Help me stop the Home Office blighting Ella's life
Donation protected
A mistake by the Home Office is putting Ella's entire future at risk
Let's help Ella get her life back on track, by raising the £500 she needs to pay the government's increased immigration health surcharge.
Ella* is a bright and determined 24-year-old, with ambitions to be a drama teacher or youth worker. 'It's always been a dream of mine to work with kids,' she says.
Ella was planning to start a teaching apprenticeship later this year, but found out in January 2019 that a mistake by the Home Office means she will have to put her whole life back on hold.
Ella has lived in the UK since she was age two, but realised only recently that no one had sorted out her immigration paperwork when she was a child. Since then, she has been determinedly gathering together the money and evidence she needs to make a 'leave to remain' application, which means the Home Office would officially recognise her right to be in the UK, and she would be able to work and study.
In June 2018, with help from her solicitor at Islington Law Centre, Ella was ready to make her Home Office application. It was just before she was due to turn 24, and Ella remembers the day vividly. 'I thought, at last I can start making plans! I can relax and really enjoy my birthday tomorrow.'
But Ella hadn't reckoned on Home Office intransigence. After waiting six months, on 2 January 2019, Ella learned that the Home Office had rejected her application on a technicality -without even reading it. Ella was devastated.
Her solicitor immediately tried to persuade the Home Office to reconsider, but they've refused to budge. As a result, the solicitor's reluctant advice is that the surest and quickest way for Ella to resolve her situation is to make a new application - but there is one potentially insurmountable hurdle before Ella can do that.
On 8 January, the government doubled the cost of the compulsory immigration health surcharge that applicants have to pay, along with Home Office fees. By forcing Ella to make a new application, the Home Office is also forcing her to pay the new, higher fee. This means, Ella will need to find an additional £500, on top of the money she has already raised before she can re-apply. For someone who is not allowed to work or claim benefits, it is an impossible sum.
That is why, I am asking you to help me raise the £500 that Ella needs. I am hoping that between us we can raise the money, so she can make a new Home Office application asap, and will still be able to take up her teaching apprenticeship.
Without our help, Ella will be left in limbo indefinitely, because she has no way of finding the extra money. Even worse, Home Office fees are due to go up again in April 2019, putting the cost even further out of her reach. Her greatest fear is suffering the same fate as some of the Windrush generation - being put in immigration detention or removed to a country she hasn't seen since she was a toddler.
She says: 'Right now, because I have no Home Office application in, I am panicky. I know the worst that could happen. I'm like, oh my days! I'm on edge. It's scary.'
Ella was born in the Caribbean island of Antigua, and her childhood in the UK was quite disrupted. She has little family support, but is close to her two younger sisters. My lovely friend and former colleague Rosie, knows the three sisters well. Rosie helped Ella's sisters sort out their immigration paperwork, and was instrumental in raising the money for Ella's initial Home Office application.
The Windrush scandal exposed the heartlessness of the Home Office and how hard it is to get them to show compassion or even common sense. All Ella's solicitor has been told about why her application was returned unread, is that there was a problem with the payment. We are all puzzled, because the money was there. However, even if there had been a glitch at the bank, it wouldn't have mattered, had the Home Office followed its own guidance. According to its own rules, it should allow 10 days for hitches of this kind to be resolved, precisely to avoid applications being rejected wrongly. For reasons we don't understand, they refused to do this in Ella's case.
In theory, her solicitor could seek to challenge the Home Office's refusal, or apply for some of the fee to be waived, but that will just cause further lengthy delay (with no guarantee of success), which is time Ella doesn't have. She turns 25 in June, at which point she would no longer be eligible for an apprenticeship. What she needs now more than anything is certainty and to be able to make definite plans for her future.
So, her solicitor's pragmatic advice is is for Ella to make a new application immediately, rather than wait for her complaint to be investigated first (which could take months).
That is why I am crowdfunding for Ella. It makes no sense for a bright, ambitious, young woman - who is fully entitled to be granted leave to remain in the UK (and who has worked so hard to resolve things for herself) - to be left in limbo because of Home Office failings.
I've set a target of £550, to allow enough to cover Go Fund Me's commission. If we raise more than that, anything in addition will be kept to go towards Ella's first 'leave to remain' renewal, which will be due in 30 months**
Ella says: 'I just want to get on with my life, and be the best I can be. I don't want to keep feeling down. I've never been that kind of person. I want to be able to breathe again.'
