Briefing 1: The Need for Skilled Migrant Care Workers

Briefing 2: Skilled Migrant Care Workers and Families

Briefing 3: Settlement

Briefing 4: Unfair Changes to Immigration Rules

Briefing 5: Salary Levels

 12th of October 2011, Wednesday

Committee Room 16, House of Commons,

Houses of Parliament,

London SW1A 0AA

Kanlungan invites you to the launch of five  [5] briefings based on its research into the effect of immigration changes on Senior Care Workers in the UK. This is to be held immediately after the meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Care sector in the UK. Through a panel discussion, the launch will address the role migrant senior care workers play in the UK, and the impact immigration changes have had on their lives and will have on the UK care industry.

 Click here for more information

10 January 2011

BBC’s ‘Face the Facts’ program aired an expose on the abuse and
exploitation of care workers in the UK. A Filipina and Romanian girl
were interviewed, both giving harrowing accounts of their treatment
here by rogue employers and agencies.

“Face the Facts” is the sister program of “You & Yours”, which has also
covered exposes on care workers and NVQ training scams, and does
in-depth analysis of certain subjects.

Many thousands of foreign migrants work in the UK care sector, a heavy
proportion of them being Filipinos.

Presenter John Waite (above) interviewed two care workers who claim to
have suffered abuse by employers, and from the regulator who wants the
power to regulate the care home industry – where not only the residents
are vulnerable to abuse.

The show features a Filipino nurse brought in by an agency in the
Philippines which charged her 500,000 Pesos (around £8000) to arrange a
job for her in the UK.

However, on arrival she was told to report to a different care home,
not identified by the BBC, where she was underpaid and forced ‘to sleep
on the floor for six months’.

The show did not specify the type of visa she applied for or whether or
not her own agency in the Philippines was regulated by the POEA, a
Philippine government agency which controls job recruitment and
agencies.

Martin Green CEO of ECCA said overseas care workers are still needed in
the care sector, where rates of pay are low compared to other
industries. He blamed the government and local authorities, which
commissions care in the private sector, for keeping rates paid to
providers too low to pay staff higher salaries.

Also featured is a Romanian care worker who obtained employment by
registering on a NVQ course and applying for a Yellow Card – a special
category of student visa for Romanian and Bulgarian EU workers who can
enter the UK freely but do not enjoy the same rights as other European
citizens.

She said her employers made her do washing as well as care work and
‘forced her to work 50 to 60 hours per week’ without full pay – which
is more than she was allowed and would have left little time for
studying.

She also said her NVQ training company ‘did not send an assessor’,
although she did not say whether or not she attended any classes during
her time at the college, which did not take part in the programme.

Face the Facts host John Waite called for agencies to be regulated by a
system along the lines of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA),
which mainly covers companies using temporary workers such as cockle
pickers and those operating in the agricultural sector.

A spokesman for the UK government said that Employment Agencies
Standards Inspectorate (EAS) already regulates the industry and setting
up a new layer of regulation would be expensive and cumbersome. But
many would argue that whilst it is impossible for the UK authorities to
regulate agencies based overseas, employers could be compelled to
source staff only through properly UK registered agencies.

At present employers, including the NHS, often cut out British agencies
preferring to ‘go direct’ to overseas agencies as they think this will
save them money – and perhaps provide HR staff more opportunity to go
on overseas recruitment trip or ’jollies’ as they are known in the
business.

On the all important immigration and visa front, Immigration Advisers
in the UK are fully regulated (unlike visa agents in the countries when
most of the care staff originate) by the OISC which lays down strict
guidelines on fees and professionalism.

Employment Agencies in the UK are not allowed to charge applicants a
fee for finding them a job or so called ’work placement fee’, which is
still legal in many countries. New regulation is not needed to solve
the problem of migrants being exploited, just a recognition by the
government of their own regulated British professionals, agencies and
advisers.

Martin Green representing care home operators in the UK pointed out
that the care home industry is heavily regulated, but also subject to
financial constraints, these are in the form of maximum payments by
local authorities in respect of fees to care home operators.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/entertainment/12/08/10/pinoy-human-rights-film-ends-europe-tour-london

LONDON – Filipino human rights film “Dukot” ends its European tour here following a string of public screenings and talks around the continent.

