Next steps against the Family Immigration Rule changes.

45% of all immigrants who come to England live in London. Do you honestly think the rest of England cares? Do you think the English want to have their ''idyllic villages'' over-run by African and Chinese settlers? As long as every town and village has one Chinese and one Indian take-away shop - that's fine, more than that is a problem. Australian, Kiwi even Italian immigrants are perfectly welcome in the glorious Great Britain. So called ''Eastern Europeans'' less, but they might still blend in because of the color of their skin. The British see the immigration as an invasion on their culture and traditional way of life, yet at the same time they like the advantages of having cheap nannys from former British colonies, pretty waitresses from Latvia and international restaurant scene. They also like to keep the benefits of visa free travel around Europe, buying properties in Spain etc., yet at the same time they complain of EU membership and would other migrants. They want economic and cultural advancement and benefits, yet at the same time their mentality and thinking is stacked in 70s

I work for an organisation which frequently helps refugees with indefinite leave to remain in the UK to apply for their poses and/or families to join them in the UK. The changes proposed are totally arbitrary and mainly unreasonable. No sort of survey seems to have been undertaken.

I suggest some of you folks need to understand whats behind the Coalition Govt proposals.
In their 2010 pre election manifesto the Tory Party pledged to reduce immigration into the UK.
The Govt cannot touch EU immigrants so this means they have to target NON EU immigrants.
That makes their policies dicriminatory and racist which is against UK and ECHR Law.
The reality is that the Coalition Govt is in fact not able to reduce immigration into the UK.
Therefore they are resorting to more radical methods. But they still cannot stop anyone with an EU passport. Thus the Coalition Govt is playing a numbers game that the judiciary has ruled in Court to be unlawfull. T May has been told by the Courts she is trying to side-step Parliamentary scrutiny which is unlawfull under the 1971 UK Immigration Act.
Thus a UK Minister of State is perpetrating unlawfull policies not only against NON EU nationals but in most cases British citizens who are the spouses of those NON EU nationals.
These are the Tory Nasty Party's first steps at curtailing the Rights of British Citizens to have a Family Life in the UK. Its the thin end of the wedge that in time could impact on freedoms of all Brits!
In 1930s Germany a ex Corporal demonised a race and instigated WW2 - look where that led!

I am in a similar situation to you Jack being semi retired . I have bombarded my MP with emails setting out in great detail why current regulations such as the english test for entry , life in UK test after 2 years and the proposed new income threshhold are unfair ,cruel , heartless and inhumane in the way they penalise genuine and sincere self supporting couples who will make no demands for assistance from the state ( the strict rules to obtain a fiancee or spouse visa guarantee this ) . But the government Ministers responsible for the obnoxious one size fits all policies do not give a hoot about the misery, stress and unhappiness they cause their fellow UK citizens whose only SIN is to be married to a non EU citizen or be a fiancee of such a person . The Ministers sole aim is to reduce net immigration to tens of thousands under a broad brush fanatical policy with family immigration an easy target. These Ministers profess to have christian values of kindness, compassion and "do unto others as you would wish them to do unto you " but their harsh , cruel and grossly unfair policies do not observe these values . The language test and the nonsensical life in UK test should be abandoned ( enough strict criteria already , eg, showing relationship is genuine and sponsor has ample savings and/or income ,to ensure that visa applicants will place no burden on the state whatsoever ! ) A broadbrush approach should be abandoned and each visa aplication should be decided on it's merits . On TV programmes Ministers make untrue statements presumably to deceive the general public ( eg on Daily politics and on a recent question time ) and their UNTRUE statements were not challenged . Finally , Australia is a country of immigrants and allow immigrants to learn the english language after arriving as of course all people wish to do - no nonsense talked there about the immigrants not becoming good citizens or finishing up in ghettoes ( claims made by UK Ministers ! ) . Also , no life in Australia test to take after 2 years and kicked out of the country if immigrant fails it as is happening in the UK under this government !

