Nick Clegg – you’ve got mail.

Theresa May obviously thinks Nick Clegg needs persuading – or at least is persuadable. In her ‘leaked’ letter to him about the coming Immigration Rule changes to be laid before Parliament in the next few months, she seeks to persuade Mr Clegg of the wisdom of choosing upper figure for maintenance thresholds for spouses/partners outlined by MAC in their snappily entitled report Review of the minimum income requirement for sponsorship under the family migration route.

We’ve briefed and blogged about this before and we’re hoping that Mr Clegg has been following what we’ve been saying, but in case he hasn’t we popped a letter (see below) in the post to him last week.

Legal Aid bill returns to Commons

Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill has it’s third reading in the House of Lords.  It is expected to return to the House of Commons on 17 April for MPs to consider Lords’ amendments. 

Death by visa?

It’s the anniversary of the uprising in Syria. With the death toll having reached around the 8000 mark, the grim discovery earlier this week of yet more dead children’s bodies, and the apparent planting, by Syrian forces, of landmines to prevent refugee flows out of Syria, one might have hoped for a sufficiently compassionate and humane response from the Coalition – afterall the UK was actively involved in drafting the UDHR which enshrines the the right to seek and enjoy asylum in precisely such circumstances. So what has the Coalition’s response to all of this been?

Changes to Immigration Rules laid before Parliament today

The Government has today laid a ministerial statement in Parliament outlining various worring changes to the Immigration Rules. Most of the changes are due to take effect on 6 April 2012, although some of the changes to Tier 2 will affect those who were granted leave after 6 April 2011.Key changes as identified by UKBA on their website are as follows:

Tier 2 – skilled workers

• Limiting the total amount of temporary leave that may be granted to a Tier 2 migrant to 6 years (which applies to those who entered after 6 April 2011).
• Introducing a new minimum pay requirement of £35,000 or the appropriate rate for the job, for Tier 2 general and sportsperson migrants who wish to settle here from April 2016 (with exemptions for those in PhD level and shortage occupation categories).
• Introducing a ‘cooling-off period’ across all the Tier 2 routes. Tier 2 migrants will

Last chances on Legal Aid

The Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association who’ve been heavily involved with lobbying on the Legal Aid Bill are flagging up that there’s a potential opportunity to put some final pressure on Government with a view to getting a better deal on legal aid.

Immigration is due to be debated on Monday 12 March – Labour have tabled an amendment that would bring immigration work into scope, so there’s likely to be a short discussion about that, followed by a debate about exceptional funding given that amendments including an immigration-specific amendment to permit exceptional funding where the case is complex and the individual would be without representation) have been tabled.

What you can do

ILPA have suggested the following (by no later than Monday morning (12 March)

Helpline for Irregular Migrants launching this month

JCWI is delighted to announce the opening of a new advice line – for undocumented migrants in London.

Undocumented migrants do not fall into any of the UK’s legal immigration categories. This includes migrants who entered the country through an irregular channel or do not possess valid documents, migrants who have overstayed their visas, migrants with rejected asylum applications or cases where refugee status was revoked.

Ann Dummett – Obituary

Guest contribution by Sue Shutter (Executive Committee ILPA) 

Ann Dummett, a founder of JCWI and a staff member from January 1978 to November 1984, died on 7 February 2012, at the age of 81. Her death is a huge loss to all who work for race equality and justice, areas where she has done so much for the past 50 years.

Migrant Voice launches second newspaper

At JCWI we are looking forward to getting our hands on the new edition of Migrant Voice. Migrant Voice, as an organisation has been around for a couple of years. It aims to develop the skills, capacity and confidence of members of migrant communities, including asylum seekers and refugees. Part of that work is producing an newspaper which is edited, produced and largely written by migrants.

Damian Green Speaks! Nothing Said!

Green realises he has nothing to say.

It must be a pretty frustrating job being immigration minister. You get to call yourself a minister, you might get a couple of rides in the Home Sec’s limo, but you don’t get to announce new exciting stuff. That bit is saved for the Home Secretary herself.

Students and the international education shambles

TASMAC's London campus closed with no refunds or assistance for its former students - the University continues to operater in India

Media coverage of ‘bogus’ colleges conflates the issue with ‘bogus’ students. The accepted establishment or mainstream media line is that, colleges are established purely to offer an immigration route to the UK and both parties (college and students) are obviously in on the plot from the start.

While these scams undoubtedly take place, the reality for many students is brutal and costly, with education being denied, and students being left vastly out of pocket. There are few, if any, articles in the mainstream media which recognise that students at closed international colleges are the victims of such events.