Launched in The Netherlands in October, the film toured Europe for over a month with stops in Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, and Italy, before concluding in England around Human Rights Day on December 10.

The London screening was attended by a multicultural crowd of concerned citizens, from seasoned activists to young professionals without prior knowledge of human rights issues. Consul General Maria Theresa Dizon-de Vega from the Philippine Embassy in London was also in attendance to support the event.

Directed by Joel Lamangan with an all-star cast, “Dukot” follows the story of a young couple from the Philippines who were abducted, tortured, abused and slaughtered by armed government crooks, seemingly because of their involvement with political activism.

“We want to highlight human rights abuses and violations in the Philippines, and “Dukot” chronicles this in dramatic form. It’s a powerful way for people to appreciate it, rather than just reading news stories or opinion pieces,” said Mark Dearn from Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines (CHRP), who co-organized the event.

He added: “It’s a problem that’s endemic to Philippine politics. The victims are anybody who decides to challenge the state, and that can be anybody from armed rebels, all the way to the average student. I don’t think you can get anything more pressing than when a government oppresses its own citizens in that way.”

The screenings were part of an ongoing international awareness campaign for human rights issues in the Philippines, particularly from the last 10 years. Prior to its European tour, the film has been shown in various countries in East Asia and North America, and was an official selection in the 2009 Montreal Film Festival.

“[The film] functions very well in the level of raising awareness for those who aren’t aware of these issues,” explained Dearn. “Awareness and global attention seems to have an effect on the incidences of enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings. When Global Awareness focused on this issue, there was a drop-off in the number of enforced disappearances and killings. Unfortunately, this has risen up again towards the end of Arroyo’s regime.”

According to a report by Philippine-based independent organization Karapatan, thousands of innocent activists have fallen victim to human rights violations under the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, a trend that seems to have continued through to the new Aquino administration (see table below).

“[Dukot] is a good educational tool. It gives me knowledge of the reality of being an activist. I think there is nothing wrong in trying to voice out our opinions, and that is what we call freedom of speech,” observed Josefa Aaliyah Cassandra, a UK-based Filipino health professional and equal rights activist, who was moved by the film’s message.

She added: “We have to help those activists in the Philippines, and try to educate them that our voices can still be heard by expressing them in a more civilized manner. But also for the government to understand that there is nothing wrong in trying to voice your opinion or campaigning for what should be right, especially for the oppressed.”

Though definitive solutions to these problems remain elusive even to campaigners, there is an overwhelming sense of urgency to their message of acknowledging and addressing human rights issues, a call for action directed towards fellow Filipinos, the international community, and the Philippine government itself.

“If we’re truly going to be a democracy, these sort of things shouldn’t really happen, and the army shouldn’t really have the sort of power that it seems to have,” explained Fernando Santiago from nonprofit organization Kanlungan, co-organizers of the London event.

He concluded: “Having the authorities in the Philippines be called to answer for the fact that the world is watching, and wants change, and wants the Philippines to join the rest of the democratic world, these things have to be addressed and not just be swept under the carpet.”

The activists are urging the newly elected President Benigno Aquino III, who himself comes from a family with firsthand experience of human rights abuse, to address these concerns in the hope of making positive changes in socio-political affairs in the Philippines.

Recorded Human Rights Violations in the Philippines, 2001-2010

Source: KARAPATAN, 2010 Year-End Report on Human Rights in the Philippines (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12022613

A temporary cap on the number of skilled workers from outside the EU allowed into the UK was introduced “unlawfully”, the High Court has ruled.

Home Secretary Theresa May introduced the cap this summer as an interim measure ahead of a permanent cap.

But a legal challenge to it was upheld with judges ruling that ministers had “sidestepped” Parliamentary scrutiny.

The Home Office said this did not imperil its flagship immigration policy but Labour said it was in “chaos”.

The BBC’s Home Affairs Correspondent Danny Shaw said the ruling was an embarrassment and a setback for the coalition but was not a fatal blow to its plan for a permanent cap on non-EU migration.

The ruling has nullified the current temporary cap, meaning it is no longer in force.

