on surviving a cruel immigration system.

Instead, I need you to:
-read this thread
-share it
-write to your MP to end the hostile environment
1/

I have been intentionally keeping my mouth shut on this topic because I didn't feel I had a right or that it was safe for me to speak out while my life here was considered 'temporary'. 2/

But the time for keeping quiet is now over. I won’t shut up until this country stops actively hurting immigrants, and I need your help to stop it. 3/

Moving to a new place is a very normal thing. When people do this within a country, no one says anything. But move across made-up borders and you're suddenly judged on how valuable you'll be to your new community. 4/

I'm tired of the rhetoric around and treatment of immigrants. People who hate immigrants are very vocal, and their hatred drives policy in this country. Let's change the narrative. If you're okay with us just living our lives, tell the UK Government that. 5/

I need to start by saying I recognise I experience a lot of privilege in the UK immigration system. I'm a white, English-speaker from the US. This system wasn't specifically designed to hurt me. 6/

It was designed to hurt people, though. This system isn't designed around the way people live their lives. We have to build our lives around the constraints of the system. And those constraints create a spectrum of hurt. 7/

This thread is about the different types of hurt on that spectrum - a spectrum that ranges from putting you through administrative hell, to people dying because of the system.

I'll talk about my own experience and others'. Then I'll tell you what to write your MP. 8/

Note: This thread is very long (4000+ words). If you don’t have time to read it now, come back to it. Make the time to stand up for immigrants.

For reference: Tweets 10-88 are about the hurt the hostile environment causes. Tweets 89-111 are about what to write your MP. 9/

Background: hostile environment refers to policies introduced in 2012 to make life so bad for unauthorised immigrants they'd voluntarily leave the UK. These along with other immigration policies since 2012 make life bad for everybody. Including British citizens. 10/

Other background: permanent residence is called indefinite leave to remain (ILR). So when I say ILR, I'm referring to that. Now on to the hurt this system causes… 11/

Racial discrimination.

This is what I meant when I said the system isn't specifically designed to hurt white women like me. It was intentionally designed to be a racist system to counter the consequences of colonialism. 12/

The British Empire gave many people legal status to move to the UK, but this was taken away when Black/Asian citizens started making use of it. Instead, schemes were created to make it easier for white Commonwealth citizens to move here. 13/ By @ColinYeo1
freemovement.org.uk/black-lives-ma…

To put it bluntly: "Migration politics are about controlling the movement of racialised people." 14/ By @JoBiglinUoM bigissuenorth.com/comment/2020/0…

The racism continues today. Only this summer @JCWI_UK won a legal battle to get the Home Office to stop using a racist algorithm that accelerated applications from white people. 15/

https://twitter.com/jcwi_uk/status/1290561862807953412?s=21

"Black people are detained significantly longer than white people inside the UK’s immigration detention system." 16/ By @TownsendMark theguardian.com/politics/2020/…

Right to Rent scheme in England makes landlords check immigration status before letting a property. It was ruled unlawful by the high court last year b/c it "caused landlords to discriminate against British citizens from minority ethnic backgrounds". 17/ theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/m…

But the Home Office (HO) won an appeal this year, and so Right to Rent (and the discrimination it causes) persists in England. 18/ By @ameliagentleman theguardian.com/politics/2020/…

Long waits without documentation.

When I applied for a visa extension in 2017, it was back when you had to send away your passport and residency card with your application. The waiting time for a decision on my application was 2 months. 19/

I made a 'joke' to my family at the time that I hoped no one died in those 2 months because I didn't have a passport I could fly back with. 20/

The ILR application wait time is 6 months. I was willing to pay £800 for a 1-day decision to not live with extreme anxiety for half a year, but that option has been suspended because of the pandemic. 21/

There's a new process in place that lets you keep your passport, but you can’t leave the UK until you get a decision. (Well you can, but it essentially means you withdraw your application.) 22/

Not that I want to fly during a pandemic, but if something happened to a family member before I was granted residency, flying home wasn't an option until I got a decision on my application. 23/

Nothing happened to my family, thankfully, but others aren't so lucky. The Home Office has made some immigrants wait YEARS for a decision, leaving them suicidal when they're not able to visit sick relatives. 24/ By @maybulman independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…

For this family, a 6-month wait meant having to wait to bury a husband/father overseas while paying £8k to secure their status to live in the UK after his death. 25/ crowdjustice.com/case/justice-f…

Financial hurt.

