Hansard

I welcome the opportunity to focus on an issue that affects families and communities across Scotland. Many members in the chamber will have had experience of intervening on behalf of constituents who face the prospect of family separation because of the UK Government’s family immigration rules.

The UK Government’s approach to migration is simply not working for Scotland. We face different challenges in relation to population, demography and rurality. Our population is ageing, our working age population is falling, and so is the proportion of the population that is children and young people. All our population growth is projected to come from inward migration. Last year, 14 of our local authorities experienced depopulation. Scotland needs people to come here, to bring their families and to build their lives here.

There is a practical case for change, but there is also a moral case. This goes to the heart of what type of country we want to be. Are we a welcoming country—a country that prioritises the needs of children and families—or are we a country that forces people to choose between living in their home country or with their loved ones?

It has been a busy few days for immigration. We have had a whole series of changes to immigration rules. There are 102 pages of changes, which tells us something about the complexity of the immigration system. The UK Government has announced proposals for a 3-year European temporary-leave-to-remain visa and it has made a welcome, if long overdue, announcement on the reinstatement of a post-study work visa.

The reinstatement of a post-study work visa is testament to the hard work over many years of elected members, universities, employers and partners across Scotland. Last week’s announcement shows that, when there is a clear evidence base for change and when we work together and with partners, we can make a difference. We can secure change in the system, and we need that change.

Let me be clear: there is an evidence base for a change to family migration policy. Since 2012, the UK Government has steadily eroded the family reunification rights of UK citizens by introducing a minimum income threshold of £18,600, which rises if there are children; extending the period before which migrant family members can apply for settlement; and restricting the rights of adult dependant relatives to join their families in the UK. That has got to a point where it is almost impossible to meet the requirements.

Since the implementation of the new rules, there has been a 41 per cent reduction in the number of visas granted to family members, from the peak in 2007. Those figures represent thousands of families across the UK being forced into separation and told by the UK Government to rely on emails, text messages and video calls to maintain their family life.

In 2015, the migration observatory published data showing that 58 per cent of people in Scotland did not meet the financial thresholds to bring a non-UK spouse and two children into the UK through the family migration route. The policy has a greater negative impact on women, young people and people living outside London. The Children’s Commissioner for England has published research estimating that almost 15,000 children are growing up in so-called Skype families because their parents cannot live together in the UK as a result of family migration rules. The research report states:

“Thousands of children are being forced to grow up without a parent solely as a result of these Rules.”

The UK’s family migration policies are the direct legacy of a hostile environment policy that is underpinned by an irrational and unachievable target to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands. Under the policy, British and settled families in the UK have had their rights to be joined by family members severely restricted, which has forced many to choose between staying in the UK and being with their family. The exception to that has been free movement. People have moved across Europe, fallen in love, had children and established their lives, safe in the knowledge that, wherever they chose to put down roots, their free movement rights would allow them to return home with their families. However, the UK Government’s determination to end free movement threatens that security. In a no-deal scenario, once free movement ends, UK families in the rest of Europe will be subject to the full weight of the UK Government’s punitive approach to family migration, should they wish to return to the UK.

Those are the reasons why we are calling on the UK Government to take a different approach to family migration to improve the rights of people in Scotland to bring close family into the country with them. That kind of migration is crucial to Scotland’s future. I have talked about evidence, but there are real people behind each of the statistics—real families and real children. Take the case of Anthony Duffy and Julianna Colaianni, newlyweds from Edinburgh who were told by the Home Office that they did not earn enough to meet the minimum income threshold. They have been forced to live apart for almost their entire marriage, which simply cannot be right.

It is also not right that children who were born in Scotland or who spent their formative years here can be ordered to leave so easily. Denzel Darku spent his formative years in the UK. He was a Queen’s baton relay holder for the Glasgow Commonwealth games and had been studying at the University of Stirling to become a nurse. Despite that, his application to stay was refused and he was told to leave the UK. Following high-profile media and ministerial interventions, he was rightly granted permanent residence.

The Habibimarands, an elderly couple from Edinburgh, have been in the UK on and off for 40 years with their four British children and 11 grandchildren. They acted as co-parents to one of their grandchildren to allow the boy’s mother to continue her work as a national health service nurse. Despite that, they were ordered to leave the UK because they were not considered to be close family members.

Happily, following a campaign by the community, the Habibimarands were eventually allowed to stay. I welcome the fact that Home Office ministers change their minds on some cases, yet in each of those cases, the families and their communities, often supported by elected members, have had to fight every step of the way to change the decision. While some families have received good news, many other families face being torn apart. What we need is a broader discussion about whether the family migration rules are fit for purpose. That is why the Scottish Government will shortly commission the expert advisory group on migration and population to look more closely at the impact that current family migration rules have on families in Scotland, with particular regard to the impact on areas of devolved responsibility.

I call on colleagues across the chamber: let us speak clearly and seek to make a difference for families and communities across Scotland. We have demonstrated, when we identify that children need to have their family located with them and that rural and remote areas face depopulation, that there is a real evidence base that Scotland needs something different.

Let us also show that Scotland has a heart, and that we are a country that values families and children and does not tear families apart. Let us make the case for change, and for a fair, humane and compassionate approach to family migration that allows families to build their lives in Scotland and make a positive contribution to our society and economy.

I move,

That the Parliament notes that the UK Government’s family migration policies are considered to be some of the least family-friendly immigration policies in the developed world, according to research such as the Migrant Integration Policy Index 2015; further notes that the current rules are not fit for purpose and are leading to forced family separation in communities across Scotland; believes that Conservative administrations have steadily eroded the family reunification rights of UK citizens and that its proposals to end free movement of people will mean further detrimental impacts on the families of EU and UK citizens; notes that Scotland’s distinct population needs mean that all of its future population growth is projected to come from migration, and calls on the UK Government to end its increasingly restrictive and arbitrary approach to family migration, scrap the minimum income threshold of £18,600, implement a fair and humane approach to family migration and allow families to build their lives in Scotland and make a positive contribution to society and the economy.