But ministers can introduce a new cap when Parliament returns in January. This would come into effect immediately but MPs and peers would be able to challenge it within 40 days, the BBC understands.

Prime Minister David Cameron has said current immigration levels are not sustainable and called for net migration – the difference between the number of people entering the UK and those emigrating – to be reduced from nearly 200,000 a year to “tens of thousands”.

Curbing numbers

As a first step, ministers introduced a temporary cap for non-EU skilled workers of 24,100 a month in June, in line with a Conservative election commitment.

But the measure was challenged by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) and English Community Care Association, which was concerned over the position of immigrant care workers.

In Friday’s ruling, Lord Justice Sullivan and Mr Justice Burton concluded that the home secretary had not gone through the proper parliamentary procedures before implementing the cap – which took effect without a vote in Parliament.

“The secretary of state made no secret of her intentions,” they stated. “There can be no doubt that she was attempting to side-step provisions for Parliamentary scrutiny set up under provisions of the 1971 Immigration Act and her attempt was for that reason unlawful.”

As a result, it said no lawful limits were now in place for two tiers of job applicants from abroad.

The English Community Care Association said the temporary cap – which reduced by 5% the number of non-EU work visas issued – could have a potentially “catastrophic” effect on the care sector.

As 13% of those who work in care homes come from outside Europe, it said thousands of staff from the Philippines, India and South Africa could be forced to quit their jobs and this could damage continuity of care.

‘Not thought through’

Vacancies created would not be filled by British staff, it said, as there was not sufficient demand for the jobs.

It argued the cap had been introduced with “complete disregard” for care providers and their staffing needs.

In response, the Home Office said it was still “firmly committed” to reducing levels of net migration.

“I am disappointed with today’s verdict,” Immigration minister Damian Green said, stressing ministers would launch an appeal if “there were grounds” to do so.

“We will do all in our power to continue to prevent a rush of applications before our more permanent measures are in place,” he added.

But Shadow Home Secretary Ed Balls, for Labour, said the policy “may have sounded good before the election but it wasn’t properly thought through and didn’t get the scrutiny it deserved”.

He added: “David Cameron’s flagship election promise to bring net migration down to the tens of thousands has now been watered down from a firm pledge to just an aim.”

The level at which the permanent cap will be set has been a source of tension within government, with Lib Dem ministers calling for the regime to be flexible as possible so as not to prevent firms from being able to recruit highly skilled labour.

Mary Bowers, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article7081849.ece

Beneath the sash window of a care home in Wimbledon, lit by a shaft of spring sunlight, Lady Cicely Mayhew sits in the leather chair she occupies most days. Now 86, she reminisces about her adventures as the first female British diplomat, and her childhood growing up in Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa. It’s a trip down memory lane made all the more enjoyable by the attentive acknowledgement of Johannesburg-born nurse Irene Mahasela.

“I don’t think one wants to be in a care home anyway,” says Lady Mayhew. “But they do a pretty good job.”

Queen’s Court Care Home is one of thousands of residential care facilities that rely on migrant workers. Out of 41 workers, 38 were born outside the EU — in the Philippines, India, Nepal and South Africa. But manager Shaaron Caratella says that under new rules she will not be able to renew their visas when they expire this year.

More than a million extra workers will be needed to support the UK’s ageing population by 2025. In 2007 one in three care workers was recruited from outside the UK, and an estimated 60 per cent of London care workers are non-EU migrants.

Not all managers are as scrupulous as Ms Caratella. Experts have warned that recent immigration clampdowns are threatening the future of the care industry, and driving its non-EU workers into a “trafficking scenario”.

With a lack of government funding for the sector, pressure is being put on the workers willing to be cheap. According to the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) at the University of Oxford, as many as one in five migrant care workers is paid less than the minimum wage.

“There’s no pressure on the Government to put any more money into social care,” Bridget Anderson, senior researcher at COMPAS, said. “In fact, it’s going to become more squeezed, so it’s going to end up with migrants in it, either through legal or illegal processes.”

Recent changes to the points-based system do not permit non-senior care workers to enter the country from outside the EU. In order to renew visas for senior migrant care workers they must now be paid more than £7.02 an hour, which most care homes cannot afford. Dr Sondra Cuban, lecturer in Education Studies at the University of Lancaster, says that strict rules drive migrants into illegality, where they are constantly at the mercy of their managers.