Over the last 5 years, I've paid £5.4k in visa application fees and health surcharges. My ILR application fee was £2,389. Yet the actual cost to process an ILR app is £243.

I am profited TEN TIMES over by this government. 26/
freemovement.org.uk/how-expensive-…

Fees have skyrocketed since the hostile environment began. In 2010, an ILR app cost £810. From 2015 to 2017, the cost of my further leave to remain visa app went from £549 to £993. 27/

While I paid £2,389 for ILR in the UK, for permanent residence in other countries, I would have paid $500 (£294) in Canada, 269€ (£245) in France, and 135€ (£123) in Germany. See the difference? 28/

You might think high fees are inconvenient but not hurtful. I can assure you that when you don’t know the application fee is going to double by the next time you apply, and your only choice is to pay or lose your right to live here, it hurts. And then there are more fees… 29/

We also pay extra for the NHS, even though we already pay for it through taxes like everyone else. I was 'lucky' to last apply when this ‘health surcharge’ was £200/year. From 27/10 it'll be £624/year. 30/

You pay this whether or not you use the NHS, and you pay it all up front. Applying for a 2.5 year visa? You will pay 624x2.5 when you make an application from 27/10. That's £1560 in NHS fees alone. 31/

Under pressure, the Government removed the health surcharge for certain NHS workers this year. That's not enough. It needs to be scrapped entirely. We need to stop ranking immigrants in terms of who's most deserving. 32/
doctorsforthenhs.org.uk/the-immigratio…

Being extorted for even more money.

Sopra Steria are contracted by the Home Office (HO) to run the process around getting applicants' biometrics (fingerprints and picture). This used to be a free process you did at the local post office. 33/

Now there are centres across the UK where they do this- only 6 of which offer free appointments (and in very limited numbers). During lockdown these centres shut which created a backlog of applications. 34/

When opening back up, Sopra Steria decided to profit off the increased demand by basically removing any free appointments and making those that were available cost £110-£810. 35/ By @maybulman independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…

Let me remind you this is IN ADDITION to high application fees and the health surcharge. Not to mention HO makes you pay £19.20 for biometrics when you submit your application. So what do you pay Sopra Steria for then? Entering a building? 36/

No safety net.

Before ILR, immigrants have No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF). The PM seemed genuinely surprised to learn this in May when @stephenctimms brought it to his attention. 37/ By @joncstone independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…

PM said he would look into this. He did nothing. Said immigrants MAY be eligible for some funds. 38/ By @Rob_Merrick independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…

Sure, you can access funds- if you can prove you are DESTITUTE. If successful, you wait longer to get ILR. 4 years into a 5-year settlement route? You're placed on a 10-year route or have to start the 5-year route all over again when you become eligible.39/gov.uk/government/pub…

Why must you literally have NOTHING before you can get help? And if you get help, why do you have to wait longer, keep paying more insane application fees before you are then somehow more worthy of the social safety net? 40/

We're in an economic recession. Are we really going to leave a million people at risk of no funds? 41/ By @patrickjbutler theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/j…

Bad stuff happens in life all the time. It shouldn't have to be at a global scale for us to realise when people need help, we must help them. No arbitrary amount of time you live somewhere should somehow make you less deserving. NRPF has extreme consequences, including: 42/

Killing people's mental health. How can you live here 11 years and be undeserving of help? 43/

https://twitter.com/JCWI_UK/status/1270996940885499904?s=20

Killing people. You may have read about the death of Mercy Baguma in August. That was not an isolated incident. People DIE when we don’t help them. 44/ By @andy_jolly

https://twitter.com/andy_jolly/status/1298639273751646209?s=20

It'll only kill more people during Covid because many immigrants face the choice of working in unsafe conditions or going hungry. 45/

https://twitter.com/jcwi_uk/status/1310179881863598082?s=21

Separating families.

The family visa route is cruel. There is a minimum income requirement (MIR): (£18,600/yr) to sponsor a non-UK partner. More if there are kids needing sponsorship, too. This thread explains MIR: 46/ By @ColinYeo1

https://twitter.com/ColinYeo1/status/1281160674987646977?s=20

Working full-time on minimum wage earns you less than that. Maybe you only work part-time because of childcare. Maybe you just lost your job because we're in an economic recession. 47/

Don't have an income? You can also meet MIR with savings- £62,500 minimum and you need to have that for at least SIX MONTHS before you apply. 48/

I spent the start of the pandemic worried about job loss because it could've meant I was refused ILR. To think I could lose my right to live here after 9 years because a global crisis meant I no longer had the right financial evidence. 49/

