As researchers and university teachers in the fields of housing and immigration in the Yorkshire region we oppose the plans of the Coalition government, through the UK Border Agency (UKBA), to award national contracts of around £135 million for managing asylum seeker social housing to the three multinational security companies who manage most immigration detention centres, and forcible deportations in the UK; G4S, Serco, and Reliance.

In Yorkshire the preferred bidder is G4S and the UKBA is at present checking ‘due diligence’ matters before contracts are signed at the end of February. G4S is not of course a social landlord.

G4S are perhaps known to many people in Yorkshire as the firm who read gas and electricity meters, empty cash machines, and through their ‘events arm’ in Sheffield police local sporting and other events.

In fact they are the world’s largest private security firm – they have been responsible for ’security’ at Doncaster airport but also responsible for ’security’ at Baghdad airport, and for guarding diplomats at Kabul airport and throughout Afghanistan. They have been awarded a contract worth £100 million for the London Olympics running security inside the Olympic park providing 10,000 guards to patrol venues. G4S have a close link to police and prisons. In 2011 they managed 675 court and police station cells, four detention centres for asylum seekers and since the summer of 2011 they manage the brand new Cedars ‘family friendly’ detention centre which is called a ‘pre-departure accommodation centre’ in Pease Pottage where families are forcibly held for up to a week prior to enforced removal by the UKBA.

UKBA maintain that the new asylum social housing contracts are being awarded to partners with a proven track record. In the case of G4S they lost the contract to supply escorts in forcible deportations after the death of an Angolan deportee – three G4S guards face criminal charges and the company may yet face corporate manslaughter charges. In 2010 there were a record 773 complaints lodged against G4S by detainees including 48 claims of assault. Three complaints of assault and two of racism were upheld. G4S were allowed to investigate themselves under UKBA ’scrutiny’.

G4S remarkably claim that they will ‘improve cohesion’ by managing the contracts. Asylum seeker tenants already feel intimidated and threatened by the prospect of prison guard companies being installed as their managing landlords. Asylum seekers in social housing are fleeing from persecution and violence and are only allowed tenancies if they are in the process of applying for or appealing cases for sanctuary. They are not ‘criminals’ who deserve prison guards as their landlords but families and individuals claiming their rights under international treaties signed by the UK on our behalf.

The new contracts will mean the privatisation of the whole of social housing available to asylum seekers. Local authorities in Yorkshire still have a large role in delivering contracts and asylum seekers throughout the region prefer their experience with councils and housing associations compared to the performance of private landlord companies already providing some housing. If the councils lose the contracts it will mean hundreds of families dispersed to private landlords often miles away from childrens’ schools or family doctors.

G4S the proposed private managing landlord in Yorkshire are a mega international corporation – the second largest private employer in the world and the largest employer quoted on the British Stock Exchange. They already (2011) have British government contracts worth around £600 million. G4S chief executive Nick Buckles, according to the Annual Report, gets an annual salary and shares worth £2.4 million and a possible annual bonus of £1.2 million. His pension pot is at present worth £7 million. We believe few people in Yorkshire if they were told would believe their taxpayers money should be awarded to such a company to manage asylum seeker housing.

* John Grayson – Independent Researcher, AdEd Knowledge Company and Sheffield Hallam University

* Dr Quintin Bradley – Associate Senior Lecturer, Housing Studies, School of the Built Environment & Engineering Leeds Metropolitan University

* Julia Brooke – PhD student, Human and Health Sciences, The University of Huddersfield

* Dr Rionach Casey – Senior Lecturer in Housing Studies, Sheffield Hallam University

* Dr Cristina Cerulli – Lecturer School of Architecture, University of Sheffield

* Charlie Cooper – Senior Lecturer, Hull University

* Professor Gary Craig – Professor of Community Development and Social Justice, Centre for Social Justice and Community Action, University of Durham

* Rachael Dobson – Lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds

* Dr Max Farrar – Emeritus Professor, Leeds Metropolitan University

* Jenny Fortune – Senior Lecturer Architecture and Planning, Sheffield Hallam University

