Immigration Reforms: Humanitarian Visa Routes Debate
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Navendu Mishra
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Immigration Reforms: Humanitarian Visa Routes
Navendu Mishra Excerpts(1 day, 3 hours ago)
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Navendu Mishra (Stockport) (Lab)
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (James Naish) for securing this debate, and it is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Edward. I refer to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests relating to Labour Friends of Taiwan, given that my comments are about the Hong Kong community.
More than 40 constituents have been in touch with me regarding the BNO scheme. I will not repeat the points made by my hon. Friend the Member for Rushcliffe, but more than 200,000 people from Hong Kong have used that visa route. I have met several people who have used the BNO scheme to come to the UK, as well as a lot of activists from my constituency, and the two key points they made were that decisions to come to Britain three or four years ago were based on the existing rules and that the proposed new requirements would create real hardship for those who are already working extremely hard to integrate and to contribute to Britain. I would like the Government to exempt the BNO visa scheme from the B2 English requirement, and I welcome the Home Office’s position that the community have a
“uniquely strong attachment to this country”.
We need common-sense exemptions from the language requirement for ILR, including for infants, people with disabilities and pensioners. Everyone in this Chamber will be very aware of the deep historical ties, dating back to Hong Kong’s time as a British territory, and our unique shared connection. The BNO scheme should be exempt from the contributions rule. For many people on the scheme, it is challenging to have annual earnings of over £12,570 for a minimum of three to five years, for a variety of reasons that I do not have time to list. We are not talking about small numbers; we are talking about a large number of people. People both young and old from Hong Kong have been very emotional when speaking to me about the uncertainty of their future, so it is important to get this right.
There are several faith groups in Stockport, and across Greater Manchester and the north-west, but two faith groups in particular have been going out of their way to support the newly arrived community from Hong Kong. St Mary’s church is the oldest parish church in Stockport, and I want to place on record my thanks to Rev. Andy Crook and Rev. Chris Blunt for supporting the community. They have a weekly worship in Cantonese each Sunday, and at the Methodist church in Stockport, the Hong Kong fellowship meets regularly to support people with languages—they also have socials and all of that. I reiterate the cross-party strength of feeling on this issue to the Home Office.