The Home Office literally refuses applications not meeting MIR on the grounds you can continue your relationship "through modern means of communication". They think you can raise a family over a video call. 50/

https://twitter.com/ColinYeo1/status/1281162266885439488

MIR separates family again...
"I lost my job and can’t get another one at the moment, and I don’t have any childcare provision...Just because I married a Sri Lankan, I’m treated with disdain by my government. All we want is to be together." 51/ theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/j…

...and again...
"I had to come back alone [to the UK]...That was 2 years ago. I haven’t seen my husband in all that time, and our son hasn’t been able to hug his dad, because meeting that income requirement has proved impossible." 52/ observatoryihr.org/blog/when-your…

...and again...
"Before coronavirus hit I’d been working 60-hour weeks, trying to make sure I’d reach the salary threshold. [Now]...my hours have been slashed to 27 per week...I now have no idea when I’ll be able to have my family together" 53/ change.org/p/home-office-…

...and again.
"My husband’s spouse visa extension is due in September, but now he has lost his job. As such, I’ve had no choice but to work full-time on nights on an NHS complex mental health ward with Covid-19 patients to try to meet the MIR myself." 54/
independent.co.uk/voices/letters…

Surely HO'd remove MIR in an economic crisis? Nope. In June, they said you still have to meet MIR for 6 months. Their only ‘concession’ was if you lost your job between March and 31/7/20, you could prove you met MIR for the 6 months prior to being let go. 55/

In mid August, they changed that end date to 31/8/20. ONLY LAST WEEK they updated it to January 2021. They keep delaying guidance until the last possible second, keeping families stressed, anxious, and demoralised. 56/

Take the case of published author @GulwaliP whose wife's visa was initially rejected. After posting this thread, the decision was overturned. The statement from HO (next tweet) makes my blood boil… 57/

https://twitter.com/gulwalip/status/1295835005541916678?s=21

HO said: "It is right that there are minimum income requirements for family migration to prevent burdens being placed on the taxpayer." THIS IS A LIE. Hard to be a burden when we can't get public funds, get taxed twice for the NHS, and pay taxes. 58/

https://twitter.com/gulwalip/status/1297236304166559744?s=21

Demonising asylum seekers.

Gov & media portray them as illegal immigrants, but you have to be on British soil to claim asylum. This idea being spewed that you have to claim asylum in the first 'safe' country- it's false. As @BellaSankey explains: 59/

https://twitter.com/talkRADIO/status/1311593859797876737?s=20

Yet the Government keeps perpetuating these lies. "Over and over again, civil society organisations have to tell ministers how the law works and explain their own system back to them." 60/ By @minnierahman huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/priti-pa…

Even @benandjerrysUK is trying to explain how asylum works to the Home Secretary - and that maybe we should show some compassion to people fleeing terrible situations. 61/

https://twitter.com/benandjerrysUK/status/1293218352182308874?s=20

While there is a refugee resettlement scheme, this was paused in March due to Covid-19 and has not reopened, despite other countries doing so. 62/ By @maybulman independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…

Asylum seekers are put through a gruelling process to gain refugee status. This thread talks about how LGBT applicants are often re-traumatised through having to share explicit details of sexual violence they incurred. 63/ By @robmcd85

https://twitter.com/robmcd85/status/1277867674916270080?s=21

It often takes over 6 months to decide on a claim. A time during which they can't work and are given less than £40 a week to live on. 64/ By @ColinYeo1

https://twitter.com/ColinYeo1/status/1293516148965879808

All that waiting time for nearly 75% to be granted refugee status by the Home Office in the end. 65/

https://twitter.com/ColinYeo1/status/1293513502028595200

Detaining people for no purpose.

The detention system is meant to hold people the Gov wants to remove from the UK. But 60%+ of those detained are eventually released, putting people through great distress and trauma for nothing. 66/ By @DetentionAction detentionaction.org.uk/about-detentio…

You can be detained indefinitely in the UK system- only country in Europe to do so. Yet "when someone is detained for over 28 days their chances of being removed actually decrease". On Monday Tory MPs voted against plans to limit detention to 28 days. 67/ detentionaction.org.uk/get-involved/e…

Detention literally kills people. From 1989-2017 there were 34 deaths in immigration removal centres. I share a heartbreaking example in the next tweet. Note: trigger warning for content on suicide. 68/ By @IRR_News irr.org.uk/article/deaths…

“A 27-year-old Polish man found hanged...on the day his son was born…He had been refused bail before Christmas as there was no surety available and his heavily pregnant girlfriend had been unable to attend the hearing.” 69/

Maybe if detention didn’t exist anymore, the Home Office wouldn’t have to worry about producing a 21-page PDF guide on how to deal with deaths in detention: 70/ gov.uk/government/pub…

Pushing people out of legal status.

