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In October 2019, three years after the Brexit referendum, I received my OISC (Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner) accreditation and began volunteering as an immigration adviser. Only a few months prior, I had been through my own personal experience of the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS), applying for and being granted settled status.
How wrong I’d been to assume it would be easy…
Despite having lived in the UK for nine years, applying wasn’t an easy decision, but it was the only way to prevent being separated from my family when Brexit kicked in. As my grasp of English and use of electronic devices was seemingly strong, I expected my own application to be a fairly straightforward process. I remember sitting with a huge, pile of documents – which spanned years – at 11pm at night with a headache, thinking how wrong I’d been to assume it would be easy.
Fast-forward to today, September 2023. After being an immigration adviser for nearly four years, and supporting hundreds of people, I’m in disbelief at how much more complex, convoluted and hostile the process has become. If, in 2019, it was not as easy for me to apply for EUSS, as I’d been led to believe, imagine how challenging it has proved to be for my clients. Many of whom are vulnerable due to limited English proficiency, health issues and homelessness.
The most vulnerable are the hardest hit
Take Karol for example. A few months ago, I received an email from him after he had been referred by a friend. Karol arrived in the UK many years ago. He had escaped exploitative working conditions and has been recognised by the UK government as a survivor of human trafficking. Karol’s ID expired a few years back and he had no idea how to apply to the EUSS. He could not work, so he had no income for things like food and rent. Karol found himself at imminent risk of homelessness. At the time Karol said:: “Unfortunately, in the fridge, it’s [the only] light that I have left.”
When I began to advise Karol, I explained that an expired ID could still be used to apply for EUSS. Following an escalation of his case with the Home Office, he was granted settled status. When I delivered the news to him, he said, “I thank God that I came across you. In Poland I was a volunteer working in a centre for the homeless as a caregiver. Thank you very much. If it wasn’t for you I would probably already be on the streets.” Since then, Karol has had his benefits claim accepted, and is able to start paying off his rent.
Family reunification is another area where EUSS falls short. While this pathway to pre-settled status is offered, its poorly designed process demands that applicants present evidence that is often impossible to gather. I have seen applications from elderly people who are refused status due to lack of evidence of their medical dependency – people like Anna, whose mother is in her seventies and suffers from dementia.
Her mother’s application was refused twice before she came across POMOC’s direct service work. Following our involvement, Anna’s mother was finally granted pre-settled status as a joining family member. Anna found the process overly confusing and complex. She shared this with us: “Thanks to you I will have my mum, at her advanced age, next to me. I have not enough words to thank you for your huge support.”
Anna described the impact the process had on her mum: “Before receiving the status [Mum] was stressed, she cried and was afraid that she would have to return to Poland. She is a disabled person. When she found out that she got the status, and would be able to stay, she became calmer and began to walk more willingly, as this is very important with her illness.”
None of these experiences are one-offs; rather they are indicative of the immigration system becoming increasingly more hostile. I, alongside other advisers and volunteers, have worked with people who find themselves incapable of navigating the UK’s immigration law and are going through the application process without any support. Whether the reason for this is a language barrier, isolation, illness or digital exclusion, the process is summed up in the words of one of my clients: “How degrading the whole thing is […] the whole process is inhumane and so unnecessary -.”
Policy change does not account for people’s experiences
The recent changes to late applications will entrench inequality and make it easier for the Home Office to deny applications, such as Karol’s or Anna’s. From August 2023, the Home Office has taken a harsher approach, only accepting a late application if the person can provide evidence of serious reasonable grounds. These grounds no longer include lack of English language ability or lack of awareness of the scheme. More details can be found in the summary produced by the3million.
It is clear that the government’s policy change is completely detached from the reality experienced by the majority of vulnerable applicants. The expectation that someone sleeping on the streets will be prioritising gathering evidence of reasonable grounds is incomprehensibly surrealist and illogical. Through poor design and failure to protect rights, this is another Windrush scandal in the making.
