National Roma Network Forum. 28 September 2017 Sheffield

Transcription

1 National Roma Network Forum 28 September 2017 Sheffield

2 Welcome and Overview Dave Brown Migration Yorkshire

3 Panel Discussion Communities, Neighbourhood and Housing

4 Panellists: Alexandra Bahor, Granby Toxteth Development Trust Phil Brown, University of Salford Catherine Hughes, Sheffield City Council Sue Lukes, MigrationWork

5 Local updates

6 Lunch Enjoy - please be back by 1:30pm!

7 Roundtable Discussions Evaluation and Impact of National Roma Network

8 Please focus your discussions around the following questions: 1. What do you think the NRN has done well and what are its biggest achievements? 2. How could the NRN improve? Please allow 20 minutes discussion for each question. When answering, please consider format and content of meetings, updates, website, etc

9 Race Disparity Audit Proposed data on Roma Marcus Bell Cabinet Office (Race Disparity Unit)

10 Update on Brexit Ewa Jamroz, Migration Yorkshire & Denisa Gannon, Co-Chair of NRN

11 Legal position of EU nationals According to the Home Office no need to apply for EEA residency documentation, as all EU nationals will have to apply for settled status anyway Some indication that it will be easier to get settled status (no income or CSI requirements) Government increasingly talks of several years of transition so potentially longer time to accumulate years of residence

12 Legal position of EU nationals However Leaked plans of the future immigration system indicate EU nationals will be subject to similar rules as third country nationals In practice it means spouse visas (income requirements), more difficult to bring family members, and harder for low skilled workers to come here

13 In the meantime EU nationals are anxious Increase in EU nationals applying for residence documentation continues (over 100K applications in Q and nearly 350K in 12 months to June 2017) More EU nationals applying for British nationality; but it is very expensive (over 1K per person for application and associated docs only) and need to have residence docs first

14 In the meantime EU nationals are anxious Increase in EU nationals applying for residence documentation continues (350K in 12 months to June 2017) More EU nationals applying for British nationality; but it is very expensive and need to have residence docs first Reports of families requesting to deascribe as Roma (in school) because of Brexit

15 rightly so? In the meantime

16 rightly so? In the meantime Recently reported examples of discriminatory practices in employment and housing market, UK s Equality Office is currently investigating Some EU nationals got letters telling them to leave the country though Home Office immediately apologised and confirmed it was an error

17 In the meantime More EU nationals are leaving the UK Brexodus latest ONS data shows significant increase in departures of EU nationals, mainly from A8 countries But also A2 (Romania and Bulgaria) Anecdotal reports of Roma families moving from the UK to other countries

18 In the meantime but some can t get back in While EU nationals are still coming to the UK, there is a fall new arrivals, including from A2 countries Increase in EU nationals refused entry at port (2,726 compared to 2,158 last year) Anecdotal evidence of Roma families being stranded in France

19 In the meantime Agencies sharing info with Immigration Enforcement (IE) Police Schools HMRC

20 links with removals? In the meantime There were 20% more enforced returns (5,301) of EU nationals in the year ending June 2017 compared with the previous 12 months (4,424) Nationals of Romania and Poland accounted for 60% of EU enforced returns compared to 57% the same time a year ago

21 NRN what we are doing We are linked with other migrant organisations and support their efforts to secure the rights of EU nationals in the UK We are gathering information on Roma experiences across the UK We are ensuring Roma voice is present in the Brexit debate

22 Final NRN Forum Meeting will be held in London on 14 th December 2017 An invitation will be sent out shortly Hope to see you all there!

23 Thank you for listening! Papers from today s event will be available at NRN website