I don't know where this narrative of "permanent" refugee status came from (right wing press), but it is wrong. The change is from a single grant of five years' leave followed by the ability to apply for settlement
Today is the Mass Lobby for Migrant Rights. Hundreds are uniting in Parliament with one clear message for our MPs: scrap the earned settlement plans.
There has never been a more important moment to stand with migrants and refugees.
Support from home👉 www.praxis.org.uk/mass-lobby-s...
Beyond frustrating that the goal posts for migrant domestic workers on the UK’s ODW visa keep being moved. It is unclear what a further review will add to the host of evidence from domestic workers that the original visa mitigated risks & gave options to access rights @kalayaan.org.uk #IWD
The statement of changes to the immigration rules www.gov.uk/government/p... and the written statement (which goes wider than the rules changes) are now out questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-stat...
Having the right to work is of course very different to being compelled to work, possibly in restricted sectors/ circumstances which creates risks of exploitation #LiftTheBan
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Senior Policy Officer, Dr Sophie Cartwright, has written for @bordercrim.bsky.social about access to legal advice in detention.
JRS UK's research last year highlighted how difficult it was for people in immigration detention to access any legal support.
📖Read more: www.jrsuk.net/accessing-le...
Today's announcement that, after today, people seeking asylum in the UK will be kept in long-term limbo creates unreasonable hurdles against integration and recovery for people who have already lost so much.
It’s always brilliant to work with @voiceofdws.bsky.social & these recommendations for the Fair Work Agency are positive & practical & will help make sure the agency is relevant to & trusted by migrant domestic workers
With Valentine's Day approaching, we are shining a light on how visa systems strip away the right to family life from migrant workers, effectively commodifying people.
Migrant workers deserve the same right to enjoy love and family life as anyone else.
labourexploitation.org/news/valenti...
Labour’s sister party in Spain doing the right thing from a humanitarian perspective, a social cohesion perspective and an economic perspective….
But of course mainstream UK politicians are allergic to evidence-based policy on immigration.
New report released today:
"Politics over people?" - detailing how the UK’s “one in one out” knowingly harms and forcibly removes torture and trafficking survivors to France.
Read the report here medicaljustice.org.uk/politics-ove...
FLEX held an event in Parliament to launch our report, Unravelling the Nets, attended by politicians, regulators, retailers, producers and more.
The consensus was clear: the UK urgently needs a fishing visa, to stop the risks of labour exploitation via the transit loophole.
Our Policy Officer role closes on the 21 January; do please have a look/ share ahead of the weekend ⬇️
There is important learning here for the future Fair Work Agency. If people are prevented from reporting abuse and exploitation because of their immigration status, it’s obvious the exploitation will thrive ⬇️
Still time to apply to join @focusonlabour.bsky.social as a Policy Officer ⬇️
The last time I checked a couple of years ago, the Home Office cost recovery target on visa processing was 202%, but in the latest annual report it was 241% - meaning that for every £100 it costs to administer the visa system, the department aims to raise £241 in fees.
Happy New Year.
Want to spend 2026 working to end labour exploitation?
We are recruiting for a Policy Officer and Administrator at @focusonlabour.bsky.social
labourexploitation.org/about-us/opp...
Start 2026 working to build rights for all workers.
We at FLEX are recruiting for a policy & an admin role. Please share widely ⬇️
labourexploitation.org/about-us/opp...
2025 has been quite a year & it’s clear that there will be no shortage of challenges to migrant workers’ rights in 2026.
That makes it all the more important to pause & look back over the year at what was achieved ⬇️
The Migration Advisory Committee has released its 2025 annual report.
The report looks at the impact of migration on the UK's public finances, Overseas Domestic Workers, and migrants' English language abilities.
Here are three things they found 👇
As the immigration white paper is implemented migrant fishers must not be left adrift.
We’ve set out policies to make sure they are recognised as workers & able to exercise rights
''The Home Office believes that despite these points the changes are justified for a number of policy reasons including reducing net migration and ending reliance on overseas recruitment. ''
The points:
Government has now - belatedly -published the impact assessment for the changes to skilled worker and care worker visas announced in May.
Impact is estimated between -£2 billion and £-10 billion (central - £10 billion).
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6937e6...
if someone can show me where the automatic settlement and citizenship exists, can we have our fourteen grand in fees back please
'Nursing leaders told the Guardian the plans were “immoral” and treated highly skilled migrants as “political footballs”. They said a mass exodus of nurses would threaten patient safety'.
Combine this with the number of UK universities shrinking or closing their nursing programmes....
Rather than addressing the visa structures which exposed health & social care workers to such risks of exploitation gvt proposals will repeat these mistakes with other key workers including nurses creating insecurity & dependencies on employers
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Exactly this. The expansion of immigration policies creating permanent temporariness is known the world over to create fresh opportunities for unscrupulous employers to exploit and abuse workers ➡️
Keeping people temporary makes it harder to find work and more difficult to challenge exploitation if in work. Further limiting support for asylum seekers will increase destitution & remove options creating huge risks of exploitation. This policy making is cruel and will do much harm
The government has a flagship Employment Rights Bill in parliament and has committed to make work pay. Passing this amendment would be such an important step to making sure rights are accessible to migrant domestic workers in practice. Its time to listen to domestic workers about what works for them
