Hundreds of Indian doctors, teachers, entrepreneurs and other professionals gathered outside Parliament here today to protest against "unfair" immigration rules that have left them in limbo regarding their residency status in the UK.
The Highly Skilled Migrants group brought together professionals from countries outside the European Union (EU) based in cities across Britain to register their protest against UK Home Office delays and "unjustified" refusals related to their applications for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) in Britain.
The migrants who moved to live and work in the country from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria turned out with their families to wave placards reading "Right to work is a universal right Home Office removed my right" and "Enough is enough, stop discrimination".
The group, which included young children, also chanted slogans like "We want justice" and "One, two, three, four, discrimination no more".
"I have been based in this country for 12 years and have even received a grant from my local council because of the work my start-up is doing to benefit first-time home buyers.
"My wife works as a dentist. These are skills this country is in dire need of and yet we are being treated so unjustly," said Sam, an entrepreneur based in Nottingham who has been awaiting a decision on his ILR application for years.
"All our documents are with the Home Office, which means we can't even travel to visit my heart patient mother in India," he added.
Sam is among thousands of professionals who entered the UK on a Tier 1 (General) visa years ago.
They are entitled to apply for ILR or permanent residency status after a minimum of five years of lawful residency in the UK.
While the visa category itself was discontinued in 2010, former applicants are eligible to apply for residency in Britain until April this year if they meet the necessary requirement.
"The April deadline is a major factor. After that deadline, these applicants will struggle to re-apply to overcome any incorrect decisions by the Home Office and it seems like some of the systemic delays are linked with that," said Aditi Bhardwaj, one of the organisers of the protest.
The businesswoman, who was successful in her own bid for residency after lengthy delays last year, is mobilising the protests as a show of solidarity.
"These are human lives at stake. I have been through immense emotional stress over this, which makes me feel so strongly about supporting others," she said.
The Highly Skilled Migrants group claims to be aware of hundreds of cases where applications under the Tier 1 (General) route are either held up in lengthy delays or refused on grounds of a section of the UK Immigration Act which is aimed at criminals and tax evaders.
The UK Home Office has claimed all decisions are made "as quickly as possible" and that any refusals are a direct result of discrepancies in the tax data quoted by applicants.
British Sikh MP Tan Dhesi and his fellow Labour party MP Seema Malhotra are among the Indian-origin parliamentarians who have expressed their support for the migrant groups protests.
"In terms of the highly-skilled migrants, I know from the sheer numbers of constituents who have been in touch about the seriousness of this issue. They are not being fairly treated by the Home Office," said Dhesi, who is lobbying Parliament on the issue as a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Visas and Immigration.
The protest in London came as the Opposition Labour party made a major speech on immigration, challenging the Conservative party-led British governments "hostile" environment for migrants in the country.
"The NHS [National Health Service] crisis is caused by Tory cuts. One of its features is a huge shortage of doctors, nurses and other workers. And yet this government turns doctors away, in a failed effort to meet its net migration target," said shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, in a speech at King's College Londons Policy Institute today.
Abbott, the first black woman to win a seat in the House of Commons, said that the Labour party was committed to correcting the "unfairness" in the system because the UK needs migrants and migration.
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