Job restrictions for asylum seekers?

posted: 30/07/2010

UPDATED 23 August

New Immigration Rules following the Supreme Court's decision will begin on 9 September and updated guidance has been produced by the UKBA

After the Supreme Court decision we reported yesterday allowing some 'legacy case' asylum seekers to apply for permissiion to work, Home Office ministers are now trying to limit the jobs these 45,000 asylum seekers could take.

The immigration minister, Damian Green, wants to stop asylum seekers from taking most jobs and restrict them to types of work where the government has said there are official shortages.

Home Office officials are investigating the possibility of telling asylum seekers they can apply only for vacancies among 400,000 skilled jobs in shortage occupations – a tiny fraction of almost 30 million jobs in the UK economy.
 

Some teaching, engineering, welding, dancing jobs only
Asylum seekers would have to be qualified maths teachers, chemical engineers, high-integrity pipe welders, experienced orchestral musicians, or ballet dancers or have other unusual skills to have any hope of being given permission to work. The jobs are the same as the types of jobs open to migrants from outside Europe wanting to work in the UK under the new points-based immigration system.
 

This week's supreme court ruling said refused asylum seekers who made a second fresh claim for refugee status should be allowed to work if they had waited more than 12 months for a UKBA decision.
 

The Supreme Court ruling applies a EU directive which set minimum standards for how asylum seekers are treated throughout Europe, so asylum seekers are treated with basic dignity. The Supreme Court rejected the home secretary's case that this group of asylum seekers should not have this protection because their first application had been rejected.
 

10 years of 'right to work' campaigning
Refugee welfare groups have been fighting for more than 10 years to lift the ban on asylum seekers being allowed to work in Britain while their applications are decided. This is the first time the courts have backed the principle.
 

Immigration barristers say the ruling will mean that tens of thousands of failed asylum seekers whose fresh applications are grinding their way through the system will be entitled to basic rights, including the right to work. The court said any problem with undeserving cases should be dealt with by deciding them quickly rather than by punishing them by depriving them of their fundamental rights.
 

45,000 of the ‘legacy cases’
The Home Office says that up to 45,000 refused asylum seekers are likely to be affected by the ruling. Many of them are among the 450,000 "legacy cases", some dating back more than 10 years, which the Home Office is working through in a backlog exercise.
Immigration minister Green confirmed his intention to severely restrict the jobs open to asylum seekers who have waited more than a year for a decision. He said: "I believe it is important to maintain a distinction between economic migration and asylum – giving failed asylum seekers access to the labour market undermines this principle." He claimed the ruling would have only a short-term effect as "the long delays in the asylum system will be resolved by the summer of next year when all the older asylum cases are concluded".
 

Disbelief at plan to clear 450,000 backlog within 12 months
It is hard to see how all these legacy cases can possibly be decided by next summer. The private company Serco has just lost its £15m contract with the UK Border Agency (UKBA) which was to help clear the huge backlog in legacy asylum claims, amid allegations that the system is in complete chaos.

Serco was given the contract last year to speed up clerical work and help caseworkers clear the backlog of 450,000 asylum cases. Many of the cases date from the mid-1990s. The plan was that with Serco's help the entire backlog would be dealt with by 2012. But complaints started to come in almost immediately that Serco’s work was slowing the system down. According to one insider, there were too many inaccuracies and omissions by Serco.

UKBA staff have now been told that the work is to be returned to UKBA civil servants. So far, it seems, only about 200,000 legacy cases have been dealt with and the system remains in chaos. At the same time as the announcement that the work is being taken back by UKBA, a leaked memo from the coalition government reveals plans to axe 7,000 UK Border Agency jobs - 1,700 this financial year. How the UKBA will be able to deal with new asylum cases, not to mention the scandalous backlog, with a third fewer staff, remains to be seen.
 

