OCCASIONAL NEWS FROM FRIENDS WITHOUT BORDERS (PORTSMOUTH)

Events

REFUGEE WEEK VIGIL
Chichester Cathedral Lady Chapel
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MONDAY 18TH JUNE
from Matins 07:30 to Evensong 17:30
and including both services.
Largely silent prayer but with hourly “Reflections”
 
DO JOIN US FOR AS SHORT OR AS LONG A TIME AS YOU WISH
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​GOOD NEWS!

​Our fund raising has been going well recently and we have received a small legacy so we’ve been able to raise our standard destitution payment from £15 to £20 a week. All our clients are offered a food bank voucher when we have them as well.

​This is very good news for our clients, none of whom are allowed to work and many of whom are excluded from the Welfare State as the Windrush people have been. 

​IFTAR MEALS

Iftar at Home ©raasiel

​“Iftar” is the fast-breaking meal which Muslims eat after evening prayers during the month of Ramadan.

A supporter offered to provide these once a week during the month for our clients. We have been very happy to agree to this and on Thursday nights a team of mainly Christian volunteers open All Saints where we hold the drop-in, Muslim prayers are said, and the meal is enjoyed by Muslims and Christians alike.

​A nice bit of inter-faith community building.

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BOB’S WALK

Our supporter Bob Thomas is as I write walking the first leg of his walk from St Columba’s in Fareham to St Columba’s in London. He is collecting for Friends Without Borders and you may sponsor him on his JustGiving page.                         
I just rang him to see how the first day was going but just got a very tired sounding answerphone message. If he was tired at the start I hate to think how he’s going to be at the end!

COMPUTER PARAGON NEEDED

Laptop 2 ©Tauralbus

​In our last Occasional News I wrote about the death of our wonderful computer man John Cozens.

I wonder if there is any volunteer who might be interested in the job: it would involve installing and servicing our equipment, liaising with Tech Trust about our Microsoft Licence, possibly doing a bit of programming with our database.

​I’m afraid this isn’t a job for a well-meaning but inexperienced amateur, what we need is someone who can hit the ground running and - after an unfortunate experience some years ago - someone who is totally trustworthy. 
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FEES

©Simon James

This briefing draws on a detailed document by the CORAM Children’s Legal Centre We are grateful to CORAM for all their work on this.

The situation: Leave to Remain Asylum seekers may be given refugee status which lasts for five years. At the end of five years they must apply for “Indefinite leave” meaning permanent residence, but this application is free of charge.

Many others are given Discretionary Leave to Remain which is initially for 30 months and has to be renewed four times at a considerable cost until the applicant has been in the country for ten years, after which they can apply for settlement. This applies to every individual, including children. There seems to be little consistency over decisions on why some applicants are in one category and some in the other.

​How much are the fees?
At the moment (June 2018), each individual must pay £1,533 per person, including a  compulsory health surcharge. This may rise to £2033 if the government carries out its plan to double the health surcharge by the end of 2018.

​The health surcharge must be paid on-line, which is extremely difficult for those without bank accounts. Until 2015 renewal was free, but charges were introduced in April 2015 and have continued to rise steeply every year. The charges are out of all proportion to the Home Office “processing” cost.
 
After applying for renewal every 30 months, at the end of ten years an application for Indefinite Leave to Remain costs (at today’s rate) £2,389 per person.
 
People should save up…
They do, but:

1. it is difficult to get a well paid job if you only have a visa for 30 months;
2. as the fees are per family member a family may have to find £8,000 or more every 30 months;
3. the fees are increasing by between 10% and 30% a year so it’s difficult to keep up.

 
What about Fee Waivers?
There is no fee waiver for Indefinite Leave to Remain or citizenship.
Some people with Discretionary Leave can apply for a fee waiver, but the eligibility threshold is extremely high and if a request for a fee waiver is rejected, you have ten days to pay the fee before your application for extension is rejected; you then lose your status entirely and become undocumented. This means you become unable to work; you have no recourse to public funds (benefits) and the time you have already spent in the UK is not counted towards the ten years’ leave you need in order to apply for settlement.
 
Friends Without Borders is helping applicants with these fees, we paid £1,012 in May and have just received a request for£1,033 in June, this being the balance of a fee after the client has made a large contribution himself. Trustees are still deciding but it currently looks as if they will agree the June application.
 
Is there anything I can do?
Write to your MP – the current charges are arbitrary, excessive and grossly unfair, particularly on young families trying to set themselves up after the upset of leaving their own countries.

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Very best wishes,
Michael
(chairman@friendswithoutborders.org.uk)
 

​PS Do try to join me and  Roger Pask at the Chichester Cathedral Vigil on Monday 18th June. Roger (Chair of Sanctuary in Chichester) and I (Chair of Friends Without Borders, Portsmouth) will be there all day. It would be lovely to see you.