Month: November 2022

30 November 2022: Freemovement: Social networks often play an important role in shaping migrant decision-making and movements.

Where migrants can exert a degree of agency over their destination choice, social networks often play an important role in shaping their journeys. These networks are usually understood to comprise friends and family members, community organisations and intermediaries.

Economic rights do not act as a pull factor for asylum seekers. A review of the relationship between Right to Work and numbers of asylum applications concluded that no study reported a long-term correlation between labour market access and destination choice. Very few migrants have any experience of a welfare state such as exists in the UK and imagine that they will be able to (if not expected to) work and support themselves upon arrival.

Evidence does not suggest that grant rate has a significant impact on an asylum seeker’s choice of destination, and it is not clear whether migrants have accurate information on grant rates. Social networks, shared languages and diaspora communities more likely motivate asylum seekers to reach certain destinations.

What might explain why some migrants travel from France to the UK to claim asylum?

For those living in these makeshift camps, life is often uncertain and precarious, with camp clearances and forced evictions that can lead to damage and confiscation of personal belongings and reported police brutality and abusive practices. There is often limited access to water and sanitation facilities, while many depend on local associations for food distributions. This may act as a factor driving onward movement out of France, a small portion of which is to the UK.

Read more: Freemovement, https://rb.gy/2yvsdh

THE ASYLUM SEEKER MEMORIAL PROJECT

THE HOME OFFICE DOES NOT PUBLISH DATA ON THE DEATHS OF ASYLUM SEEKERS IN ITS HOUSING…

… despite calls from experts and campaigners to do so. We set out to gather as much information as possible about each of them. Here, we tell their stories. https://www.asylumseekermemorial.co.uk/

This is a journalistic project bearing witness to the stories of those who have died while provided with asylum seeker housing in Britain since 2016.

Asylum seekers are generally barred from working while they await the result of their claim. Many can’t afford to live. The Government has a duty to house them during this time.

In 2020, amid a growing backlog in asylum case decisions and the pressures of the pandemic, the Home Office expanded its use of contingency accommodation including ex-military barracks and hotels. In these and other types of asylum seeker housing – provided under contract by private firms Clearsprings Ready Homes, Mears, Serco – reports arose of poor living conditions and problems accessing medical care.

The Government doesn’t publish data on deaths in this accommodation, so our journalists set out to gather it.

Continue reading “THE ASYLUM SEEKER MEMORIAL PROJECT”

Wednesday 23 November 2022 Suella Braverman before the Home Affairs Committee  Meeting started at 9.45am, ended 11.53am

The session will focus on a range of issues related to the asylum and immigration system. This is likely to include the Government’s strategies to cut the processing backlog and ensure adequate accommodation for those claiming asylum in the UK. It will also scrutinise the Government’s attempts to reduce the numbers of people attempting to cross the Channel in small boats, in particular the recently signed agreement with France and the future of the migration deal with Rwanda.

https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/37f2db13-00d5-47d6-83cb-01d4c9e92506

The transcript is here: https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/11600/pdf/

21 November 2022: QARN does not give legal advice. We are passing on this very useful information that has been put together by JCWI. Please follow the links below:

JCWI: Applying for a visa if you are undocumented

Are you in the UK without immigration status (a visa)? Getting regular status can be difficult, and there is lots of advice out there. Some of this advice is not up-to-date, and people may ask for lots of money for legal advice, even if they are not qualified to give it. 

This page contains information about some of the ways that people without status can apply for a visa. This page was written in September 2022 and will be updated regularly. 

This page has information on the different routes people can use to apply for status, and what kind of status people get if they are successful.  

If you are in the UK without immigration status, you can call our helpline and get advice from an immigration lawyer for free. The helpline is open on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays between 10:00 and 13:00. You can call 020 7553 7470 to speak to somebody. 

You can also contact your local Law Centre to ask for some advice. You can find your local Law Centre here.

This page contains advice on (click on the links):

Continue reading “Applying for a visa if you are undocumented”