“The points-based system traps them in ‘modern slavery’ work,” she said. “It almost looks like some kind of trafficking scenario.”

The union Unison says that many workers sleep several to a room and are forced to work overtime with the threat of the removal of their visas. Others are in debt-bondage, sending most of their earnings to the unscrupulous agencies that charge them up to £5,000 before they have even left home — for visas, “paperwork” and accommodation that never materialises. Even at the minimum of £5.80 an hour before tax and living, it becomes a long-term project to pay back the debt. Most cannot return home until they have done so.

Greg Thomson, development manager for migrant and vulnerable workers at Unison, says that workers come to him for advice, but fear action.

“People inevitably say, ‘Don’t do anything because we don’t want to lose our job’,” he said.

“The process of changing the rules seems to us to be a fairly minor thing because we have the right to regulate our own borders. But it impacts very harshly on the people who come here are are looking after the most vulnerable members of our society.”

Care agencies unwilling to go underground say that they face a serious manpower crisis. Lesley Flory, director of recruitment for Barchester Health Care, who run Queen’s Court, says that the future looks bleak without the migrants who make up 40 per cent of her work force nationally.

“Personal care needs people,” she said. “You don’t deliver it on skeleton staff.”

She says that recruiting in the UK and within the EU will not solve the problem. “Initially the Government pushed us heavily towards recruiting in the EU but the economic reality doesn’t make it attractive for them to come to England any more.”

Mr Thomson says that despite the fact that UK unemployment stands at 3 million, the Jobcentre alone will never be an adequate source of work.

“The trouble is, it’s not straightforward. If someone loses their job in the building industry that doesn’t make them a perfect choice to become a care worker.”

“If you are a British person in a local Jobcentre and you have this job with antisocial hours, minimum wage and low-status, and you’re looking for a long-term engagement in the labour market, why would you do that?” Ms Anderson asked. “Unless they do something about pay and conditions and the status of the job, and unless they treat it with some respect, they’re not going to get British people into it.”

At Queen’s Court, Marian Heal, 82, appreciates the presence of the foreign staff who share the building she has called home for 3½ years.

“I hear about them and their homes. I’ve got a vast atlas in my room and I look up where they are going and it provides a lot of interest and stimulation,” she says. “They’re much needed, because British people aren’t prepared to do the job and to work as hard, which care workers from abroad do.”

Mrs Mahasela is willing to concede that it’s not always easy. She had to leave behind her three young children and her husband — who works in a soft drinks warehouse — when she left South Africa five years ago. She returns to visit every six months.

“First and foremost I learn patience in whatever sphere,” she says, taking a deep breath.

Next door in her armchair, Lady Mayhew is similarly realistic. “Generally speaking, staff could do with a little polishing,” she says, her accent clipped. “But they put themselves in the place of patients and they’re very good at it,” She smiles.

“They probably think we’re trouble, too.”

Case Study

It happened on a night shift. But before Evelyn Bolano reported bruises on the body of an elderly patient at the Canterbury care home in which she worked, she wavered for a moment. She knew that her working visa — and the job that supported her teenaged children in the Philippines — was in the hands of her manager.

Little did she know that the blame would be pinned on her and three other Filipino co-workers.

“Because you are on a work permit these things can happen,” she said. “You are quite afraid.”

Mrs Bolano was being paid the minimum wage, which at the time was £5.52 an hour. It was a pound an hour less than her British colleagues at the same level. She says that other migrant care workers had been overworked, underpaid and threatened with legal work permits being overturned or illegal status being reported in the event of disobedience.

Mrs Bolano’s status is legal, but her situation is still precarious. She came to the UK on a work permit five years ago. Having worked as a qualified nurse in the Philippines for 23 years, including a position at Unicef, she moved to Britain as a care worker. Despite taking a job for which she was overqualified, she would be able to send more money home to her husband and two teenage children.

She paid £5,000 to a “travel agent”, who promised her transport, papers and accommodation. It’s a debt that she and her family have still to pay back.

