In 72 hours, thousands of EU citizens who have lived in the UK for years, often decades, will become illegal. They will lose their right to stay in their home, be with their families, have the right to work, or receive health care. They're your neighbours, they love this country.
2/ Pls, if you know someone who has come from the EU, if you care for them in your care home, or foster/children's home, in your hospital, neighbourhood, church, or community, ask whether they have applied to stay. Many still don't know that they do, because they came lawfully.
3/
Most councils have websites with contacts and phone numbers where people will help. If you need help, if you're not sure, DM me. I'll get you in touch. Don't leave it. Just ask. You cannot make a mistake. You can't ask too much.
Thank you. 🌻
Add.
Thank you, everyone 🤗 - for spreading this message far & wide, for your empathy & offers to help.
If you are uncertain & need qualified advice, please contact
'Settled' settled.org.uk/en/
or
UKCEN forum.ukcen.com
or speak to an immigration specialist *today*.
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I've been asked what makes UK migrants in the EU27 different from EU27 migrants in the UK, seeing that there was much vitriol in response to reports about one group struggling to obtain residency, and much understanding for the other. Seemingly, they are similar.
2/ I'm afraid I gave a rather snotty answer (my apologies, @MsRaeRichardson), because I took the question as a provocation - the differences between the two groups seemed so obvious. But are they? And what are they?
3/ We have to recognise that *every* migrant - UK in EU or EU in UK - has faced the same predicament. They moved themselves & their lives to another country legally, but are now required to ask for permission to stay. It is unsettling.
#German TV / main news program
(WDR/ARD is a public broadcaster):
"Britain has piled up record debt in the pandemic. Prime Minister Johnson is planning new, expensive reforms. Even his own party fears he is not good with money."
2/ "Some Conservatives in Great Britain are currently worried that Prime Minister Boris Johnson is handling the state's finances in the same way as he handles his own private money - according to the motto: Just spend it, there's never enough anyway."
3/ "And there's not enough in the national budget - especially now. The Covid crisis has cost billions, more than 300 billion pounds in aid and bailout money, among other things. The United Kingdom's borrowing is at record levels, as the latest figures for May show."
The vaccination program has finally gathered speed w/ the arrival of sufficient vaccines, AZ doubts clarified, & local organisation sorted out. During the last 2-3 weeks, it has accelerated considerably & now includes GP surgeries, not just vaccination centres.
2/
Currently, we have a new headache, two, in fact.
Headache no. 1 is our federal system that hands 16 state prime ministers all authority over education & most authority over lockdown measures. W/ the economy complaining & elections in Sept, since autumn, PMs have broken rank.
3/
The unified, consensual approach that worked so well during lockdown no. 1 has been undermined for every lockdown since, with compromises ignored & lockdown measures watered down - they're now different from state to state & community to community.
As a German, I was raised to be shy & a little bit suspicious about symbols of nationhood & patriotism (flags, anthems, pledges, etc.). I remember travelling to the UK in the 80s & 90s, & noticing the difference. But while the same display of flags,
2/
buntings & colours would have astonished me at home, in the UK (England, I should say) it seemed a bit quirky (but then that was deemed part of Englishness), but on the whole 'normal' - part of an attitude confident, undamaged, uncurbed by disastrous history.
3/
Since then, in Germany, things have changed a bit, with unification, the World Cup, etc. We've become a little less shy about our colours. (I wonder whether my German/-based readers feel the same). But we still feel rather uncomfortable about displaying them most of the time.
I was an #Australian#migration officer before #immigration became exclusion, before the Border Protection Bill, before Nauru. When the spirit was to invite people in, not keep them out - good people, loved ones, & those in need of protection.
I understood (& applied) migration
2/ rules as a silent contract with Australians, who accepted & welcomed foreigners, knowing & trusting that procedures & numbers were a balance of needs & requirements, a give & take. A system that argued its case year after year, wooed for support, accountable to all.
3/ Where rules were clear & fair, & so were services. Not once have I had a case of refusal that did not have a reason I couldn't explain, & those denied entry might not have liked, but understood it & why it made sense.
It's been painful to see immigration hijacked, usually by