QARN Leaflets: Download them here

6 April 2025 – updated QARN leaflets:

  • Immigration Detention: April 2025
  • About QARN: April 2025
  • Countering Myths: April 2025

Also below:

  • What do Quakers hope for in UK policies (previously: after the 2024 General Election)?
  • Britain’s Hostile Environment – 2023
  • Excessive fees applications for Leave to Remain in the UK _ April 2020
  • Immigration Removals and Deportation _ May 2019
  • Language matters: challenging the language of asylum and migration_ 2018

You can download the leaflets from this page by clicking on the links below. Please feel free to share these, and print off your own copies.

We thank George Sfougaras for the use of his artwork

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QARN next meetings

QARN meetings: next planned meeting dates: 5 July 2025 – this will also be our AGM on Zoom and in person at Harrogate Quaker Meeting House 12a Queen Parade, Harrogate, HG1 5PP;

and 18 October; and 10 January 2026.

We usually meet quarterly using Zoom and all Quakers are welcome. We plan to start at 10.30am to manage the technical aspects of a Zoom meeting, falling quiet at around 10.45am, and beginning business at 11am; and we aim to end around 12.30pm. The meeting link will  be available to those who receive our emails, but for other people, please contact us via info@qarn.org.uk giving your name, and the Quaker Meeting to which you are attached. Thank you.

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QARN: Model Letter/email to MPs re: British Citizenship

May 2025: QARN: Model Letter/email to MPs – Requesting an end to barring individuals who reached the UK through irregular means from ever being granted British citizenship

This is a suggested letter that people and/Meetings may like to send to their MP

Please adapt the message, as you feel led.

Dear ……………..MP,

I am writing to express grave concern regarding the recently updated guidelines that prevent individuals who arrived in the UK by irregular routes from ever being granted British citizenship. The Refugee Convention to which the UK is a signatory recognises that people seeking asylum may need to arrive through irregular routes, and this is especially the case when countries like our own do not provide safe and regular options for people who need protection.

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White paper re: Immigration system

May 2025: Restoring Control over the Immigration System

White Paper:  This is the White paper: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6821aec3f16c0654b19060ac/restoring-control-over-the-immigration-system-white-paper.pdf

PM’s speech: This is what the Government said about it:

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-remarks-at-immigration-white-paper-press-conference-12-may-2025


Responses from Migrant Voice, Right to Remain, BID below :

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QCEA: Moving With Dignity

April 2025: Quaker Council for European Affairs: Moving with Dignity: A POSITIVE PEACE APPROACH TO MIGRATION

Moving with Dignity: A Positive Peace Approach to Migration is a milestone publication by QCEA. It is grounded in a positive peace approach to migration. It recognises the close connection between violent conflict, peacebuilding, and international migration. Therefore, the handbook proposes a peaceful approach to migration that prioritises the happiness and well-being of all people. 

Explore the 10 key takeaways

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Ten assaults a day on asylum seekers in Home Office care, figures reveal

21 April 2025: Guardian (thank you once more Diane Taylor) Ten assaults a day on asylum seekers in Home Office care, figures reveal

Exclusive: There were 380 safeguarding referrals of victims of hate crimes from January 2023 to August 2024

The Home Office is recording an average of 10 assaults a day on asylum seekers in its care, according to internal government data, amid harsh government rhetoric on those crossing the Channel.

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Refugee charities call for an end to ‘hostile politics’ in open letter to PM

QARN signed this letter:

16 May 2025: Together With Refugees: Response from the Labour Government: which you can download below:

7 April 2025: Together With Refugees: Refugee charities call for an end to ‘hostile politics’ in open letter to PM

Dear Prime Minister

You told us this week that immigration ‘is a basic question of fairness’. We agree. But the searing experiences of last summer, when hate-filled mobs tried to burn down hotels hosting asylum seekers, make it clear that the path to fairness is not to be found in those pitting local communities against refugees seeking safety from persecution and war. 

We know that 80% of British people want an asylum system that is fair, compassionate and well managed. In our daily work we see communities across the country going the extra mile to welcome refugees – opening their homes, volunteering, speaking up, and donating. Refugees enrich our country as our neighbours, friends and colleagues.  

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Micro Rainbow

5 April 2025: We were joined at our meeting today by our speaker Moud Goba from the amazing organisation Micro Rainbow, and some members of Quaker Rainbow.

Vision​: Micro Rainbow’s vision is to create a world where lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) people are safe, free from discrimination, persecution and have equal opportunities in life, including in accessing employment, training, financial services and housing.

Mission: Micro Rainbow’s mission is to create opportunities for LGBTQI people to fulfil their potential in life and create innovative models for social change that are sustainable, scalable and replicable.

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Recent updates from ICIBI

Update 20 March 2025: Inspection report published: An inspection of the Home Office’s management of fee waiver applications (August 2024 – November 2024)

This inspection examined the Home Office’s management of fee waiver applications for certain types of immigration and citizenship applications.

The ability to apply for a fee waiver is an important safeguard for those people who are seeking to make a human rights-based application to enter or remain in the UK, and for children seeking to register as a British Citizen, but who are unable to afford the fees. I was already aware of concerns about the scale of the Home Office fees and the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS), and stakeholders drew my attention to additional costs, such as solicitors’ fees and biometric enrolment, which have meant that many applicants have incurred large debts and that their lives, including their health and wellbeing, have been adversely impacted.   

This inspection was conducted against that backdrop. It focused on the resourcing of the three Home Office teams responsible for handling fee waiver applications; on training, workflow, and the prioritisation of fee waiver casework; and on the quality, timeliness and consistency of decision making, including the quality assurance of decisions. 

The ICIBI last looked at fee waivers in 2019, since when the ‘test’ the Home Office applies to a fee waiver application has changed from whether the applicant is or would become destitute to whether they can afford to pay the required amounts. This inspection therefore looked at the guidance available to caseworkers when determining ‘affordability’ to see if was clear and also examined whether ‘affordability’ was being assessed consistently.

Inspectors found problems with both the guidance and practice, and my report, which was sent to the Home Secretary on 21 January 2025, contains eight recommendations covering: better workforce planning; regular sharing of information and best practice; more robust quality assurance; more clearly defined management responsibilities and expectations; a review of data retention practices; ensuring significant changes to fee waiver policies and practice are compliant with the Home Office’s Public Sector Equality Duty; the introduction of Service Level Agreements for the processing of fee waiver applications; and development of an engagement strategy for external stakeholders. 

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LGBTQI+ people in immigration detention

Early Day Motion 809 tabled 24 February 2025: LGBTQI+ people in immigration detention tabled by Bell Ribeiro-Addy

That this House welcomes the ongoing review of the Home Office’s Adults at risk in immigration detention policy; notes that LGBTQI+ people face heightened levels of harassment, discrimination, abuse, and physical and sexual violence in immigration detention; recognises that the bullying of and discrimination against LGBTQI+ people in detention can re-traumatise those who have fled persecution; believes that immigration detention is costly and punitive, and that cheaper and more humane alternatives to detention exist; further welcomes the community-based Alternative to Detention pilots undertaken by the Home Office and supports their wider expansion; calls on the Government to include being gay, lesbian, bisexual or queer in the Adults at risk in immigration detention policies indicators of risk and to remove the categorisation of vulnerability based on evidence levels; and supports the greater use of community-based alternatives to detention.

Please ask your MP to consider supporting this EDM – see the list of signatories here: https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/63175