ACTSA letter in the Guardian: “Migrant health and care workers deserve better than this”

“John Harris’s article mentions the March 2024 rules banning new migrant care workers from bringing dependants (In an NHS ward I saw how Britain relies on immigrants. Yet still we tell them they’re not wanted, 16 February).

Less well known is that thousands of health and care workers who arrived before this date have also been prevented from bringing their children – most of them single mothers. A report published on 22 January by Action for Southern Africa and Women of Zimbabwe revealed that thousands of single mothers, from Zimbabwe and elsewhere, settled into their jobs only to then be denied visas for their children, who were waiting back home to join them.

These mothers – looking after our loved ones every day – have been separated from their children for years now, making multiple costly visa applications (some exploited by unscrupulous legal advisers in the process), because of Home Office refusals based on their concept of “sole responsibility”. This is a concept created by the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) which is incredibly hard for single mothers to prove, as it extends further than the internationally recognised notion of “sole custody”.

Our report reveals lack of clarity about what documents the UKVI will accept as proof, inconsistent application of its own guidelines, and evidence of so-called hostile environment tactics to cause delays in decision-making.

The impact is devastating on everyone. One mother from Zimbabwe was separated from her two girls for almost two years. It took six applications before she was granted the visas (three for each child). Eight similar cases are documented in our report, but thousands of children remain in limbo. Why is it deemed acceptable for children from southern Africa to be kept apart from their mothers for extended periods of time? Echoes of Windrush abound.”

Tricia Sibbons
Director, Action For Southern Africa
Patricia Chinyoka
Founder, Women of Zimbabwe