“Rather than addressing soaring rates of poverty, destitution and homelessness that this country is facing, the Government is bent on making things even worse by raising the fees migrant communities are forced to pay.”
By Josephine Whitaker-Yilmaz, Praxis
No matter where we’re from, the colour of our skin or how much we earn, we all deserve to live in safety and dignity – to be able to feed our children and have a roof over our heads.
But instead of ensuring that everyone who needs it can get help during this cost of living crisis, the Government are intent on treating some people in our communities as cash cows to be tapped whenever the need arises, regardless of how long they’ve been living here or whether they’re working and paying taxes.
People who have migrated to the UK were already facing some of the highest visa fees in the world, which are usually well in excess of the actual processing cost.
Despite this, the Government recently raised these already eye-watering fees well above the rate of inflation.
From 6 February the rate migrants are expected to pay to access the NHS has skyrocketed from £624 per year to £1,035 per year – an eye-watering 66% overnight increase.
This is a fee that people have to pay upfront when they apply for their visas, even if they work and contribute towards the NHS through their taxes, regardless of whether they need healthcare or not.
Combining this NHS surcharge with the onerous Home Office component of their visa fee, leaves a family of four to face a bill of over £13,000 every few years just to be able to maintain their immigration status.
This is a price tag that few of us would be able to pay – and one that is regularly pushing families into poverty, debt and despair – as we found when we carried out research with people on the 10-year route to settlement last year.
People have to pay this exorbitant fee even if they’ve lived here for years and are well established members of our communities, are keyworkers, or they were born in the UK.
Rather than addressing soaring rates of poverty, destitution and homelessness that this country is facing, the Government is bent on making things even worse by raising the fees migrant communities are forced to pay, in the midst of a cost of living crisis.
At Praxis, we regularly see the impact this has on the people we support – people who every day are forced into terrible hardship by these costs. Desperate parents juggling multiple jobs who still don’t have enough to feed or clothe their children because they need to save for their visa renewal. Children growing up in cold, overcrowded homes, whose parents can’t afford anything else because all the money is going to the Home Office.
What’s worse, when people aren’t able to put together these exorbitant fees they lose their visas – and with it, their right to work, rent their homes, have a bank account. They are forced into the shadows, at increased risk of homelessness and exploitation.
It doesn’t have to be this way. A top priority for the next government should be slashing visa fees, so that no-one is expected to pay more than the actual processing cost for a visa. It’s time we stop consigning people into poverty just because of where they or their parents were born, and that we work together, so that we can all live in safety and dignity.
- Josephine Whitaker-Yilmaz is the Policy and Public Affairs Manager for Praxis.
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