Anonymous Brit expat in Thailand.
I have the deepest sympathy with your situation. My own wife is Thai and I have a teenage step son both of who I love deeply. My wife was with me in the UK and we got caught out in a similiar way to you. I am afraid this Coalition Govt is totally heartless.
They are operating a policy based on reducing net immigration to meet their pre 2010 election pledge to reduce numbers. Its a number game!
But independent charities have said the Coalition Govt policies on reducing net immigration is not achievable. Hence they are making Visas applications for NON EU nationals even more difficult to obtain. That is unless you are a Russian millionaire banker who seem to be able to get get a visa and buy expensive houses in London!
I am afraid that you will not be able to get your wife and son into the UK easily. It is a long tedious and expensive process designed to impede rather than assist.
Even in Thailand applying to the British embassy is a head banging process where I found I met with obstruction at every turn.
I am not trying to put you off. Just warning you based on my own experience and that of others.

There are NON EU people here married to Brits with young children like yourself who have bought a house in the UK to settle to lead a family life who now find they are to be seperated and will have to return to their own countries leaving their wife and children here! Sorry these are the facts!

I understand your comment about the £18,600 minimum and share it. But it is designed as one more wall for people like yourself, and me, to climb.
Then you have the pre-entry English language test and after that the Life in the UK test. If I tell you there are British nationals, including me, who have taken these sample tests and failed them. They are not designed to pass applicants but to faill them.
Each test you pay a fee so the UKBA / its contrators earn again and again! Its now considered a rip off!

When you enter this tread mill you probably think the British Govt wouldn't stoop to these levels. But they do.
Same as they have introduced all these new regulations since 2010. They have allowed certain press to print copy 'demonising' immigrants in order to turn the uninformed members of the public against immigrants.
This is the UK today and in the last two years it has worsened. I do not want you to have find out the hard wau at your expense Ok.
I wish you good luck I am sorry if it is bad news but I think it best if you know the facts, the truth, from an expat whoes been down this road!

Before the general election every middle class Brit seemed to have been unhappy and unsatisfied with the policies on immigration as being to lenient and open to abuse etc...Unacceptable and unsustainable levels of immigration had been cited by then Opposition candidates and they have now been democratically elected by the British public and are fulfilling their Manifesto pledges on immigration. Now every one seem to complain about the new policy. Before the election, everyone moaned that migrants can't speak English and don't integrate. At the same time the everywhere in public service you go there are leaflets in 10 different languages ranging from how to buy Oyster Card to how to apply for public funds. I am currently preparing to take Life in the UK Test and must say it has been very useful to me. I have learned so many things I did not know and it is benefit to my life in the UK. Those who moan about Life in the UK test have no genuine intention to integrate. To learn English and about the country you intend to make your home is the bare minimum everyone should be able to do.

I am an English woman, I have been with my Tunisan husband for 3 years, but only married for 1 year. I work 45 hours a week, but only recieve minimum wage, I work from 5:30am till 2:30pm.Then I go home and take care of my sons, I cannot work no more hours as my 2 sons are disabled (not my husbands) my sons love my husband dearly and when we visit they cannot understand why their step-father cannot come with us and I have to comfort them and to seeing them this way is killing me. There is no way I can earn the money they are asking us spouses to earn, there is not enough hours in the day, my sons need 24 hour care. My husband was refused entry to the UK, and we have our appeal on the 23rd of july if he is refused again, I dunno what I will do. We have used our savings to pay for a solicitor and other things related to our case. I live in a council house, just an ordinary worker. I know this is going to sound crazy, but I have always worked, sometimes 3 jobs at a time to make ends meet, thats the way I was raised, you work for what you need. All this and I find out that a man whose wife claims every benefit (and there is no reason she cannot work) has got his clearance no refusal, no questions asked. No I'm not jealous I'm angry that I work hard, pay my taxes and still my husband gets refused. I'm not arguing that there is genuine people out there that cannot work, due to circumstances beyond their control. But is it right that we pay taxes and again the working class come last again ? My husband also has a job if and when he comes to the UK but its not looking good is it due to this stupid, inhumane law. I do agree that we should be able to support our spouses and yes in some circumstances claim some sort of benefits, but not allow a foreign spouse to come here and their spouse not be able to support themselves just because your too lazy to get a job. I get DLA for my 2 sons and I'm £140 worse off because I work, maybe I should claim all the benefits like income support and carers allowance and pay no taxes or rent or council tax like this woman. What does Theresa May want me to do uproot my 2 sons, who need specialist care constantly ? They don't have the care the boys need in Tunisia, it would be like sending them to their death. I am disgusted at this governments racist ways. They are no better than the BNP.