* Dr David Haigh – Senior Lecturer Planning, Housing and Human Geography, Faculty of Arts, Environment and Technology, Leeds Metropolitan University

* Professor Malcolm Harrison – Emeritus Professor Housing and Social Policy, University of Leeds

* Dr Stuart Hodkinson – School of Geography, University of Leeds

* Professor Caroline Hunter – York Law School, University of York

* Professor Adele Jones – Professor of Childhood Studies, University of Huddersfield

* Martin Jones – Lecturer in International Human Rights Law, Centre for Applied Human Rights and the York Law School, University of York

* Dr Florian Kossak – Lecturer,School of Architecture, University of Sheffield

* Dr Hannah Lewis – Research Fellow, School of Geography, University of Leeds

* Dr Simon Parker – Senior Lecturer in Politics, University of York, Coordinator End Child Detention Now

* Professor Doina Petrescu – Head of Graduate programme, School of Architecture, University of Sheffield

* Jane Petrie – Lecturer in Housing Law, Sheffield Hallam University

* Dr Kesia Reeve – Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research, Sheffield Hallam University

* Professor Flora Samuel – Head of School of Architecture, University of Sheffield

* Dr Tatjana Schneider – Senior Lecturer School of Architecture, University of Sheffield

* Ala Sirriyeh – Lecturer in Sociology, School of Social and International Studies, University of Bradford

* Kate Smith – PhD student, Human and Health Sciences, The University of Huddersfield

* Professor Fionn Stevenson – School of Architecture, University of Sheffield

* Dr Louise Waite – Senior Lecturer in Human Geography School of Geography, University of Leeds

Read more

Source: Guardian

The concession that allowed Tier 1 and 2 applicants to make an in-country immigration application before sitting the language test is being withdrawn. This was introduced so that applicants already in the UK were not caught out by the change to the rules, but is being withdrawn because the requirement is now more common knowledge and tests are easier to arrange now that supply from test providers has caught up with demand.

Applicants for extensions under Tiers 1 and 2 should therefore now make sure they arrange their tests well in advance of the need to extend their visas. Some will no doubt end up being caught out by this change as they will not be keeping an eye on every change to the Immigration Rules and policy guidance – of which there are very, very many, with some major ones to come later this week apparently. An out of time application can always be made under the Points Based System, although it does mean sacrificing the now largely pointless right of appeal and a short period of overstay, which can be problematic later.

A number of technical changes are also being made to reflect changes to the way that various approved test providers label and conduct their tests.

Read more

Source: Independent

This is the sort of story that the tabloids would love if it was about a sturdy British fight against a barmy EU directive or health and safety regulation. But because it’s about an outspoken Muslim academic’s fight against the homegrown petty bureaucracy of the UK Border Agency (UKBA), it’s unlikely to get any headlines in the Daily Mail, the Express or the Telegraph. Dr Muhammad Idrees Ahmad is a respected academic and prolific freelance writer whose topics include drone attacks, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the construction of fear in the war on terror. After finishing a doctorate at Strathclyde University and lecturing part-time in media studies, he was offered a post as a lecturer at De Montfort University in Leicester, on a salary of £35,000. Applying under the points-based system for a work visa to enable him to take up the post, he obtained all the requisite points for qualifications and English language proficiency.

But, the immigration rules require applicants to show that they will be self-sufficient and not use British benefits. Fair enough. But the way they must prove their self-sufficiency is to provide bank statements showing that in the three months before the application, their bank balance never slipped below £800. And Dr Idrees’s bank balance, which stood at £1500 when he applied, had been below the magic £800 mark for some time during the previous three months because of late payments for journalistic work. So although there is no doubt about his ability to support himself – he is better off now than he was as a student, and he has never needed to claim benefits – the UKBA refused the visa.

In a campaign supported by Scotland Against Criminalising Communities (SACC) (http://www.sacc.org.uk/), more than fifty academics wrote to Scottish first minister Alex Salmond and to home secretary Theresa May to protest the red tape and urge them to allow Dr Idrees to pursue his academic career in the UK. Many attended his appeal on 23 January in Glasgow, where the Tribunal allowed the appeal immediately. But the UKBA indicated that it might appeal the Tribunal’s decision, on the ground that the evidence he submitted did not meet the mandatory requirements of the rule. Its officials appear incapable of realising the injustice caused by so rigid an application of the self-sufficiency requirement.