“You have to pay back the debt,” she said, “and living here is very expensive.” In addition, the promised accommodation never materialised, and she slept on floor space provided by a generous colleague. She was too ashamed to admit this to her family.

Though she saw fellow workers abuse their positions with long breaks, her fellow migrant workers were constantly afraid of their manager who threatened to pull their placements — and with it their visas.

“When you are a migrant worker you abide by policy because you are afraid to break it. There is always a panic and no stability. When we were suspended I thought, ‘Oh my God’. I prayed a lot.”

Following an investigation by police and social services, Mrs Bolano and her colleagues were cleared, and the home was shut for six months while new management was sought.

“I love the clients, and they love to be cared for,” she says. “They can be angry sometimes, but that’s how people are. I have parents in their eighties, and I do understand them. Old people cannot speak for themselves. You have to speak for them — you’re fighting.”

Photo credit: Rose Eclarinal, ABS-CBN

16 March 2010

Rose Eclarinal, ABS-CBN,http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/pinoy-migration/03/16/10/pinoy-senior-carers-uk-file-judicial-review

LONDON – It is time to extend compassion and care to Filipinos who came to the UK to care for Britain’s elderly. This is just one of the goals of Kanlungan, a non-profit, charitable institution, in taking cudgels for embattled senior carers who were denied Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in the UK.

Thirty-three year old Jenny Labaria was denied the application of ILR because of the 5-month gap in her work permit. She came to the UK as a care worker in 2004.

“(I’m) very stressed actually. Wala kang peace of mind. Financially nadi-drain na. Kasi nagbabayad ka ng fee for the solicitor. Yes, very unjust towards us,” said  Labaria.

Senior carers Evelyn Bolano and Mary Sorilla are also intending to apply for their Indefinite Leave to Remain but are worried that just like the fate of many Filipino senior carers in the UK, their application will also be denied.

“May problem kasi sa work permit ko at visa. May gap sila na 20 days. Ang problem kasi when I apply in September, I might be refused or denied the approval of my residency because of the 20-day gap. So ayaw ko ng ma-experience ng ganung problem again,” said Bolano.

‘Yung visa ko, nag- end nung Oct 12, 2009 at ang bagong visa ko na process at na-approve noong January 19 kaya may gap akong almost 4 months,” said Sorilla.

Sorilla and Bolano have already sought the assistance of Kanlungan. They are supporting the cause of Pinoy senior carers in the UK who are petitioning for a judicial review of their case. The judicial review will challenge in the UK court the way decisions concerning the senior case workers have been made.

UK Immigration toughens up

In the last 10 years, the UK Home Office has issued more than 20,000 work permits to those who want to work as senior care worker in the UK. It has paved the way for migrant workers to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain, after working here for 5 years.

In 2004, the UK, in accordance with EU rules, restricted the employment policy of citizens from non-EU countries. The changes were seen in the refusal of UK Home Office to grant 5-year work permits to senior carers, who can apply for permanent residency in the UK. When the UK Home Office refused the renewal of Pinoy carers’ visas, many senior carers were left with no option but to go back to the Philippines. There were also cases of deportation.

Those who remained in the UK continued to challenge the new regulations. With intense pressure from trade and campaign groups and ardent support from Members of Parliament (MPs), the Home Office softened and allowed extension of work permits. It also offered a lifeline to senior carers.

In 2007, the Home Office issued new requirements for the renewal of work permits for senior carers, which include, among others, £7.02 per hour minimum pay.  Those whose employers were not willing to take the new going rate had to find new employers which proved difficult.

Gap in work permit

In a desperate attempt to meet the requirements of the Home Office, many senior carers shift from one employer to another. During the transition, it leaves a gap in their work permit visas. It means losing the chance to qualify for a permanent residency which requires 5 years of successive, no-gap work permit visa.

This is problem faced by Labaria, Bolano and Sorilla. While Bolano and Sorilla are about to apply for their ILR and are hoping they will be given consideration, Labaria is only pinning her hopes on the result of the petition for a judicial review.

Labaria already spent almost 2,000 pounds for her application. Some Filipinos have already spent up to 8,000 pounds for their application for ILR.

Kanlungan said the case of senior carers is a classic tale of abuse and injustice against migrant workers.