Home Office job restrictions plan ‘disappointing’
Jonathan Ellis, director of policy and development at the Refugee Council, said the Home Office's response to the ruling was "disappointing". "The supreme court ruled that this group of asylum seekers has the right to work under EU law – the government should not then limit this right down to a small number of asylum seekers who meet the requirements for national shortage occupations."
 

"The shortage occupation list is not designed for asylum seekers but rather economic migrants needing sponsorship to come to the UK. Asylum seekers who have waited so long for a decision should be allowed to work for local employers whenever their skills are needed."
 

Source
with additional material about Serco from Private Eye 1267, 23rd July – 5th August 2010

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More Asylum Seekers Can Work

posted: 29/07/2010

UPDATED 23 August

New Immigration Rules following the Supreme Court's decision will begin on 9 September and updated guidance has been produced by the UKBA

People who have been waiting for a decision on their asylum claim for more than one year now have the legal right to work, even when they have made a fresh claim. People applying for asylum are not normally allowed to work. If people seeking asylum are still waiting for the first decision on their claim for 12 months or more, then they can ask for permission to work. Few people wait this long for the first decision on asylum claims so this rule does not help many people to work.

But yesterday the Supreme Court opened the door to many more people. It ruled that people who have made a fresh claim for asylum have the same right, if they have waited 12 months or more in total for a decision on their first and a later fresh claim.
 

Campaign Success

This is excellent news for many asylum seekers with HIV and other asylum seekers who do not want to be dependant on the state, but who are keen to work and use their skills to support themselves and their families.George House Trust has supported the national campaign for the right to work and welcomes the decision of the Supreme Court.
 

The Supreme Court was politely but firmly dismissive and critical of the Home Secretary’s weak case. The previous Secretary of State Alan Johnson, decided to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s ruling in April last year which first allowed the right to work.

In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court has now recognised that people who have submitted new evidence to support their claim for asylum (a 'fresh claim'), and who have waited longer than 12 months for a Home Office decision on their initial claim, should be given permission to work.
 

Thanks to EU

This is because they are included within the EU ‘Reception Directive’ from the time their application first application was sent in. The Reception Directive says that an asylum seeker can apply for permission to work if they have not had a decision on their claim from the Home Office after 12 months.
 

The Supreme Court dismissed the Secretary of State’s arguments that a fresh application for asylum does not fall within the EU's Reception Directive. The Court said it didn’t accept that this would lead to a rush of unmerited fresh applications being made, and that anyway denying people their right to work was not the proper way to prevent that happening.
 

Welcome for judgement

Jonathan Ellis, Chief Executive of the Refugee Council said:
“We welcome the Supreme Court’s decision to accept that an asylum seeker who has submitted a fresh claim for asylum should be given permission to work after they have waited twelve months for a decision on their claim. The appeal by the former Secretary of State against the Court of Appeal’s decision that this person should be allowed to work, has wasted valuable time and resources at time when asylum seekers should have been supported to get on with their lives rather than face destitution.
 

“The vast majority of asylum seekers who come to the UK would rather support themselves through work than be forced to be homeless or to rely on Government support. Denying asylum seekers the chance to work means they cannot contribute to the UK economy and condemns asylum seekers and their families to abject poverty. We would urge the government to ensure those who have submitted fresh claims for asylum will now be granted support and permission to work under this ruling immediately.”
 

Get advice first before working

People who think they now have the right to work should seek advice from their immigration adviser about applying for permission to work. People are not allowed to simply start working.

Source
Press summary of Judgment - produced by the Supreme Court 
 

The full Supreme Court judgment is not yet available on the court's website - search here later for [2010] UKSC 36  
 

Court entrance image credit Shark Attacks - Creative Commons licence

European Parliament Votes for HIV

posted: 09/07/2010

In the run up to the largest and most prestigious International AIDS Conference in Vienna (which begins later this month), HIV campaigners across Europe have won a big a vote in the European Parliament for a human rights based approach to HIV. There is now a list of 25 things that should happen next according to the European Parliament’s resolution.
The vote was 400 for and 166 against.
 