@Admin - thanks for your comments. I am taking my view not from certain parts of media (if you mean Daily Mail) but from the streets I walk, the places I work, the people I speak to and yes, the mainstream media I watch and read.
I am the only non-english native speaking employee working in a company with about 5 white English workers. They all seem to have the view that there are too many foreigners (read non-white and eastern europeans) in England and they they get preferential treatment when it comes to benefits and housing. Furthermore, it seemed to be the wish of many commentators and attendees of political discussions on TV and Radio that there should be a referendum on UK's membership in EU - the view seem to be that withdrawal from EU is desirable in future. Walking the streets of London, again, talking to people there appears to be frustration with immigration. I am afraid JCWI's views represent very tiny % of what UK population thinks - I believe around 5%. (not to say that I disagree - you are doing a good job in what you do)

I also do not agree with the Conservative policy on immigration, however, particularly on students. Their policy is already doing harm to UK's reputation as the top place in the world to come to study English. Also, the termination of PSW is directing potential students elsewhere to CA, AU and US. Everybody losses out - businesses, colleges, landlords, shops, restaurants, taxi drivers etc.

@Geronimo - Life in the UK test - yes I must admit there are questions in there that even native average-educated, born in Britain person would not know. Such questions amount to about 15% of all the test questions. I am yet to take the test next week. (I will let you know whether the result) The problem is - people in this country (native and migrants) have become to comfortable and too depending on the State (the State has to tell you to eat 5 veg/fruit a day or you will get sick!!!) An American/South American or east Asian model where people are more responsible for their own lives is needed here. The problem with people who come with valid visa and overstay would be solved if Brazilian or Thai model could be applied, by imposing a fine for every day person over-stays their visa - of course before that exit control would need to be re-introduced. Also, more objectivity in media and among the natives is needed. Everybody points fingers at ''east europeans'' but what about the thousands of Spanish youths, Greeks, Portuguese and impoverished Italians who come here for work? The thousands of Australians and New Zealanders who come every year on 2 year work visa and never leave because they realise their grand-father was born here, so that they can stay on Ancestry visa for another 5 years?

''That in turn will breed resentment and those other races will say ' but your PM preaches democracy to us - but he doesn't practise it!
In fact he is preaching democracy but sending us his hypocracy and in return we will send you back our hypocracy! So Britain in effect destroys itself!''

@Geronimo - I agree with you on the above.

aaron
you are not rambling. you are expressing yourself.your love for your family, your ambition for them, your frustration resentment and anger that you feel about the situation that now prevails under this Tory led Coalition Govt. You are like the rest of us bewildered outraged and asking why?
You are a young man. I am an old man.Marion and annette have expressed themselves and rightly so. This is all we can do is tell the world what the new Tory led Coalition that claims to be democratic is doing. Shame the British Govt reveal the truth to the world we can do no more!

But we need to know our enemy. What they are doing and why! That they do this because they have allowed, even encouraged blatant racism to permeate UK politics which they have exploited for votes by claiming they are addressing the UK peoples fears about immigration!
This is the Tory led Coalition Govt policy which Cameron May Green and right wing MPs are exploiting to try and make a name for themselves and get votes at the 2015 election. A distorted and shameful policy done for the basest of reasons!

They tolerate the popular press to daily incite racist reports and then allow the public to support those views and drown out other opinion.
I have sent evidence of this to the Leveson Inquiry where it was reported that May was introducing her new regulations. How that has been reported and how she attacked immigrants and is trying to manipulate the Judiciary into bending to her policy. We have to fight them any way we can and tell the world the truth as to what is happening today in the UK.The oxygen of publicity has to be our weapon!

