This information was first published on 30 April. It has been updated on 26th May. The following is the latest update from 1st June.
The home office have now set up a new procedure for obtaining a permanent status card and British nationality. This came into effect on the 30thMay 2018 and replaces the previous procedure (which was to phone them and obtain an appointment).
You now have to make an application on a form, the information and from being available here.
The phone number 0800 678 1925 is still available if you have any questions or need help in filling the form.
The line is open Monday to Saturday between 9am and 5pm and Sunday between 10am and 4pm.
The application is still free of charge and the form has to be sent to:
Freepost
Department 220
UK Visas and Immigration
Liverpool
L3 9PP
The form is dealt with by a special ‘windrush taskforce’ team who will contact you once the application is looked at. There is no information currently about how long this procedure will take.
The people affected by this are:
1) Any commonwealth citizen who came to the UK before 1/1/73 and has been living in the UK continuously since arrival.
2) Any wife and child of a commonwealth citizen who was here before the 1/1/1973. The wife or child must have come in (or made an application to come here) before the 1/8/1988 and must also have lived here continuously since arrival.
‘Continuously’ means not having been abroad for more than 2 years at any one time.
The Home office have also added 2 new categories
3) A Commonwealth citizen who was settled in the UK before 1 January 1973 whose left the UK for over 2 years, but returned and are in the UK legally and have close and continuing ties with the UK.
4) A person of any nationality, who arrived in the UK before 31 December 1988 and is lawfully settled in the UK.
The documents you need are:
- Proof that you were here before 1/1/73 or 1/8/88 (depending on which category you fall into).
- Further documents to show that you have been in the UK since arrival.
The Home office have said that the information provided in not going to be sent to their ‘removals’ team.
Compensation
The government has said that it will compensate those ‘who have suffered loss’.
As the first stage of the compensation process they are carrying out a consultation and have asked people (and organisations) to email them on Windrushcompensation@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk or write to them at:
Windrush Compensation Scheme Team
Home Office
2nd Floor
Peel
2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF
The deadline for the responses is 11.59pm on 8 June 2018 and they want thoughts on the following questions.
- Please can you tell us something about your personal background and what went wrong for you?
- How did that affect you, both in practical terms and more generally?
- When did you first know there was a problem?
- What kinds of losses did you experience, as a direct or indirect result of the problems you encountered?
- What do you think we need to do, in terms of a compensation scheme, to put it right?
It is important for people to respond to this and, in particular, outline the indirect problems that they have had because of their fear that they have no status. For example, people affected have often been told by travel agents not to leave the UK because of the possibility of not being allowed back. It is important for the government to be aware of the distress this has caused individuals.
The consultation paper is available on here.
If you need further help:
Contact Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU)
Phone 0161 7407722 or email referral@gmiau.org for enquiries about representation.