According to the Scotsman, which covered the story, two firms of lawyers he consulted for advice told him not to waste his money on legal fees as he was bound to lose the appeal.[1] Dr Idrees’ case is by no means unique. Refusal of a visa on this ground is common, particularly for those applying from abroad. One applicant was refused after his account fell below £800 by just £1. Those refused visas abroad don’t even get a right of appeal. Some see the rigid rule as a devious way of cutting migrant numbers, a rash pledge made in the early days of the coalition government and proving more difficult than anticipated.

—-
FOOTNOTE

[1] ‘Lecturer faced deportation for having less than £800′ (http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/scotland/lecturer_faced_deportation_for_having_less_than_800_1_2073391), Scotsman, 24 January 2012. Some of Dr Muhammad Idrees Ahmad’s work can be seen: here ( http://fanonite.org/articles/)

Read more

Source: Independent

Read more

Source: Guardian

Campaigners won a last minute stay of deportation for two Cameroonian asylum seekers last week.

Lydia Besong and her husband Bernard Batey were due to be deported on an Air France flight at 8.20am last Saturday morning.Their supporters didn’t lose hope and kept bombarding the authorities and the airline with letters and emails. A judge granted a judicial review at 5pm on Friday evening.

The couple had been issued with a removal order by the UK Border Agency on 10 January, despite still awaiting a decision on an earlier claim.Lydia and Bernard’s solicitor Gary McIndoe said, “It’s an excellent result. It’s a battle won but we have a war to fight.”

Read more

Source: Scottish Refugee Council

Kane is now 20 and with a promising career in the music business. He is about to go off a volunteer in Africa for three months. But at age 14 this Aylestone boy was a right pain to the entire community. Expelled from school he was regularly being arrested for theft, criminal damage and assault.

“I had serious problems dealing with my anger – there was only one way I was going.”

Kane started to get off the road to a life of crime and imprisonment when his Youth Offending Service worker Kieran Walsh got him to attend music sessions at Soft Touch Arts(www.soft-touch.org.uk

“I’d always wanted to make beats and write lyrics,  but never really had the opportunity. I got along with the staff at Soft Touch right away – and suddenly I had something to focus on.I realised I had the chance to make something of myself  – that I could have a dream of going on stage in front of thousands, rather than just get in trouble all the time.”

Kane started attending Soft Touch as much he could and the staff encouraged him to become a volunteer, working with other young people from the YOS to develop their skills and find alternatives to the trouble they were getting in.

“It all helped me realise that what I had been doing was stupid – it gave me confidence to know that other people had confidence in me and made me feel I had something to lose.

Eventually Kane became a sessional worker with Soft Touch’s Mash-Up project, a music outreach project run in New Parks that has won plaudits from the local police for its affect on reducing crime and anti-social behaviour. He also represented the UK at an international community arts festival in Rotterdam working with local youth on music production. He has also started working with a local music venue doing marketing and promotion as well as DJ sets.

When international volunteering charity ICS contacted Soft Touch about support for a music project being run in Tanzania, they suggested Kane as ideal candidate. A tough selection process took Kane well outside his comfort zone – competing to take part alongside self-confident, high-achieving law students looking for a gap year project.  He amazed himself and got through – so now after a three day induction course in York he’s getting ready to leave in January for Dar Es Salaam where he will work at the House of Talent, a project that engages vulnerable youth through music and along the way is able to hit them with life-saving health messages about issues such as HIV.

“We’re all going to have to get used to living without the stuff we’re used too,” says Kane. “I think we only get three hours of electricity a day and there’s no TV or anything. But I’m just looking forward to the whole experience. I’ve heard the kids out there are into hip-hop and gangster rap but I plan to play some of my stuff – grime and dubstep – and see how they respond.

“This is going to change my view of everything – right now I’d like to run my own record label, but when I come back – who knows?”.