CSAN has responded to the government’s consultation on it’s ‘Earned Settlement’ proposals, outlining why we firmly reject them. The proposals aim to make it much harder for migrants and refugees in the UK to get settled status. Under the proposals, the current 5 year route to settlement will be doubled to a standard 10 year route, which may be lengthened to 20 years or more depending on people’s ability to meet certain criteria.
Under the proposed plans, people will be penalised with a longer route to settlement if they work in lower skilled roles, if they arrive in the UK by boat or if they access public funds. Only those earning above a set salary for 3 – 5 years will become eligible for settlement, and people will have to jump through a series of hoops to demonstrate their level of ‘integration’.
Some people will be barred from settlement altogether, including those who have a historic conviction, have overstayed a visa, or have NHS debt.
In our submission to the consultation we firmly rejected this approach to settlement. Rooted in gospel values and catholic social teaching, we argued against any policy that makes people’s access to basic security a reward. Instead, we argues that the security that comes with settled status in the UK is a pre-condition to people being able to live a dignified life.
We argued against the use of measures of ‘character’, ‘integration’ and ‘contribution’ as proposed by the government. We believe they are dehumanising, measuring people’s complex lives against an arbitrary yardstick in a context that is already stacked against them. The use of concepts such as ‘contribution’ and ‘character’ in these policies contribute to insidious ideas about the differential value that people bring to society, and by applying them only to migrants, they reinforce xenophobia. They will strengthen existing structural inequalities based on class, race, gender and disability, impacting those on low incomes, with long term ill health and with caring responsibilities.
From our response on the notion of ‘character’:
“We consider the idea that [the proposed] indicators can be used assess to someone’s ‘character’ as fundamentally flawed.
People may overstay a visa or enter the UK without papers for many complex reasons, often through no fault of their own. People frequently get into debt due to circumstances beyond their control, such as sickness and financial hardship. This is likely to have a disproportionate impact on people with disabilities or long-term health conditions, subjecting them to further insecurity.
People with historic convictions should not be penalised. This policy undermines the stated aim of rehabilitation in our criminal justice system. It is an arbitrary form of double punishment that fails to pay attention to why people end up in the criminal justice system and is likely to worsen reoffending rates. As anti-migrant legislation widens the the net of activities designated as ‘criminal’, more and more people in our churches and communities will be pushed into greater precarity by this policy.“
From our response on the notion of ‘integration’:
“We know from experiences across Catholic diocese and parishes that being part of a community looks different for everyone in this country. As such, integration into a community cannot be meaningfully tested by such a policy. Instead these measures will create arbitrary hurdles that will generate unnecessary bureaucracy.
They will also be discriminatory by nature, making settlement more difficult to access for those with caring responsibilities including parents, for people with disabilities, people doing long hours and shift work, and for those with long-term illness. For many people in the UK, participation in activities such as regular volunteering, English classes, and the passing of tests are not fair or neutral indicators of commitment to integration, or participation in community….
Making settlement longer, more complicated and more expensive, will actively work to undermine the security that enables people to live full and dignified lives alongside those around them. As such, the best way to promote integration and community cohesion is to speed up routes to settlement.“
As a Catholic organisation, we call instead for an immigration system that affirms the fundamental dignity of all people, rather than turning dignity into something that has to be earned. Read more about our call for the government to scrap these plans.
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