People can come here legally but then lose their status because extortionate visa costs price them out of the system or they ‘break’ the complex rules. 71/

Here’s someone whose visa renewal was rejected because they went to Malaysia to bury their dad, breaching their residency requirements. He couldn’t afford to reapply, had a baby on the way in the UK, so became an overstayer. 72/ By @SatbirLSingh metro.co.uk/2020/06/23/don…

Once you lose status you "wait 20 years before you’re eligible to start regularising your status, a process that will take you at least another decade." Are we really okay with a system that punishes people for 30+ years b/c life is "messy and doesn’t fit neatly into boxes"? 73/

Setting up people to be criminalised. I'll let this tweet from @BIDdetention explain itself: 74/

https://twitter.com/BIDdetention/status/1290570925965037569

Dehumanisation.

The ILR app asked if I had any friends in my birth country. If yes, provide their name/location/what contact you have with them. If no, 'explain why you do not have friends'. This sent me into tears and made me feel like utter crap. 75/

I was prepared for the questions that essentially ask, ‘do you really have to live HERE’. I was not prepared for, 'give us personal data about 3rd parties we have no right to know, or explain what a lonely loser you are'. 76/

The ILR app should just be a formality. If it's okay to have lived here long enough to reach the settlement stage, you should just be granted settlement. We shouldn't have to keep proving whether we deserve to live here. 77/

Wrongfully deporting people.

You may know about the Windrush Generation- post-WWII immigrants from the Caribbean who came here legally as British subjects. But they didn't have documentation that specifically said this. 78/

So when the hostile environment started coming into play, they were denied legal rights and in some cases wrongly deported because they didn't have the 'right papers' to prove their legal status. 79/

This led HO to shift tone from saying 'hostile' to 'compliant' environment, but a review from @IPPR found "that most policies that caused the Windrush scandal were still in place." 80/ By @maybulman independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…

The goal of this shifted tone "is to continue to make anti-immigration policies a lucrative vote-winner but retreat from the explicit cruelty, lest it dawn on voters that they are complicit in it." 81/ Powerful piece by @NesrineMalik theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

The next Windrush-like scandal is about to happen next year to the EU citizens that live in the UK. This is because the Government is making EU citizens apply to a settlement scheme by 30/6/21. If they don't, they lose their legal status. 82/

If you're thinking it's your own fault if you don't apply, please check your privilege. Report from @MigObs shows how vulnerable groups might not know they need to apply or might not have the paper trail evidence to prove their residency in the UK. 83/ migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/press/vulnerab…

This includes parents who mistakenly think their UK-born kids are citizens, digitally illiterate residents, young people in care, victims of modern slavery, and people paid in cash. Even if only 1% don't apply, overnight 30k+ lose their legal status on 1/7/21. 84/

For those who apply to the settlement scheme, they will be negatively affected by the Government's decision to give digital-only proof of status. Not a physical residency card like I have. Report from @maikebohn shows the consequences of this: 85/ blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2020/08…

If a landlord isn't digitally savvy, who do you think they will prioritise renting to? The Brit with a passport or the EU citizen whose status is hidden behind a technical barrier they don't have the required skills to access? 86/

Not to mention landlords/employers aren't aware of this. The transition period isn't even over yet, and EU citizens are already facing problems. 87/ By @maybulman independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…

TL;DR The UK immigration system hurts people. The hurting needs to stop.

Help me stop it. 88/

I've told you what you need to know. Now let's move on to what you need to do. (And I know this has been a long thread, but let me tell you I've had to carefully edit down what I wanted to say. This is only a fraction of the hurt this system causes.) 89/

What you need to do:
Find your MP's contact details. 90/ members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP

Read this advice from @ContentDesignLN on how to write to your MP. 91/

https://twitter.com/ContentDesignLN/status/1281892587054477313

What to tell your MP:
The following are the actions I want to see happen. You might not agree with all of them. You tell your MP what you want to. But make sure you make it known you do not support an immigration system that actively hurts people. 92/

1. Scrap the Minimum Income Requirement. #ScrapMIRNow
Families should not be separated by an income requirement. In 2015, 40% of working Brits were earning less than £18,600. @MigObs shows how that percentage increases for certain demographics. 93/
migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/repo…

