The Windrush scandal has raised concerns over whether EU citizens will face similar issues in the UK after Brexit.
The “Windrush generation”, whose parents were invited to Britain from the Caribbean after the Second World War, have been caught up in a tightening of immigration rules overseen by British Prime Minister Theresa May when she was Home Secretary.
Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit negotiator, said on Wednesday that he would be seeking “full guarantees” for EU nationals during talks with the UK’s Home Office next week.
“We must avoid a post-Brexit bureaucratic nightmare for EU citizens,” Mr Verhodstadt tweeted.” We need full guarantees in the light of the #Windrush scandal. The EP will discuss this with the Home Office in Brussels on Tuesday 24 April.”
It also emerged on Wednesday that landing cards, which were filled out by Commonwealth migrants and were used to establish the date when they had arrived in Britain, had been destroyed by the Home Office.
Children of migrants who began moving to the UK with the Empire Windrush ship in 1948 had travelled on their parent’s passports and so the cards were a significant form of documentation.
However, the cards, which were being stored in Croydon, south London, were disposed of to comply with data protection rules in 2010.
Labour politician David Lammy described the treatment of the Windrush generation as a national disgrace during an impassioned speech in the House of Commons on Tuesday.
“The Home Office’s excuse is that they destroyed Windrush records because of data protection. That is a disgrace and an insult to thousands of people,” Mr Lammy tweeted on Wednesday. “They destroyed the records and now you are destroying lives. I fail to understand why a Minister has not resigned. Shameful.”
The Home Office said the cards were not definitive proof of continuous residence in the UK.
Changes to immigration rules in 2012 were designed to create a “hostile environment” for illegal immigrants by making it almost impossible for people without papers to remain.
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Read more:
UK’s May apologises over treatment of ‘Windrush’ migrants
Britain climbs down in row over Windrush migrants
‘Windrush generation’ row deepens as May rules out summit
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This has resulted in first generation migrants being told they need evidence to continue working, living and accessing health services in Britain.
Migrants who have spent their whole working lives in the UK, having arrived 50 or 60 years ago, are facing uncertainty over their status.
As many as 50,000 people are believed to be having difficulties in accessing key services and it is believed some have even been erroneously deported.
Gaston Browne, the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, said he knew of one Antiguan who had been identified for deportation for having no original documents.
"He came here about 59 years ago as an infant with his parents, and would have been on his parents' passport,” Mr Browne told Sky News.
"Many of these individuals do not have any connection with the country of their birth, would have lived in the UK their entire lives and worked very hard towards the advancement of the UK."
Junior Green, who arrived in the UK in 1958, was turned away from a plane when he attempted to return to England after caring for his dying mother in Jamaica.
Mr Green, 60, had his application for a visa denied by the Home Office after being asked to provide proof of residency for every 10 years he had been in the UK.
The father-of-six, who describes himself as an "Englishman", had a letter giving him indefinite leave to remain but was not allowed to add this letter to his Jamaican passport.
However, he said he had to go to Jamaica to see his mother one last time, despite the issues with his visa.
"It was very bad actually, if I didn't go, I probably wouldn't see her alive again,” Mr Green told the BBC’s Newsnight programme. “That's a choice I had to make...so I went. I had all evidence showing I lived in the country, so I thought I had no problem."
As a result, Mr Green was stuck in Jamaica for months before he was allowed home. His mother’s body had been repatriated to the UK and he missed her funeral.
Mrs May apologised to Caribbean leaders on Tuesday while the Home Office announced a helpline had been set up to investigate Windrush migrants’ cases.
What is an ETF?
An exchange traded fund is a type of investment fund that can be traded quickly and easily, just like stocks and shares. They come with no upfront costs aside from your brokerage's dealing charges and annual fees, which are far lower than on traditional mutual investment funds. Charges are as low as 0.03 per cent on one of the very cheapest (and most popular), Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, with the maximum around 0.75 per cent.
There is no fund manager deciding which stocks and other assets to invest in, instead they passively track their chosen index, country, region or commodity, regardless of whether it goes up or down.
The first ETF was launched as recently as 1993, but the sector boasted $5.78 billion in assets under management at the end of September as inflows hit record highs, according to the latest figures from ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five largest providers BlackRock’s iShares, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisers, Deutsche Bank X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
While the best-known track major indices such as MSCI World, the S&P 500 and FTSE 100, you can also invest in specific countries or regions, large, medium or small companies, government bonds, gold, crude oil, cocoa, water, carbon, cattle, corn futures, currency shifts or even a stock market crash.
Match info
Deccan Gladiators 87-8
Asif Khan 25, Dwayne Bravo 2-16
Maratha Arabians 89-2
Chadwick Walton 51 not out
Arabians won the final by eight wickets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MWTC
Tickets start from Dh100 for adults and are now on sale at www.ticketmaster.ae and Virgin Megastores across the UAE. Three-day and travel packages are also available at 20 per cent discount.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
6 UNDERGROUND
Director: Michael Bay
Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Adria Arjona, Dave Franco
2.5 / 5 stars
The specs: Fenyr SuperSport
Price, base: Dh5.1 million
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 800hp @ 7,100pm
Torque: 980Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 13.5L / 100km
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Trailblazer
Price, base / as tested Dh99,000 / Dh132,000
Engine 3.6L V6
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power 275hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque 350Nm @ 3,700rpm
Fuel economy combined 12.2L / 100km