“Istorya ito ng paglabag sa karapatang pantao ng manggagawa. Una, naabuso sila dahil sa pagbabago ng batas. Ang proteksyon at karapatan ng migrante pinaglalaban ng mga organisasyon. Hindi yan basta binibigay sa kanila. So yun ang case ng senior carer ngayon,” said Jam Fagta, case worker for Kanlungan.

Kanlungan is hoping to get more senior carers to join them in the plight.

“Ang mga Pinoy, hindi nagrereklamo, hard workers yan kaya ano na lang ang panahon nila sa sarili nila. Ang mga issue nila, di pa nga nila naiintindihan. Kaya ang panawagan ng Kanlungan sa kanila, mag-allot ng panahon para intindihin at suriin ang kanilang issue at tutulong ang organisayon,” said Facta.

UK has amended its immigration rules, which include, among others, limiting working visas to foreign workers and implementation of stricter guidelines for the application of permanent residency. But to Filipino senior carers, the new regulations are discriminatory against them and others who are making an indispensible contribution to UK society.

Mr. Steve Symonds of ILPA gave a concise yet clear sharing on naturalisation provisions in the new act covering subjects on probationary citizenship; active citizenship, which could vary the length of the probationary period; and other new or amended requirements before a naturalisation application: absences in the UK, continuous employment, family association and qualifying leave.

Moreover, Symonds also stressed prospects to further influence how or whether to implement the Act, which is envisaged to be commenced by the UK Government in July 2011 with impending UK General Elections set next year playing a major factor. Meanwhile, UKBA released two online public consultations in relation to aspects of the naturalisation process, which we are all encouraged to respond:

1.Earning the right to stay: A new points test for citizenship http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/aboutus/consultations/221878/earning-the-right-to-stay/
Responses due 26 October 2009

2.Charging for immigration and visa applications http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/aboutus/consultations/221878/charging09/
Responses due 1 December 2009

During the open forum, students also posited queries on Tier 4 of the Points Based System and sponsorship licence. Over all, Kanlungan’s forum identified human rights issues of old and new migrants under the current trend of immigration policies.
 
The forum was attended by representatives from Migrants’ Rights Network (MRN), Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), Cordillera Student Association (CSA), Igorot UK, UNISON and member organisations of Kanlungan Alliance.
 
Full appended text of Steve Symonds’ lecture here.

Kanlungan’s Judicial Review for Senior Carers
Mr. Raman Purewal of Aston Brooke Solicitors, a law firm which Kanlungan has been working closely with on this endeavour, set out the background of the proposed group Judicial Review for Senior Care Workers (SCW’s).

He highlighted the ‘gaps’ incurred by SCW’s in their visas and work permits in applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain which are being used as basis of refusal by the UKBA. He stressed that these ‘gaps’ are a direct result of the changes made by policy changes of the UKBA and therefore not the fault of the SCW’s themselves.

Furthermore, Purewal put forward guidelines in determining gaps in SCW’s visa or working permit. Some SCW’s who were present had the chance to enquire firsthand about their respective cases.

If you are a Senior Care worker under work permit, please contact Kanlungan.

For full text of Kanlungan’s proposed Judicial Review, click here.

5 September 2009

Some 3,500 Filipino care workers in the United Kingdom failed to get their work permits renewed due to a series of immigration and work permit policy amendments implemented by the UK Border Agency.

Kanlungan, an alliance of Filipino migrant organizations in UK, said that the changes imposed by the UK Border Agency, which is in-charge of migration issues, led to rejection of the workers’ application for permanent residency.

Extended residency requirement

The UK used to allow its immigrant workers to apply for permanent residency only after four years of work in the country.

In 2006, however, this requirement was extended to five years. Because of this, thousands of senior care workers were forced to re-apply for extension of their work permit and visa for at least another year.

This was compounded by the fact that, in 2007, the UK Border Agency issued new requirements for work permits and visas renewal specifically for care workers, which required them to have skills and qualifications at National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) Level 3. This is roughly equivalent to a university degree.

The minimum salary for work permit applicants was also raised to £7.02 per hour, from £5.35 per hour before the changes in immigration rules.