After a list of reasons, on page four the 25 actions that the European Parliament and its institutions should now take begins.  It's a shopping list of actions to do the best that is possible to deal with the HIV epidemic for people within Europe and the rest of the world. 

What they voted for

It calls for a human rights approach to dealing with HIV and lists a whole range of things to make this happen - such as decriminalising HIV transmission, and providing healthcare to all, because this is now part of the universal declaration of human rights.

Here is the full Resolution which has just been voted through
You can find the whole debate here – video and printed versions
 

Asylum Right to Work Campaign

posted: 28/06/2010

People applying for asylum are not normally allowed to work. If people seeking asylum are still waiting for the first decision on their claim for 12 months or more, then they can ask for permission to work.

George House Trust and the community HIV sector strongly support extending the right to work after six months. This was one of the recommendations in NAT’s 2006 report HIV and Poverty: Findings from the Crusaid Hardship Fund. Working is a really simple and effective way to help reducing poverty among asylum seekers and show respect for people’s autonomy and personal dignity.

If the government changed the rules, taxpayers will be saved from paying benefits to support people who are able to and want to work, but aren’t allowed to. It means that working asylum seekers won’t need to turn to charity to get by. And those who are allowed to stay in the UK will find it much easier to become part of British society if they’ve already been given a chance to work.

Asylum seekers are amongst the vulnerable people in our society, and many are affected by HIV. Over a quarter of Crusaid Hardship Fund grants between 2006 and 2009 were paid to asylum seekers. Some of these applicants received Section 95 or Section 4 support, some relied on friends and family, and others had no support at all. All asylum seekers with HIV experience severe poverty, and poverty always has bad effects on people’s health.

You can support the campaign by emailing your MP and asking your MP to sign a declaration in favour of giving asylum seekers the right to work after 6 months. Simply enter your postcode in the box at this 38 Degrees campaign webpage 

image: Zimbabwean BlackBook

UK HIV Prevention for Africans

posted: 22/06/2010

‘Testing is the only way you can tell if you are infected with HIV’ is the message of the new HIV campaign by the African HIV Policy Network. The campaign theme TALK and TEST aims to signpost Africans wanting to talk about HIV testing or about living with HIV, to the free and confidential African HIV information helpline: 0800 0967 500 – Monday to Friday, 10am – 6pm.
 

They are keen for people to visit the African HIV information website Do-It-Right for facts and figures about HIV, to find out more about HIV testing, and take part in the Life Check interactive HIV information quiz. This hopes to offer a fun way to find out more about everything from the basics of HIV, to taking HIV treatments.
 

Untested worries
TALK and TEST is based on results from the latest Bass Line survey of 2,500 Africans living in England. Bass Line found that almost 40% of African people living in England have never tested for HIV, and among the untested, 1 in 10 feel too afraid to test because of fear about having HIV.
Another one-in-eight want to test for HIV but did not know where to go for an HIV test.
 

Ford Hickson, the leading researcher on Bass Line, said: “Many African people in England would test for HIV if they knew where to go for a test. However, influencing testing in other Africans requires increasing their perception of risk from HIV infection, and increasing their understanding of the benefits of testing and the potential harm associated with not knowing their HIV status.
The vast majority know that
• HIV is a virus that can be passed during sexual intercourse
• that HIV cannot be passed through everyday contact
• that there is a medical test that can show whether someone is infected.”

Jabulani Chwaula – National African HIV Prevention Programme Manager says “Those who lack social power turn out to be those with the greatest need for skills and confidence to help them avoid getting or passing on HIV. Resolving this means paying attention to treatment access, stigma, discrimination, and immigration policy.”
Free and confidential African HIV information helpline: 0800 0967 500 – Monday to Friday, 10am – 6pm.
African HIV information website Do It Right
African HIV Policy Network 020 7017 8910
e-mail
NAHIP website