Dear Theresa May, My husband is being forced to leave the country thanks to incredibly unfair loopholes in your new visa rules for the husbands and wives of British citizens. I’m heavily pregnant with my first child - and I’m terrified at the prospect of giving birth without him here to support me and looking after our new born alone. There is a deep injustice here. Your spousal visa threshold rules cruelly split up British citizens who’ve committed no crime other than to fall in love and marry someone from outside the UK. In my case - even though I earn well over the threshold - inflexible bureaucracy is winning out over common sense and compassion. You have the power to let my husband stay in the UK. Please overturn these cruel, unfair and unreasonable tick box rules - and let my husband be here with me for the birth and subsequent support of our first child. Marianne Bailey Why is this important? I met my husband Kei Yamamoto while working as an Industrial Designer in Japan in 2009. We were married in London in October last year and we’re expecting our first child in July. In the past, our marriage, my 2 jobs, 2 properties and our substantial savings would have been more than enough to allow Kei to live with me in the UK. However, last year the government brought in draconian new rules which mean that if a UK Citizen like me marries someone from outside the UK, they are only allowed to stay in the country if the British Citizen has an income of more than £18,600 a year (the spouses income cannot be counted.) Alternatively, they must have had a whopping £62,500 of cash savings in a bank account for 6 months and more if they have children. Here’s the problem - I do earn well over £18,600 but my income comes from multiple sources - I work 7 days a week often for over 12 hours a day as a University Lecturer and as a Product Designer with 20 patents. Im in the process of building the first prototype of one of my inventions, a revolutionary urban eco-vehicle involving 10 UK manufacturers and 3 Universities. Ironically, Ive gone to great efforts to ensure every component of the vehicle is manufactured in the UK, supporting the British economy, industry and jobs. I also own 2 properties in London; we live in one, mortgage-free and rent the other. However, because of bizarre bureaucratic loopholes in the new rules, the UK Border Agency only take into account the income from my rent and ignore 3 of 4 of my other incomes, ignore our savings of over £16,000, which count as ZERO savings under the new rules and ignore both of my property assets. The rent alone isn’t enough to take us over the income threshold - even if I was forced to sell our home, which is against British law and common moral sense, we would still not have ₤62,500 for the 6 months required before the birth of our baby. We are a newlywed couple and I’m pregnant with my first child. Unless we can persuade Theresa May to overturn these incredibly unfair new spouse visa rules - which have been described as inflexible even by the Government - Kei will have to leave just a month before I give birth. If we appeal the visa decision he will still be forced out of the country for around 9 months when I need him most, leaving me to cope with a newborn alone. In effect, the government will make me a married single mother and deny my husband the chance to bond with our baby. Research has shown it is essential for the childs future emotional well being, for parents to form a physical bond with their babies. But I cannot leave the country with my husband - Im pregnant so cannot fly and besides why should I be deported from my own country? I am British, my home, my family, my business combating fuel poverty and air pollution for Great Britain, my university lecturing commitments are all here and we are clearly not a burden on the state which are what these new rules claim to be for. As any expectant mother will tell you, the prospect of giving birth and looking after a newborn alone is terrifying. It is pretty terrifying even if your husband is with you - but alone? And my poor husband will be forced to miss the birth of his first child. It’s one of the most precious moments in anyone’s life and he’ll never be able to get it back. These rules are brutally cruel. They separate loving husbands and wives - and in some cases they tear families apart. They say that how much a person earns is more important than letting them be with the person they love. The Government are spinning that these new rules are getting tough on immigration but only 32,200 British citizens spouse visas were granted in the year before the new rules - a tiny proportion of the total immigration figures. Spouse visas always have been, and still are, stamped no recourse for public funds - which means they have never been entitled to receive welfare benefits. These rules are cold, inflexible and unfair - and have brought misery to thousands of British families. Please sign this petition - not just for me, my husband and our baby, but for all the British families who are so cruelly kept apart under the new tick box rules advocated by Theresa May. According to the well respected research body, the Oxford University Migratory Observatory, under the new rules 47% of hard-working EMPLOYED British citizens will not pass the new financial requirement - including most civil servants and members of the armed forces. They estimate, because of these rules, 15,000 -16,000 extra British families will be split up or forced out of their country every year. Together, we can show Theresa May that the public doesn’t want this shocking violation against British families and that it’s time for her to rethink these rules. Other Heartbreaking Stories: britcits.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/stories Skype Mummy: youtube/watch?v=vhHpaq4KBxY https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/theresa-may-don-t-force-me-to-give-birth-without-my-husband?time=1389472840
Posted on: Tue, 14 Jan 2014 17:25:44 +0000