With the national minimum wage in UK pegged at £5.73 in October 2008, the new requirement essentially makes non-European care workers expensive to employ as they are the ones affected by the immigration changes.

Probationary citizenship

Over 3,500 migrant care workers were affected by this new requirement. Most of them even had a hard time looking for new employers. The caregivers had the leave their previous employers as they had to look for employers who can give them enough salary to meet the new requirements.

Adding up to this is the introduction of the Borders, Immigration and Citizenship Act 2009, in which a “probationary citizenship” that could run for up to eight years is required before one can apply for full citizenship. According to Kanlungan, this “would make it even harder for everyone to apply for permanent settlement.”

Kanlungan chairman Benny Clutario said that this translates into an increase in number of undocumented migrants in UK. “Sadly, they become undocumented not by choice but because of misguided policies and mismanaged immigration,” he said.

Kanlungan is planning to seek a judicial review of the UK Border Agency policies at the British High Court. A judicial review is a court proceeding in the UK judicial system in which a judge reviews the decision or action made by a public body.

The group is planning to do this by filing a class suit on behalf of all senior care workers affected by the immigration changes.

Caregiver favorite

Clutario has called on all affected senior care workers to show up and provide evidence. “The more senior carers involved in this legal action, the better the chance for success,” he said.

In recent years, the United Kingdom has increasingly become a favorite destination of Filipinos seeking jobs abroad in the care service sector. From 2001 to 2007, UK ranked fourth in the world in terms of the most number of Filipino caregivers working in the country.

This phenomenon has inspired ABS-CBN’s Star Cinema to produce the movie, “Caregiver,” which was released in early 2008 and was top-billed by movie star Sharon Cuneta.

Workers in the health and care service account for more than half of Filipinos deployed in UK.

Data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency shows that as of 2006, a total of 1,214 out of the 1,880 workers deployed in the country were listed under the ‘caregivers and caretakers’ category.

Other countries whose nationals also become carers in the UK are India, China and some countries in Africa. But, overwhelmingly most of these workers are Filipino. “Perhaps 90 percent,” Clutario said. (Newsbreak)

Inquirer, Veronica Uy, http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20090607-209231/RP-migrants-at-UK-Parliament-on-rights

MANILA, Philippines—The organization of Filipino migrants Kanlungan has spoken at the Houses of Parliament to highlight the plight of undocumented migrants in the United Kingdom.

The public discussion at the Westminster Palace in London on June 2 focused on recent researches detailing ways to irregular status as against the impact of regularization programs amidst the worldwide recession that’s also gripping UK.

Kanlungan said it tried to steer the discussion on the issue of migration into migrants as people, not migration as a social and economic phenomenon.

“So many studies have focused too much on the economic and political aspects of migration, that sometimes it can be too easily forgotten that what we are talking about here are people,” said Kanlungan project worker Jamima Fagta during her speech at the dialogue.

Fagta told the forum that previously regular migrant workers become irregular migrants in the UK due to the new rules affecting the extension of working permits or visas. For instance, she said, a caregiver who entered the UK in 2003 was forced to become an undocumented migrant when the UK government issued new rules on visas for foreign workers.

She said that in hard times, migrants become easy targets of blame.

“It is the blood, sweat and tears of Filipino migrant workers who pay for the Philippine foreign debt, a debt in which a significant part is owned by UK banks, so [their] bankers can continue to enjoy massive bonuses and pensions in spite of the recession,” Fagta explained.

“We are not criminals. We are not stealing jobs. In the end, what we ask is to be treated as human beings,” she added.

Kanlungan, a consortium of Filipino migrant organizations in the UK, campaign for justice for senior care workers, whose right to work and stay were severely affected following the changes in immigration rules by the UK government. It is also engaged in the call for the protection and regularization of all undocumented migrants, as well as in the campaign against the proposed Citizenship Bill prolonging the settlement and residency of foreign workers.

In a statement, Kanlungan said Migrants’ Rights Network, a group of migrants’ rights advocates, led the June 2 meeting which coincided with the launch of their new publication “Irregular migrants: the urgent need for a new approach.”

Various migrants’ organizations and institutions, local trade unions, and other civil society formations attended the launch, which was chaired by Member of Parliament Jon Cruddas of Dagenham.