Last night on BBC Newsnight they featured Damian Green and Professor Acton of the University of East Anglia. The subject was the inclusion of students in the immigration figures. Prof Acton wants then taken out because they are impeding foreign students studying in the UK.
He says foreign sydents are getting the idea they are not wanted in the Uk. He says they are fee paying and in fact they contribute greatly to the UK economy. For every ten students there are 6 jobs for British nationals.

I saw a House of Lords debate it is estimated that by 2015 the UK could lose £25Bn in foreign student fees!
In the same debate Lord Derry Irvine stood up and stated Freedoms in the UK are being TRASHED! No one opposed him not even Lord Tom NcNally the Coalition Govt Minister for Justice!

Last night Damian Green was unmoved from the Govt position. But D Green is a Minister with a checkered past. As a back bencher he got himself arrested in the House of Commons for encouraging a Govt employee to pass him classified information. He was taken to the police Station and told he could make the standard phone call. The person he phoned was Andy Coulson who is now under arrest for phone hacking!

The damage this Tory policy is causing to ordinary UK citizens is immense. You folks have all been brave enough to add your experience as evidence. You have done a good job by adding your evidence to this Govts wrongs being perpetrated against good British nationals!
Some of you have tried the legal route and it has cost a fortune people spending your life savings. That is wrong.There was an organisation named the Immigration Advisory Service to help people. The Govt stopped that by closing the IAS down on administration grounds!

Its important that we know our enemy. The policies, the reasons, the methodology and then we are not blind and wonder why! We know the facts we can adjust and we can respond in our own manner. We can go out and tell the world our story like we do here and it can work.
I watched a BBC program Question Time with an audience in the NE England. The matter of splitting UK families was brought up and members of the audience were appalled and said the Govt was wrong. I suggest we get our stories out as much as we can and shame this Tory Govt with the truth. Our publicity can be powerful lets use it. best wishes to you all.

Does anyone honestly believes that 18.5K a year is a wage that is too high in UK? I can not speak for outside London situation, but earning 18K in London is just about good for the bare survival. Anyone earning below 18.5K and living in London is almost certainly to be dependent on public funds. (different story when spouse comes and starts earning her/his bit)

marion,
It depends on many factors such as lifestyle , whether the sponsor has savings etc etc and an arbitary ceiling of £18500 is wrong and not fair . I myself have a lot of savings but interest rates are abysmal and my income is less than £18500 but there is no way my non EU partner or I would ever need or be ENTITLED to make a claim for benefits under UK benefit rules . But even so my partner would not get a visa if she eventually passes the english test if the new income limit is introduced . It is just another unnecessary obstacle designed to reduce net immigration . Please read my previous posting about the current rules which make it impossible to get a visa if applicant can not PROVE CONCLUSIVELY that no claim for benefits would be made in the future - hence NO NEED for any income limit as each case IS JUDGED ON IT'S MERITS at present and income and assets are looked at closely by UKBA, along with other criteria, before a visa is granted !

An interesting report by the Mail on 3 June 2012 headlined '£900 visa row could destroy Earl's marriage'!
The Mail reported that the Earl of Cardigan claimed his second marriage to his American wife will collapse because he cannot afford her £900 visa fee.
The Earls £25Million country estate is administered by two trustees who the Earl claims refused to give him the £900 for his American wife's UK visa!
This report was only published in the Mail on the 3 June 2012 then it was withdrawn. But not before I made a hard copy.
You see folks you can live on a £25M estate and still not be able to afford a visa for you wife!
Interesting the report only made the Mail on one day.
Mrs Chapti the Indian lady in Leicester her case went on in the Mail for ages.
The Mail even going to interview her husband on his Indian farm!

You don't think its a case of one law for them and another for us?
Any more Earls among our readers!

