Written evidence (FAM0096)              

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In response to the questions:

●               7. In what circumstances may family immigration law and practice result in an extended (or indefinite) period of family separation or place families under stress in other ways? How could they be adapted to prevent or shorten periods of family separation or be more accommodating of the wellbeing of families?

●               8. How do family migration policies affect children separated from one or both of their parents (or other relative)? How do families separated by immigration law use modern means of communication, and what is the impact of this use?

●               9. How should family migration policies interact with the right to respect for family and private life and the best interests of the child? What can the immigration process learn from the family justice system and how could they best interact with one another?

I was born and raised abroad but I have lived in the UK for over 20 years. In 2000 I was granted a work permit on the basis of having advanced skills for which the labour market had limited supply. I was later granted indefinite leave to remain (ILR) around 2005 and eventually I became a British citizen around 2009. I've been married since 2008 and a father since 2013; my wife's parents and siblings are all British and live in the UK, and we are very much settled here. I have contributed to the British economy and society in a number of ways, including by paying tax at high marginal rates almost continuously, and through meaningful professional contributions in the media and internet fields, both in the public and private sectors. I hold three postgraduate degrees including one in mathematical physics and an MBA from a top-rated business school.

When I was granted ILR I received a letter setting out that from that point onwards I could bring my parents to live with me if I wished. Knowledge of this informed many of my subsequent life decisions which gradually made me more and more rooted in the UK, as I knew that if I ended up making the UK my long-term home I could always bring my mother here when she became old and needed my support.

Around 2012 I learned that immigration law had been changed, via secondary legislation, so that in most cases bringing Adult Dependent Relatives to the UK is now all but impossible. Subsequently I took legal advice through which I understand that since 2012 only a very small number of applications have been successful, only in very extreme circumstances; and that it doesn’t help if I undertake to cover any costs associated with my mother’s health.

My mother is now in her mid-70s and is approaching a point where she won’t be able to live by herself. She is a single parent and I am her only child; she has no close relatives left alive in her country. She is feeling increasingly lonely and vulnerable and whenever she is ill this is a source of deep stress for us all.

The legislation currently in force is putting me in an intolerable dilemma: do I continue to let my mother get increasingly frail and isolated, perhaps forced to go to a care home, with her only family half a world away? I find this morally unacceptable, and the more I live with this the more upset I become. But the alternative is to uproot my family, depriving my son of his links with the cousins and maternal grandparents he’s been close to all his life, forcing my wife not to see her ageing parents and to abandon her successful career here (not to mention my own). I don’t think this would be fair on them.

I find this legislation inhuman and cruel and believe it should be repealed.

It is also a broken promise: I very much doubt that I would have gradually allowed myself to make a life in the UK had I not been given to understand early on, in writing and officially, that I would be allowed to bring my mother to the UK in the future if I needed to. At a minimum, this promise should be kept with respect to those to whom it was made.

September 2022