Call to action - URGENT

On 9th September 2013, there will be a Spousal Visas Adjournment debate in the House of Commons.

http://services.parliament.uk/calendar/#!/calendar/Commons/MainChamber/2013/9/9/events.html

This is a great opportunity to build on the work that was done over the summer - the APPG report , the follow up parliamentary debates , and of course the 9th July day of action.

If you are affected by the rules, please contact your MP and ask him or her to make representations on your behalf.

You can find your MP's contact details using this tool :
http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/

You can email your MP, write to your MP via traditional mail, or even ask to meet your MP face-to-face to discuss how the rules are affecting your family - either at the MP's surgery or in Parliament itself.

Please continue to press your elected representatives on our cause. As Sarah Teather MP said on 9th July, we have made good friends - and need to make more. Every prominent campaigner we speak to urges us to continue to lobby MPs - one migrant rights leader said : 'It completely changes the conversation in Parliament', and moves us that much further to final victory.

A template letter is below :

Dear ,

As your constituent, I am writing to you to make you aware of the Spousal Visas Adjournment debate in the House of Commons main chamber in the afternoon of Monday, 9th September 2013, as mentioned here :
http://services.parliament.uk/calendar/#!/calendar/Commons/MainChamber/2013/9/9/events.html

I would like you to attend this debate and as your constituent, I would like you to make representations on my behalf, and on behalf of my family.

My family, and I, has been affected by these rule changes as follows :
<include your story>

I am shocked and disturbed by stories of people who have been separated from their spouses, partners, children, or family members as a result of the income threshold introduced in the new rules, or of the excessive evidential requirements, or of the impossibility of sponsoring elderly dependants. The changes aim to make it more difficult to sponsor spouses and partners, or elderly dependents, to come to the UK from outside the European Economic Area (EEA). I believe these changes are unfair and I would like you to oppose these iniquitous rules on my behalf.

Stories which include : A higher rate taxpayer unable to sponsor parents because of rules which are impossible to meet and deemed a ban masquerading as a rule; a young mum with a second chance at love forced to choose between her kids from a previous relationship living in the UK and her husband overseas; a gay mum with twins unable to return to UK to have her civil partner’s status recognised for the security of their babies; debt-free pensioners forced into working for income they don’t need; armed forces personnel who risked their life for our freedom being denied a right to their family file; British ex-pats wanting to return to look after British parents find barriers to re-entry are too high if they have a non-EU spouse or child. Skype families trying to conquer long-distance & time-differences through a screen; Brits forced into exile with their families.

Earlier this year, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Migration recently launched a report into the devastating impact of the rules, a copy of which you can read here : http://www.appgmigration.org.uk/family-inquiry 

I would be very grateful on your thoughts on the findings of this report.

I would also note that the Children's Commissioners for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland endorsed this report and called for an urgent review of the rules ( http://britcits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/uk-childrens-commissioners-endorse.html ). I would like to know what steps the government has taken in response to this call from the Children's Commissioners, who represent the most vulnerable and innocent in British society.

If you cannot come to the meeting, I would also ask that you write to the Home Secretary, and to the Immigration Minister, Mark Harper MP, asking for an explanation of why policy has not changed as a result of the APPG on Migration’s report published on 10 June this year, and what steps are being taken to review the impact of the rules.

Thank you very much for your time and I earnestly await your reply.

Yours sincerely,

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