2. Scrap the Immigration Health Surcharge for all immigrants.
We already pay taxes for the NHS like everyone else. Stop the double taxation that's now about to skyrocket to £624 per year. 94/

3. Eliminate appointment fees charged by UKVCAS (run by Sopra Steria).
We already pay £19.20 for biometrics in our application. A 3rd party company should not be able to charge us extra for a compulsory service that we used to do for free at the post office. 95/

4. Reduce application fees.
Applications should not cost thousands of pounds per person, when it only costs the Home Office a fraction of this to process. Immigration should not be a for-profit system. 96/

5. Pay immigrants back.
Once fees are reduced, those of us who have already paid the ridiculous fees need to be compensated. Our savings should not be compromised just because we had to apply at a time when the HO thought they could get away with charging us crippling fees. 97/

6. Scrap No Recourse to Public Funds. #ScrapNRPF
We're in an economic crisis. We can't deny immigrants support simply because they haven't lived here the arbitrary number of years needed to access the social safety net. This is not about handouts; it’s about security. 98/

7. Faster application decision times.
It should not take half a year (or more) to decide on an ILR application- a time when we can't travel, access the safety net, or do anything that requires documentation to prove our right to live or work here. 99/

8. Safe and legal routes for asylum seekers.
@JCWI_UK have policy recommendations on this topic, including introducing humanitarian visas. We should not make asylum seekers risk their lives to make it to British soil to claim asylum. 100/ jcwi.org.uk/briefing-safe-…

9. Regularise the legal status for immigrants without it.
400k-1 million people are without legal status in the UK- many forced out of status by the hostile environment. HO accepts the vast majority will do nothing wrong. Let's legalise their status.101/

https://twitter.com/JCWI_UK/status/1282997620684857346

10. Ensure no EU citizen loses their legal status.
We cannot have tens of thousands of EU citizens lose their legal status to live in the UK next July. The onus should be on the Government to protect status by default, not for EU citizens to apply. 102/

11. Provide physical proof of right to live in the UK.
Passports aren't going away, so we cannot create a two-tier society where Brits/non-EU residents have physical proof of their right to live in the UK, while EU citizens only have digital proof. 103/

12. Reinstate 2-year settlement route for families.
Spouses/families must wait 5 (and sometimes 10) years to get permanent residency in the UK. It used to be 2 before July 2012. A 2-year route needs to be reinstated to rectify the harm done to families in the last 8 years. 104/

13. End the Right to Rent scheme.
Landlords are not border control agents. It was ruled to cause racial discrimination, which led to the scheme being halted from coming to Scotland/Wales/NI. It should not continue to exist in England. 105/

14. End immigration detention.
It causes unnecessary harm (including death). We don’t need to lock people up while their immigration case is being decided. There are community-based alternatives, as suggested by @DetentionAction. 106/ detentionaction.org.uk/about-detentio…

15. Create an immigration system co-designed with immigrants.
Removing hostile environment policies won't fix everything. We need a complete overhaul. A system FOR immigrants needs to be designed WITH immigrants. 107/

I told you not to congratulate me on getting ILR. Equally, after reading this, don't tell me you're sorry I had to go through this system.

Tell me you'll take action and write to your MP. 108/

If you think nothing is going to come of you writing to your MP, let me tell you this: Nothing will happen if you do nothing. But something might happen if you do something. 109/

If you've never lived with the feeling that it’s not safe for you to say something, don't squander that privilege. Use it to create a better society for those who can't speak out. 110/

If the idea of writing to an MP about a topic you just learned about seems daunting, let me help you. I'm happy to read over what you write or even help you write it. 111/

After you write your MP, keep educating yourself about what's happening to immigrants in the UK. Follow organisations like @JCWI_UK and @MigrantVoiceUK. 112/

If you want to learn more, I recommend 'Welcome to Britain: Fixing Our Broken Immigration System' by @ColinYeo1. If you prefer listening, check out Colin talking about the system on an episode of @iroughol's Borderline podcast (40 min). 113/ borderlinepod.com/episodes/episo…

I'd like to end on a pedantic note. If any of my followers know the digital folk at the HO, could you tell them there's a missing apostrophe in the SET(M) form? They're so concerned about immigrants' English language abilities after all. 114/

Update: I've now written this thread as a post on Medium. Please share with your non-Twitter networks. ltormey.medium.com/the-uk-immigra…