Earned Amnesty or New Points Based System? Time for a petition? I think so

As a direct access immigration barrister I have been involved with the government’s lasted “amnesty” or the legacy scheme as it was called. In that the HO dealt with a backlog of probably well over half a million cases, with the majority of those who were actually here being granted some form of leave, the overwhelming majority obtained ILR before the rules changed in July 2011 to 3 years and then 2.5 years in July 2012.

The requirements to meet the Rules were quite lax, in reality, at one stage all that was required was to be a failed asylum seeker (this was opened up to non asylum seekers as the scheme progressed), lived in the UK for over six, which is an incredibly low figure in my mind – especially with paragraph 276ADE of the immigration rules now spelling out that you need 20 years to qualify for only 2.5 years and did not fall for refusal under the criminal casework team.

It was a system with flaws, in my view, the government saying to people not to ask to go first, and then those whoo were dealt with last only got 2.5 years and in some cases were refused where people who by luck were granted ILR having been her for say half the period of tine and had made up asylum claims.

But the scheme did process a huge number of cases and dealt with a backlog, though I suspect there is another one that is building up if it has not already.

The government has announced post Brexit a new PBS – I have dealt with this scheme in one of my videos https://youtu.be/RjW2KR4S1tI on 6 March 2020 where I point out some of the flaws in the system and why I do not think it answers the need for workers post Brexit.

I think that the shortfall can be made up of those already here in the UK who would be extremely grateful to have their leave regularised and are already accustomed to life in the United Kingdom.

To this end I have made a new video on this topic and it can be found here.

This video deals with the issue as to how the UK will meet the labour requirements needed post Brexit – the Home Secretary states that the new PBS will “do the job” of meeting any skills shortage but I doubt in reality that this is the best way forward.

In my view the best way forward would be for an earned amnesty or if the word “amnesty” sticks in people’s throats a further legacy scheme which would allow people to remain in the United Kingdom. The new PBS is aimed at highly skilled workers – which would have apparently excluded the current Home Secretary’s parents from entering the UK if they were in force – Nick Ferrari at LBC puts this to the Home Secretary in this interview – https://youtu.be/O_Jk5Hm2ndw

Also in the video I discuss that Boris Johnson was previously in favour of an earned amnesty, this was when he was mayor of London, a multi-cultural city – a cynic might think he was playing the crowd and seeking votes as a liberal politician plying for votes from the migrant community given that, I believe over half the population of London was not born here. Again if you want to hear it in Boris’ own words you can watch and listen, again with thanks to Nick Ferrari for putting him on the spot,

I discuss in this video the problems a new PBS will create, which is more rules and the opportunity for more fraud, before the original PBS cases were considered on a case by case basis – the original PBS meant that all that was required were documents to be produced the idea being that the system was equal, sadly this lead to a large amount of fraud with people who could not speak English properly and people who did not have access to the required money turns to criminals to meet the rules.

This has lead in part to the disastrous overreaction in the ETS / TOEIC scandal and the problems those innocently caught out in the Tier 1 entrepreneur scheme. In respect of the TOEIC scandal the government is very much on the back foot and has issued some guidance, but who have been criticised heavily by the APPG, NAO and PAC and where the Court of Appeal have expressed an interest in the grant of permission.

In respect of Tier 1 – the case of Balajigari illustrated that the government had acted unlawfully in not giving people the opportunity of addressing its concerns and not affording a right of appeal. So the problem of creating a new PBS gives rise to the possibility of fraud and a dramatic overreaction by the government.

One might have thought that following TOEIC that they would have been slow to refuse all the Tier 1 applications but no, it has taken the intervention of the Court. In contrast, and there is previous experience in doing this, the government could implement a new Legacy scheme, or be brave and call it an earned amnesty scheme whereby individuals who have been here a set period of time, Boris mooted 12 years,

At present an individual has to be here 20 years to get only 2.5 years and 30 to get ILR. Incredible. Sad. An earned amnesty or legacy scheme would allow those who are familiar with the UK and who have not committed any crimes to regularise their status and who knows perhaps they or their children may become Home Secretary or even Prime Minister one day. To this end I am assisting in the setting up of a petition on the UK government website, 10,000 signatures will guarantee a response and 100,000 might lead to a debate.

I am waiting for the petition to be approved by the government and then I will be producing a new video and encouraging people to contact their MP and hopefully working with other groups, such as the wonderful Migrant Voice job in promoting and protecting the rights of the most vulnerable in society.

Please subscribe to my channel youtube.com/c/theimmigrationbarrister as the video would hopefully be coming out in the next few days.

The more people and groups that get involved the better, this is not a case where the government or members of it, in particular the leader has always been against the idea.

There is also a new and powerful reason why an earned amnesty ought to have taken place and why there should not be any delay, and this is the terrible coronavirus which I hope affects as few people as possible, and this is because I know of many people who have been in the UK for up to and over 20 years and do not have a GP and are frightened, indeed they are barred from using the NHS (except in certain circumstances) and who may not seek the help they need and my contribute through fear to its spread.

Put shortly, regularising the stay of all those in the UK is matter that affects everyone. There is no longer an us and them, we are all in the same boat, it would just be better in my view, if we actually knew who was in the boat, not only for counting heads but because they could also help drive the boat forward.

Better to have people who know the life of the UK and have families here to be allowed to stay than to create a new system that will be the subject of abuse, a potential government backlash and suffering for potentially thousands of innocent people (see TOEIC and the Tier 1 cases – issues on which the government is now on the back foot – see my videos on the APPG, NAO and PAC reports on ETS, indeed even the Court of Appeal seem to be interested having granted permission in a number of cases relying on post decision evidence and of course Balajigari where the government was found to have acted unlawfully.

As I have mentioned please subscribe to my channel, keep an eye on this site and my twitter account @paulturnerlaw.

If you or a member of your family has an immigration problem please do not hesitate to contact me at Imperium Chambers on 020 7 242 3488 or [email protected] or through this site.

Put shortly, if you have an immigration problem I or a member of the Imperium Chambers team can and will be willing to help.

Paul Turner is a highly regarded direct access immigration barrister with over 20 years experience in this field and is the founder and head of Imperium Chambers, which remains open during this current crisis and will aim to do so throughout by use of remote video / telephone conference and will continue to be able to draft paperwork and seek injunctions throughout. We saw that this current problem could happen and have taken steps to prepare. On this note, if you have a hearing coming up and are afraid please feel free to get in touch for the best and most current advice as to the correct course of action to take. Paul Turner is licensed by the BSB to not only deal with the public generally but also is licensed to litigate on your behalf. He also works closely with solicitors and is able to take last minute instructions.