INDEPENDENT TRAVELS

Migrant crisis: Britain set to accept more refugees

David Cameron is expected to announce plans later to increase the number of refugees being allowed into the UK.

The extra refugees are expected to come from UN camps bordering Syria, and not from among people already in Europe.

No specific figure has been agreed, but Mr Cameron has previously said the UK would continue to take in "thousands".

BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said Downing Street had found itself behind the curve amid public and media reaction to the humanitarian crisis.

The PM is likely to make an announcement in Madrid after talks with Spanish and Portuguese leaders that had been intended to cover Britain's proposals for EU reform.
'Deeply moved'

Calls for the UK to take in more refugees have intensified after the publication of a picture of the body of a drowned three-year-old Syrian boy, Alan Kurdi, washed up a Turkish beach.

Mr Cameron said on Thursday that as a father he felt "deeply moved" by the image, but he has argued that taking on more people was not the simple answer.

But it now appears that his stance is shifting amid pressure from public and political figures, including:

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has written to Mr Cameron calling for the UK to accept more refugees
Former Labour Home Secretary David Blunkett said the UK should take in 25,000 over the next six months
A petition calling on the UK to accept more refugees has got more than three times the 100,000 signatures needed for it to be eligible for a possible debate in Parliament

Meanwhile, a stand-off between police and migrants on a train in Hungary is continuing into a second day.

On Thursday, police let the migrants board the train in Budapest but then tried to force them off at a refugee camp to the west of the capital.

The prime minister isn't changing his argument.

He still thinks opening up Europe's borders and agreeing quotas will not solve the refugee crisis. In fact, he thinks it would make it worse by increasing pull factors and encouraging people traffickers.

But, as the crisis gets worse and the public and political pressure grows, the prime minister does now accept that Britain has a moral duty to do more.

While on a visit to Portugal and Spain to discuss his planned EU reforms, Mr Cameron is expected to say that he is looking at extending existing British and UN schemes that have so far brought a few hundred of the most vulnerable Syrian refugees to the UK.

No targets have been agreed and none is likely to be set today - although Mr Cameron has talked of taking thousands more - but he is unlikely to satisfy his many critics who want Britain to take in tens of thousands of refugees and who have been outraged by his reluctance to act.

Almost 5,000 Syrians have been granted asylum in the last four years and the UK has accepted 216 Syrian refugees under a scheme to relocate the most vulnerable begun in January 2014.

It is expected that this relocation scheme will be extended to see thousands more refugees brought directly to the UK from camps in Syria and neighbouring countries.

The BBC's Laura Kuenssberg said the prime minister would continue to make the argument that the problem also needs to be tackled at source.

Among those to add his voice to calls for the UK to do more is former Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, who told BBC Newsnight that the UK needed to make "a very clear and conspicuous humanitarian gesture".

"I think 10,000 is a figure that we could handle," he said.

"It's a figure to which Britain would respond - the churches, the religious groups, the charities, would all join in, local civic groups.

But UKIP leader Nigel Farage warned the European Union was sending a message that anybody who wants to can come to Europe which, he said, would compound the crisis by encouraging more people to make the journey.

"If we want to stop images like that picture of that three-year-old boy being taken out of the sea then we have to stop the boats from coming. That is absolutely vital," he told LBC radio.
'Showing leadership'

Development charity Oxfam welcomed indications of a shift in UK government policy.

Chief executive Mark Goldring said: "Offering to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees would bring the UK in line with other European countries who have already shown leadership in offering a haven to vulnerable refugees."

Former Conservative foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the UK should respond "in a positive way" to the crisis "and that must run into thousands of people being admitted to this country".

But he added that he had concerns, for Britain and any country taking people in, over "what signal that will send to those who are not in Europe at the moment".

He also said the obligation to help refugees should be considered by countries outside of Europe, pointing out that "very large numbers" went to areas such as the United States, Canada, South America and Australia following World War Two.

Source@BBC

NHS Raises Concern for Nurses under Tier 2

There are concerns raised by NHS chiefs over changes to the UK Tier 2 immigration rules have been put forward in a letter sent to the Home Office. The Nursing Times states that many Tier 2 applications of nurses recruited from outside the European Union are being refused by the Home Office.

Additionally, some non-EU NHS nurses are known to be resigning as a consequence of new immigration rules, which would see them having to leave the country, if their yearly salary is less than £35,000 and they've been in Britain for six years.

Obtaining Tier 2 visas is getting increasingly difficult. It can be difficult to keep your Tier 2 sponsorship licence which the Home Office can revoke anytime. There have even been reports of the Home Office producing falsified documentation to support revocation of sponsorship licences held by employers. In addition, somewhat bizarrely, the OISC (Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner) appears to have become involved in the Governments attempts to reduce net immigration to the UK, which now even worsens the situation.

Nurses’ exclusion from the Shortage Occupation List leaves non-EU nurses coming under the general pool of Tier 2 visa applicants restricted to a total of 20,700 visas annually.
A clinical director at an NHS hospital in London revealed that nurses were already quitting their jobs and taking up employment opportunities in the private sector for increased salaries with hope that this will enable them to remain in the UK.

Clinical Directors statement highlights: "It's a massive blow to us. London relies on nurses with Tier 2 work permits to keep NHS operations running. It's really difficult to recruit nurses in the current climate because of high living costs in London. Our hospital has already lost two nurses in quick succession to the private sector as they seek to avoid the £35,000 salary threshold."
He also went onto say: "It will be disastrous if the government allows these rules to go through. Even rumours of the threshold will lead to nurses leaving the NHS out of fear."

NHS recruiters and individual NHS Trusts have warned the Department of Health and the Home Office that unless the immigration rules and the Tier 2 visa Shortage Occupation List are changed, the NHS will struggle to recruit nurses for vacant posts and face problems with nurses leaving employment to join private sector

No in country appeal against EEA sham marriage removals says Upper Tribunal

In R (on the application of Bilal Ahmed) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (EEA/s 10 appeal rights: effect) IJR [2015] UKUT 436 (IAC) the Upper Tribunal concludes that there is no in country right of appeal where a non EEA foreign national marries an EEA national and applies for a residence card, the residence card application is refused on the basis that the marriage is a sham and the Home Office takes removal action against the non EEA national. The official headnote:

(1) The fact that P (who is not an EEA national) has a right of appeal under the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006 against an EEA decision to refuse P a residence card does not have the effect of precluding the Secretary of State from removing P under section 10 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.

(2) Section 92(4)(b) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (as it was before the changes made by the Immigration Act 2014) does not afford P an in-country right of appeal against the section 10 decision, where the issue of whether P is a member of the family of an EEA national is a matter of dispute.

(3) The factual issue of whether P is a family member falls to be determined by the First-tier Tribunal on appeal by P against the EEA decision and/or the section 10 decision, whether or not P may by then be outside the United Kingdom. A judicial review by P of the decision to remove and/or the setting of removal directions will not succeed where P’s application is based on marriage to an EEA national, if the Secretary of State reasonably suspects P of being a party to a marriage of convenience.

If this were to occur, the non EEA national were to suffer financial losses and the appeal were to succeed with the effect that the residence card is ultimately granted, the non EEA national would have a very good EU law damages claim against the Home Office.