Adam
What May says and does is two different things. She says that to fool the general public that she is doing it for public interests.
She really wants to keep net immigration numbers down to meet the 2010 Tory Party pre elction pledge on immigration.
But she cannot keep out EU nationals. So she targets NON EU nationals.
May will not admit she's targetting NON EU nationals because that is discriminatory and racist and therefore in breach of the ECHR and UK Law!
Thus in the Commons debate on Article 8 on 19 June 2012 the Tory arguments were all around the criminals who had used Article 8 to stay in the UK. The Tory MP supporters all quoted these criminals who had been allowed to stay under Article 8 the Right to a Family Life.
Only two MPs Pete Wishart SNP and Jeremy Corbin Labour raised the matter of bonafide Britsh nationals being denied their Right to a Family Life under Article 8 if the new regulations May wanted introduced were brought in. The affect on partners and children!
Those two MPs speaking for us respectable ordinary British citizens who want the Right to a Family Life upheld were drowned out.
This has been May's methodology since Nov 2010 when the pre entry English tests were first introduced.
Since then all the tests have been made more difficult with one objective that is to stop applicants passing those tests and to be able to refuse them a UK visa! To keep immigration numbers down!
May and the tory's only have one objective which is to be able to say to the British public in 2015 they kept their Tory 2010 pledge and reduced immigration! Its political manipulation devoid of any consideration for the British nationals with NON EU spouses.

The Right to have a Family Life in the UK, the right and freedom to chose your own partner, has been taken away by a self interested UK Tory Political Party set on getting votes in the 2015 elections.
Demonising immigrants also takes the publics attention away from the rest of the Tory policies which are hitting the old, the disabled the children and the low paid.
It isn't until the press publish a situation whereby public opinion is roused that politicians act - as we see now with the tax avoidance news!
The NON EU spouses of British nationals are easy targets. Small in numbers but never the less number to be hit to reduce net UK immigration!

Admin,
I do apologise for reading your post too quickly and misunderstanding what you said . It was silly of me and borne out of my frustration at the false statements made by Government Ministers to misslead the general public on immigration matters. Seems that any tactics are acceptable for them in their mission to reduce net immigration !

I wrote to Dave Cameron (after all, why not go to the top!) to suggest to him that Theresa May's proposals to curb family migration are anti-family, counter-productive, and unfair. I've also pointed out to him that the Conservative Party is becoming associated with a pogrom (the organised persecution of a small minority) and that objectors will make political capital out of that. For good measure, I also reminded him what Louise Christian (human rights lawyer) said about the proposals: that in times of austerity, governments try to court popularity by playing to a popular prejudice, in this case immigration. The P.M. will soon be wishing he'd never started on this!

John F
Its good to write to the PM but unless your one of his constituents your unlikely to get a reply. Some of us have written to numerous Ministers and MPs without success.
As for wishing he'd never started it well he probably feels the same about many matters not least the Leveson Inquiry and hiring Coulson.
But this immigration was situation started in 2010 when Cameron and the Tory Party pledged to reduce UK immigration which the IPPR says they will not achieve by 2015!

yes, but the UK Border is still a joke. I went through Heathrow T1 last month on way back from Vienna. I am EU national with Permanent Residence Card issued by HO. It states on first page: You are advised to produce this document every time you cross UK Border.
So I produced this together with my passport to the Border official. He looked at it and barked back that what is it and that I don't need this. I looked at his badge and it read: substitute for UKBA staff, which means he was just some civil servant from another department protecting UK border on that day. His lack of knowledge gives you general idea how new arrivals are checked when crossing UK border. (E-borders is a mess, delayed and not functional and people who are barred from coming to UK, can still come) IRIS system supposed to save cost and staff but someone still has to stand there and watch those people passing through. I witnessed peoples frustration on another arrival as the queue for IRIS was longer than the EU and queue.

