Skip over main navigation
  • Log in
  • Basket: (0 items)
  • Twitter
Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants
Get help  Donate
Menu
  • About us
    • Our work
    • Our vision
    • Our manifesto
    • Our story
    • Our team
    • Our partners
    • Our funding
    • Accounts and annual reports
  • How we can help
    • Legal advice
    • Training
  • Campaigns
    • We Are Here
    • Ending the Hostile Environment
    • Work It Out
    • EU Citizens' Rights
    • Covid Response
    • Refugee protection
    • Climate Justice is Migrant Justice
  • Resources
    • Latest news
    • Reports
    • Toolkits and guides
    • Resisting the Hostile Environment - Your Toolkit
  • Get involved
    • Donate
    • Become a member
    • Take action
    • Find an event
    • On demand events
    • Hostile Environment workshop series
    • Careers
    • Volunteer
    • Other ways to support
  • Shop
  • Admin
    • Log in
    • Twitter
  • Basket: (0 items)
  • Resisting the Hostile Environment - Your Toolkit

    Resisting the Hostile Environment - Your Toolkit

    Resist + Persist: Your toolkit of information and resources to resist the Hostile Environment and put the power back in your hands. Read more

  1. Campaigns
  2. We Are Here

We Are Here

We all deserve to be treated fairly and equally. We all deserve to be able to earn a living, get support when we need it and to feel secure in our homes, no matter where we're from. That's what makes our communities stronger.

But for too long, we've lived with a politics of division. Migrants are treated as "temporary" residents for years, even decades. Maintaining the right to remain in the UK usually means meeting strict conditions, and renewing this right is expensive and complex. A small error, a short period of illness or just bad luck can leave someone without status, changing the course of a life. Once that happens, the system makes it almost impossible to change course and get status back.

We Are Here is a campaign for simple, workable reforms to help break the cycle of insecure immigration status. We are calling for:
  • new, simplified routes to status based on five years' residence
  • British citizenship for children born in the UK
  • making visa renewals automatic and affordable
  • scrapping the 'illegal working' offence, and creating a route to status through work
  • making the immigration system responsive to real life

Read the report

Take action now!

More on this campaign

"Unequal Impacts": How UK immigration law and policy affected migrants' experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic

Joint report from The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants & Public Interest Law Centre outlines the harmful impacts of UK immigration law and anti-migrant policies on migrants during the pandemic (May 2022) Read more

Published: 25th May, 2022

Updated: 26th May, 2022

Author: Caitlin Boswell Jones

"We also want to be safe" - undocumented migrants facing COVID in a Hostile Environment

Report from The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants shines a spotlight on the devastating impact of Hostile Environment policies during the pandemic. (January 2022) Read more

Published: 17th January, 2022

Updated: 11th March, 2022

Author: Ruth Stokes

Resisting the Hostile Environment - Your Toolkit

Resisting the Hostile Environment - Your Toolkit

Resist + Persist: Your toolkit of information and resources to resist the Hostile Environment and put the power back in your hands. Read more

Published: 21st July, 2021

Updated: 3rd February, 2022

Author: Ruth Stokes

We Are Here: Routes to regularisation for the UK's undocumented population

We Are Here: Routes to regularisation for the UK's undocumented population

Our ground-breaking research explores the reality of life for undocumented migrants in the UK today. Based on in-depth interviews with undocumented people, we explore how people become undocumented, and propose simple, workable reforms to break the cycle of insecure immigration status. (April 2021) Read more

Published: 27th April, 2021

Updated: 6th December, 2021

Author: Ruth Stokes

MPs debate issues facing undocumented migrants - 19 July 2021

MPs debate issues facing undocumented migrants - 19 July 2021

On 19 July 2021, MPs debated issues facing undocumented migrants in the UK. Here is what is at stake and what MPs said. Read more

Published: 20th July, 2021

Updated: 16th November, 2021

Author: Ruth Stokes

Stand with undocumented migrants

Stand with undocumented migrants

The UK's immigration system, and the Hostile Environment, drive people out of legal status and stoke divisions. But it doesn't have to be this way - take action now Read more

Published: 16th November, 2021

Author: Mary Atkinson

The Hostile Environment explained

The Hostile Environment explained

What is the hostile environment? Who is impacted by the hostile environment? How is the hostile environment connected to the Windrush scandal? All your questions answered. Read more

Published: 17th July, 2020

Updated: 9th November, 2021

Author: Ruth Stokes

Jack's story

Jack's story

Jack's life was put on hold, and then at risk, by the UK's complex, expensive and cruel immigration system. Read more

