We have just about recovered from our Annual Gathering last month, the first of its kind for the organisation since 2017! For the past 18 months, Right to Remain has been in a period of change; we have expanded our staff team, have worked with over 350 groups, and begun to set in motion our refreshed  theory of change as a new team. Hosting our Annual Gathering allowed us the perfect opportunity to celebrate this growth.  On 18th March, our staff team and a group of These Walls Must Fall campaigners brought together over 65 people from over 50 organisations across the UK, for a day ..read more

Today, on 11 April, the government has introduced changes to the minimum income requirements for applying for a spousal visa.  The minimum income threshold for applying for a spousal visa has been massively increased to £29,000 with plans for further increases.  If you are settled in the UK, or a British citizen, and you would like to bring a partner from abroad to live with you, this change in visa policy could affect you. What do these changes mean? These changes were first announced by the government on 4 Dec 2023, as part of a package of measures to reduce overall migration to t ..read more

Join us for our next Radical Solidarity Hub meeting on 14th May, between 11am – 12pm, on Zoom. Since April 2022, Right to Remain has reconnected with hundreds of groups, small and large, across the UK using our Toolkit and doing much needed solidarity work with people who are caught up in the hostile asylum and immigration system.  We want to keep in touch with them regularly, to update them about new Toolkit pages, introduce them to each other and find solutions together where we can.  We have introduced this through quarterly online Radical Solidarity Hub meetings. Our first se ..read more

2024 is going to be a big year for parliamentary politics in the UK. There are local elections happening in May, and there is going to be a General Election too (though we don’t know when).  At Right to Remain, we know that change does not always come from political processes, and we understand that people might feel disillusioned by mainstream politics. Although building power is much broader than parliamentary politics, it is important to understand how politics work if we want to change the system.  There are different rules around who can vote in elections and across different r ..read more

You have the right to access your personal information which is held by a government body, such as the Home Office, under the Data Protection Act 2018. The process of doing this is called a ‘Subject Access Request’ or commonly just a SAR. Anyone can make a SAR, you do not need a lawyer, and SARs are free. It can be useful to submit a SAR in many different situations, including:  To find out your full immigration history, including entry clearance records and any visas issued to you (particularly useful if you are making a long residence application) To check if any letters were sen ..read more

Right to Remain’s Annual Gathering 2024: Preparing for our collective future: building knowledge, radical solidarity and power is just around the corner!  Here’s a sneak preview of what we are hoping to cover on 19 March in Birmingham.  We will start the day with a horizon scanning panel discussion. We will be exploring factors that might have an impact on the migration justice movement in the future. The panelists are: Sabrina Huck, Strategic Engagement Adviser, Refugee, Asylum and Migration Policy Project Sarah Cutler, Co-Director, Migration Exchange Eiri Ohtani, Director, Right ..read more

We have received reports that the Home Office is calling people to offer ‘voluntary departure’ to Rwanda.  This scheme is separate to the initial Rwanda policy (which was defeated in the Supreme Court), the Rwanda Treaty which was recently signed by the Home Secretary, and the Safety of Rwanda Bill which is currently being rushed through Parliament.  Instead, this ‘voluntary departure’ scheme is similar to the current ‘voluntary returns’ procedure where the Home Office offers people money to return to their country of origin, except, instead of returning to their country of origin ..read more

We are pleased to welcome Zainabb Hull, Stephanie Habib and Callum Lynch as our new Management Commitee members. They join the existing Management Committee members, Catherine Hurley, Tom Gee, Phill Wilcox and Hyab Yohannes.  We received many applications after we advertised the position in December 2023. We are grateful to everyone who circulated the information and also expressed an interest in joining our Management Committee.  Zainabb Hull is a queer, disabled, brown Muslim femme from London who works at Organise, a campaigning platform for workers’ rights. Alongside their work ..read more

Our latest Solidarity Sessions in February in Manchester and Liverpool brought together a great mix of groups and organisations in both cities, and made for really interesting and inspiring events. Thank you so much to everyone who was able to come along and participate! This is a short report of the events, with links to learning resources and further information. Manchester session: evidence in asylum and immigration cases For the February session in Manchester we focused on evidence in asylum and immigration cases. Leah, one of the Right to Remain Legal Education Officers, took the audien ..read more

At the end of January 2024, the government announced a proposal to introduce a fee for claimants to bring claims forward at the employment tribunal across England, Wales and Scotland. If this proposal is implemented, it risks reducing access to justice at work, and will have a negative impact on migrant workers. To learn more about work exploitation and migrant workers’ rights, read our Key Guide here. What is the employment tribunal? For many people, the employment tribunal is the last option for seeking justice for problems at work. The employment tribunal is a court that hears and makes d ..read more