Marion
a good example and you are right to bring it out on this site. We know the UKBA is a mess. The Home Affairs Select Committee investigated and concluded the UKBA IS 'NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE. When john Reid was Home Sec he said the same.
The Chief Insp of the UKBA John Vine has done numerous report highliigthing the UKBA failings but they haven't improved. I have an arch lever file full of hard copy prints of press reports on UKBA incompetence just like you have stated.
The UKBA has always been a mess even when Phil Woolas was Immigration Minister.
In 2010 when May and Green took over instead of dealing with that UKBA mess they embarked on their pernicious policy against NON EU nationals.
Had May and Green cleaned up the mess left by Labour and then implemented a sensible immigration policy the mess would not have grown to the size it is today! The UKBA official you encountered obviously didn't know his job. None of them are 'user friendly'You should sees how the ECOs behave in British Embassy's.
The responsibility lays right at the top with May and Green. They are both incompetent politicians detested in the Home Office the UKBA and the Police! Who appointed them? The same person who appointed Coulson and sent LOL texts to Rebekah - thats right PM D Cameron!

Peter
I suggest Baroness Warsi is more concerned about her reputation among the constitents with ethnic backgounds the same as her own than she is about 'our cause'.
She knows very well how they are reacting to the new May proposals which is why she was motivated to challenged May like she did.
Likewise with Nick Glegg he will know the reactions of constitents in towns with large ethnic backgrounds and cultures whose populations will be up in arms about May and her minimum income levels. Politicians are only aware of what votes they can attract.
This is why Ed Mililband and Labour are now looking at a new policy on immigration! Miliband wants the votes that Cameron is losing!

Had Cameron appointed a Home Secretary and Immigration Minister who knew more about the subject and had more experience then they would, and should, have addressed the real problem which isn't NON EU spouses but unchecked east European immigrants.

There is no doubt that British employers find certain European workers better employees. They have a reputation for being more skilled and diligent.
Whereas in contrast the UK has a mass of serial unemployed which in cases goes from generation to generation who do not have basic education skills for employment needed in todays world.

However this does not excuse the blanket Tory policy of hitting all NON EU spouses when many of them do not wish to work in the first instance.
In my wife's 27 month visa it stated she could work in the UK. She never wanted to and never intended to because my income is such she did not have to. She was totally supported on my income which is above that now being implemented.

All the Home Office / UKBA had to do was stamp in her passport 'not allowed to work in the UK'.
My wife did not come to the UK to work but to be with me so we could lead a normal family life togther as the law under Article 8 of the ECHR part of UK Law!
But May and Green's knowledge of the immigration situation is such they failed to realise what simple checks they could have implemented.
Instead they embarked on their current policies which are not and will not reduce immigration by 2015 allowing them to honor their 2010 pledge!
Now Cameron has in his Govt one Senior Minister stating another Senior Minister is implementing racist measures which are against UK Law!

Natalie
don't despair we don't know yet whats going to happen. We didn't think the Warsi situation would come about or that Ed Milliband would say Labour would introduce a new immigration policy.
These will have thrown a bit of a spanner in Camerons works. He could decide May and Green have to change policy or even better go!
A new Home Sec could have different ideas especially if there is now interest and possible challenges by Labour.
Cameron and the Tory Party will have an eye on the votes they can lose because of Mays ineffective and obnoxious immigration policy.
Some Tory backbenchers may rock the boat and Cameron himself could be challenged. The Lib Dems are in a lose lose situation.

Remember the Coalition is not an elected Govt. It was cobbled together because no party got a majority. Its not only failing because of its immingration policy but its economic policy and inability to get Brits back to work! Its a very unpopular Govt.

Glegg looked at the Tory party and Labour when forming the Coalition. He wanted Brown to go and Brown would not so he turned to Cameron.
Glegg could yet decide to pull out of the Coalition with Cameron and chuck his hand in with Miliband thus changing the whole situation!
Hang on in there steady as she goes thro rough waters there just might be a promised land on the horizon!

It is quite ironic that David Cameron and his Ministers will not attend the European championships in Ukraine because of that country's HUMAN RIGHTS record with regard to the imprisoned Yulia Timoshenko but happily deprive Uk citizens , some of whom post on this site , of their human rights to a family life with the partner of their choice who just happens to be a NON EU citizen and who will be a Ukrainian citizen in some cases !