Last week the Government published its new immigration white paper. The main focus of the paper is on reducing the number of people migrating to the UK, including for work, family reasons and for study.
Some of the key announcements included:
- Increased English language requirements for people coming to the UK on a visa or as dependants;
- Longer periods of time in the UK before people can settle and apply for citizenship, so that it becomes ‘the norm’ for people to be on a ten-year route to settlement;
- A ban on people applying to come to the UK as care workers.
While the white paper isn’t specifically about asylum, there are some sections that have implications for people seeking safety here. For example:
- Refugee Employment – the government has said some people who are recognised by UNHCR as refugees and living overseas will be able to apply for some employment;
- There have been headlines about the government wanting to stop people applying for asylum if they come to the UK on a student visa. It’s unclear yet if and how this would happen;
- There will be a review of community sponsorship.
Both Free Movement and GMIAU have published explainer pieces, which contain more details about the white paper.
Although this white paper isn’t a legal document and the changes have not yet come into effect, the plans it contains and the messaging surrounding them are already impacting communities across the UK.
As well as the actual content of the document - which is cause for concern in its own right - misinformation surrounding it is also eliciting fear in communities. We’ve heard from people we support who are now worried that they will no longer be able to access interpreters and will have to speak in English for vital medical or legal appointments.
This was an opportunity for the Prime Minister to be brave enough to stand by his words in 2020:
“We welcome migrants, we don’t scapegoat them. Low wages, poor housing, and poor public services are not the fault of people who come here, they’re political failure.”
Instead, last week we saw the opposite. The way that anti-migrant rhetoric is being normalised - seen quite starkly in the Prime Minister’s speech unveiling the white paper - undermines the rights and dignity of migrants, refugees and people seeking asylum. It also carelessly emboldens the far right, risking further violence towards people who have come here seeking protection, as well as racialised communities and people of colour more broadly.
This white paper does nothing to tackle the systemic challenges within the current asylum and immigration system. There is no mention of giving people seeking asylum in the UK the right to work, the provision of safe routes so that people can avoid dangerous Channel crossings or place-based approaches to asylum accommodation.
Instead of political posturing, pandering and scapegoating, we need evidence-based policymaking that helps create a fairer asylum and immigration system that works for everyone.
