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UK ‘Windrush’ immigration mix-up… Special help for Guyanese, other affected Caribbean nationals
PM May address the Caribbean leaders in London
The Government of the United Kingdom has announced moves to help Guyanese and other Caribbean residents of Commonwealth countries prove that they have rights to stay there.
This week, Prime Minister Theresa May apologized for a mix-up where UK residents from the Caribbean, who have been there for decades, were asked to prove their right to stay in the country or face deportation.
The issue came up as leaders of 53 Commonwealth nations, including Guyana, gathered in London for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. President David Granger is there.
It is being reported that persons who came to Britain after World War II are known as the “Windrush generation,” after the ship Empire Windrush, which carried hundreds of Caribbean immigrants to Britain in 1948.
Those who arrived before a change in the law in 1971 had an automatic right to settle in the U.K. But some from that generation, especially those who arrived as children on their parents’ passports, say they have been denied medical treatment or threatened with deportation because they can’t produce papers to prove their status.
There are thousands of Guyanese who live in the UK. The situation would have been worrying.
Yesterday, the British High Commission disclosed that Prime Minster May met representatives from 12 Caribbean Commonwealth States on Tuesday.
“Those attending included senior representatives from Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago.”
During the meeting, the High Commission said, Prime Minister May apologised for any anxiety caused, and explained how much the UK valued the contribution made by members of the Windrush Generation.
“Those who arrived from the Caribbean before 1973 and lived here permanently without significant periods of time away in the last 30 years have the right to remain in the UK, as do the vast majority of long-term residents who arrived later. I don’t want anybody to be in any doubt about their right to remain here in the United Kingdom”.
The Prime Minister went on to say that she wanted to “dispel any impression that my government is in some sense clamping down on Commonwealth citizens, particularly those from the Caribbean who have built a life here”.
The UK Government is committed to supporting Commonwealth citizens who have a right to live in the UK.
A new dedicated team will be set up within the Home Office for people who need support gathering evidence of their right to be in the UK.
It will contain a dedicated contact point, and will aim to resolve cases within two weeks, once all the evidence has been put together. No one affected will be charged for the documentation which proves their right.
A dedicated phone line (0300 123 2241) has also been created and the Home Office has published a fact sheet on their web site, which outlines the rights of Commonwealth citizens, the British High Commission explained.
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