Campaign

WRITE TO YOUR MP

Stop 'Earned' Settlement

I am writing to you as your constituent regarding the ‘earned settlement’ proposals.

I ask you as my MP to publicly denounce Shabana Mahmood MP’s immigration policies, reject ‘earned’ settlement, challenge the Minister in writing, and raise an Urgent Question in Parliament about the harm caused to your constituents.

The ‘earned’ settlement proposals will lead to wide-reaching harms and could be implemented in less than a few months without MPs having a vote or any meaningful parliamentary scrutiny. If they are implemented through a rule change, we ask that you support or lead a negative procedure to annul the relevant statutory instrument. (Read about negative procedure on the UK parliament website [here](https://guidetoprocedure.parliament.uk/collections/PtBJuBiU/negative-procedure).)

These proposals would have a severe financial, social, and psychological impact on migrants and our communities in general. People will have to repeatedly pay to renew their visas and the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) for at least twice as long, impacting their ability to get jobs. Ever more unrealistic salary requirements will shut people out of being able to apply for settlement. More people will be pushed into poverty because of this, and because they would be deterred from claiming public funds that they are entitled to and need.

Many workplaces are not able to sponsor employees, so doubling the standard settlement period is likely to jeopardise future opportunities, as well as trap people in exploitative jobs.

The impermanence and uncertainty within the proposals is causing migrants to feel more isolated from their communities. This ultimately impacts everybody because it fractures the social, psychological, familial and economic bonds that unite us.

Last but not least, the proposals amplify anti-migrant narratives from MPs and Government, emboldening racists to perpetuate acts of violence online and in the streets. They make it harder for people to recover and access help following a racist attack. In Ballymena, for example, many migrants targeted by racist violence were unable to access housing assistance when they had been displaced, because of No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF).

A society that makes people feel unwelcome or unsafe does not just harm migrants, it harms all of us. We need leadership that promotes unity and community, not harm, anxiety and exclusion.

I look forward to hearing from you.