Published: 7th September, 2021

Author: Ruth Stokes

Westminster Hall debate on undocumented migrants - 19 July 2021

Westminster Hall debate on undocumented migrants - 19 July 2021

Our briefing for Parliamentarians ahead of the Westminster Hall debate on undocumented migrants on 19 July 2021. Read more

Published: 13th July, 2021

Author: Ruth Stokes

In the gaps - experiences of migrant workers in the pandemic

In the gaps - experiences of migrant workers in the pandemic

The pandemic has shaken up our whole world order. We see each other now - the workers all around us, keeping the country going. But for those without immigration status, life is difficult and dangerous. Read more

Published: 19th November, 2020

Updated: 21st May, 2021

Author: Ruth Stokes

Consolata's story

Consolata's story

Consolata was separated from her 6-year-old daughter for five months Read more

Published: 31st March, 2021

Updated: 18th May, 2021

Author: Ruth Stokes

Akunna’s story

Akunna’s story

Akunna came to the UK to study, 13 years ago. A period of poor mental health saw him struggling with his course, and with it, losing his right to remain in the UK. His mental health spiralled as he struggled to find a way to regain the right to be in the UK with his family. This is his story. Read more

Published: 27th April, 2021

Updated: 29th April, 2021

Author: Ruth Stokes

Back to top

Showing 10 of 12

Latest

  • Zehrah Hasan - Advocacy Director

    Zehrah Hasan - Advocacy Director

  • Ravishaan Rahel Muthiah - Communications Director

    Ravishaan Rahel Muthiah - Communications Director

  • Tell airlines: Don't deport refugees to Rwanda

    Tell airlines: Don't deport refugees to Rwanda

    The Government is planning to deport refugees to Rwanda. We are calling on Iberojet, Titan Airways and Privilege Style airlines to refuse to join this inhumane scheme.

  • A decade of resistance - Join us to mark 10 years of the Hostile Environment

    A decade of resistance - Join us to mark 10 years of the Hostile Environment

    Join us on Sunday 19 June to mark 10 years of resistance to the Hostile Environment, and learn how we move forward in the fight for justice

Most read

  • Windrush scandal explained

    Windrush scandal explained

    Who are the Windrush generation? What is the Windrush scandal? Why did the Windrush scandal happen? All your questions answered.

  • Application fees - applying for a fee waiver

    Application fees - applying for a fee waiver

    If you're applying for some forms of leave to remain but can't afford the application fee, you may be able to apply for a fee waiver - more details here

  • Tell airlines: Don't deport refugees to Rwanda

    Tell airlines: Don't deport refugees to Rwanda

    The Government is planning to deport refugees to Rwanda. We are calling on Iberojet, Titan Airways and Privilege Style airlines to refuse to join this inhumane scheme.

  • Unspeakably cruel new plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda

    Unspeakably cruel new plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda

    The British public supports refugees - so why is the Government planning to ship off asylum seekers to Rwanda?

  • The Hostile Environment explained

    The Hostile Environment explained

    What is the hostile environment? Who is impacted by the hostile environment? How is the hostile environment connected to the Windrush scandal? All your questions answered.

  • Join us and stand with Afghan refugees

    Join us and stand with Afghan refugees

    Stand with the people of Afghanistan and call for changes so our asylum system is fit to meet this crisis.

  • What is happening with the Borders Bill?

    What is happening with the Borders Bill?

    What is happening with the anti-refugee Borders Bill? What does the Borders Bill mean for asylum seekers, refugees and other migrants? And what can we do about it? Your questions answered.

  • Our helplines

    Our helplines

    You may be able to access advice via our helplines. Find out more about how our helplines work.

  • We won! Home Office to stop using racist visa algorithm

    We won! Home Office to stop using racist visa algorithm

    The Home Office will scrap the racist algorithm it uses to sift visa applications, after we and tech justice organisation Foxglove launched legal action.

  • What happens now the EU Settlement Scheme deadline has passed?

    What happens now the EU Settlement Scheme deadline has passed?

    What happens now the EU Settlement Scheme deadline has passed?

Get in touch

JCWI
441 Caledonian Road
London
N7 9BG

Phone: 020 7251 8708
Fax: 020 7251 8707
Email: [email protected]

Registered Charity Number: 1117513

Links

  • Careers
  • Media
  • Sitemap
  • Contact us

OISC registered - JCWI

Regulated by OISC F202100262

Policies

  • Accessibility
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Admin login
  • My details
  • Log out
 
JCWI Legal Aid Team of the Year 2020 LALYs

Subscribe

* indicates required