ON September 11 2019, Tory ministers reversed a single legislative measure introduced in 2012 by David Cameron’s Tory-Lib Dem coalition government.

In June 2012, then home secretary Theresa May announced new restrictions to reduce the number of non-EU family migrants.

In an echo of the barriers erected to migrant families trying to enter Britain in the 1970s and 1980s, the Immigration and Nationality Regulations 2012 permitted only British citizens earning more than £18,600 per annum to bring spouses or children to the Britain.

This figure was set above the national minimum wage/living wage, so denying human rights to family members of working-class migrants from non-EU countries and openly introducing discrimination on race, sex and class lines.

This sponsorship sum rose significantly for visa applications for children. For a first child, sponsors must show additional gross income of £3,800 per annum, with £2,400 per annum for any further children.

A two-year probationary period for partners was also increased to five years.

The reversal of one element of May’s hostile environment leaves all this intact, but now allows international students to stay in Britain for two years in order to secure employment after graduating from accredited universities. 

Administrative measures introduced by the Home Office under May’s hostile environment have systematically sought to make life impossible for people in Britain without leave to remain.

Ostentatious stunts such as the advertising vans driven around Britain’s inner cities telling people to “go home” were dog-whistle measures aimed at forcing people to voluntarily leave.

One of the biggest scandals of May’s hostile environment policy (on a scale comparable to the abuse of the Windrush generation) and still yet to be addressed, is the criminalisation of 48,000 international students.

These students came to Britain with aspirations to obtain higher education, only to find themselves accused of fraud for sitting English tests only applicable to students from outside the EU.

Some of them experienced midnight door-knocks and were deported to countries of origin outside the EU. A number of them became suicidal. Others were poverty stricken and made homeless.

Sajid Javid as home secretary acknowledged this injustice to international students and on July 25 2019 (the day he vacated the post to become chancellor of the Exchequer) promised to make a statement in the House of Commons.

Coincidence, or playing politics with human lives?

The objective of the Tory hostile environment policy was clear: to reduce immigration figures in line with levels promised in the 2010 Tory manifesto.

In an extraordinary outsourcing of immigration controls, landlords, doctors, hospitals and employers were made legally responsible for checking immigration status.

As a direct consequence, migrants from outside the EU have been denied access to essential services.

Those whose visas were refused, have had the appeals process removed. Those without regular documentation have been deported without appeal.

Applications for asylum have been turned down, human rights denied and longstanding conventions ignored.

Insult was added to injury as the Home Office even offered deportees the right to an out-of-country appeal, without any such institutions being created.

Meanwhile, application fees have been increased exponentially for all migrants seeking entry and residency in Britain.

A standard British visitor’s visa permitting a maximum single stay of six months now costs £95.

For two years the cost rises to £361, for five years £655 and 10 years £822.

A “super priority” visa costs £975, while the “super premium” service for expediting applications is an eye-watering £10,500.

These are clearly Home Office services tailored for the rich and to keep out working-class migrants unless sponsored by an employer.

This year, the Home Office reportedly declared a £800,000 profit. This is a result of daylight robbery — vulnerable people forced to pay for immigration services that are never received.

For example, following a rejected visa application application, fees are retained by the Home Office with no right to appeal (as previously existed) against the subjective view of the entry clearance officer, nor the right for an MP to intervene.

These fundamental legal and democratic rights must be restored. Migrants’ rights need to be made equally accessible and free from all forms of legal discrimination and political prejudice.

The hypocrisy of British immigration rules is to celebrate diversity, while undervaluing and rarely acknowledging the economic contribution of migrants.

The 35,000 vacancies in British universities this year, which the Home Office has been lobbied to fill through minor tinkering with the Tory hostile environment, will remain unfilled.

The anti-racist movement in Britain must demand equal rights for all migrants, whether from EU or non-EU countries, end the pernicious and discriminatory system of income thresholds for family-member visa applications, end the scandal of Home Office fee-charging, address the injustice against students falsely accused of fraud and take action against the US-owned, Jersey-registered English language testing company contracted by the Home Office.