Read blogs by young migrants from the Let us Learn campaign on the impact of the government's doubling of the immigration health surcharge here:
https://metro.co.uk/2019/01/12/temporary-migrant-feels-like-im-probation-8334827/
https://inews.co.uk/opinion/comment/ive-grew-up-in-britain-and-i-work-and-pay-taxes-here-yet-the-fees-i-have-to-pay-to-use-the-nhs-have-just-doubled/
* 'Ella' is a pseudonym to protect her privacy. The photo shows her (right), and her two younger sisters, a few years after she first came to the UK.
** From 8 January, a 'limited leave to remain' application costs £2,033 (£1,033 in Home Office fees; £1,000 for the immigration health surcharge). Leave is granted for 30 months, after which a new application and payment has to be made. Home Office fees increase annually, with the next one due in April 2019.
Let's help Ella get her life back on track, by raising the £500 she needs to pay the government's increased immigration health surcharge.
Ella* is a bright and determined 24-year-old, with ambitions to be a drama teacher or youth worker. 'It's always been a dream of mine to work with kids,' she says.
Ella was planning to start a teaching apprenticeship later this year, but found out in January 2019 that a mistake by the Home Office means she will have to put her whole life back on hold.
Ella has lived in the UK since she was age two, but realised only recently that no one had sorted out her immigration paperwork when she was a child. Since then, she has been determinedly gathering together the money and evidence she needs to make a 'leave to remain' application, which means the Home Office would officially recognise her right to be in the UK, and she would be able to work and study.
In June 2018, with help from her solicitor at Islington Law Centre, Ella was ready to make her Home Office application. It was just before she was due to turn 24, and Ella remembers the day vividly. 'I thought, at last I can start making plans! I can relax and really enjoy my birthday tomorrow.'
But Ella hadn't reckoned on Home Office intransigence. After waiting six months, on 2 January 2019, Ella learned that the Home Office had rejected her application on a technicality -without even reading it. Ella was devastated.
Her solicitor immediately tried to persuade the Home Office to reconsider, but they've refused to budge. As a result, the solicitor's reluctant advice is that the surest and quickest way for Ella to resolve her situation is to make a new application - but there is one potentially insurmountable hurdle before Ella can do that.
On 8 January, the government doubled the cost of the compulsory immigration health surcharge that applicants have to pay, along with Home Office fees. By forcing Ella to make a new application, the Home Office is also forcing her to pay the new, higher fee. This means, Ella will need to find an additional £500, on top of the money she has already raised before she can re-apply. For someone who is not allowed to work or claim benefits, it is an impossible sum.
That is why, I am asking you to help me raise the £500 that Ella needs. I am hoping that between us we can raise the money, so she can make a new Home Office application asap, and will still be able to take up her teaching apprenticeship.
Without our help, Ella will be left in limbo indefinitely, because she has no way of finding the extra money. Even worse, Home Office fees are due to go up again in April 2019, putting the cost even further out of her reach. Her greatest fear is suffering the same fate as some of the Windrush generation - being put in immigration detention or removed to a country she hasn't seen since she was a toddler.
She says: 'Right now, because I have no Home Office application in, I am panicky. I know the worst that could happen. I'm like, oh my days! I'm on edge. It's scary.'
Ella was born in the Caribbean island of Antigua, and her childhood in the UK was quite disrupted. She has little family support, but is close to her two younger sisters. My lovely friend and former colleague Rosie, knows the three sisters well. Rosie helped Ella's sisters sort out their immigration paperwork, and was instrumental in raising the money for Ella's initial Home Office application.
The Windrush scandal exposed the heartlessness of the Home Office and how hard it is to get them to show compassion or even common sense. All Ella's solicitor has been told about why her application was returned unread, is that there was a problem with the payment. We are all puzzled, because the money was there. However, even if there had been a glitch at the bank, it wouldn't have mattered, had the Home Office followed its own guidance. According to its own rules, it should allow 10 days for hitches of this kind to be resolved, precisely to avoid applications being rejected wrongly. For reasons we don't understand, they refused to do this in Ella's case.
In theory, her solicitor could seek to challenge the Home Office's refusal, or apply for some of the fee to be waived, but that will just cause further lengthy delay (with no guarantee of success), which is time Ella doesn't have. She turns 25 in June, at which point she would no longer be eligible for an apprenticeship. What she needs now more than anything is certainty and to be able to make definite plans for her future.
So, her solicitor's pragmatic advice is is for Ella to make a new application immediately, rather than wait for her complaint to be investigated first (which could take months).
That is why I am crowdfunding for Ella. It makes no sense for a bright, ambitious, young woman - who is fully entitled to be granted leave to remain in the UK (and who has worked so hard to resolve things for herself) - to be left in limbo because of Home Office failings.
I've set a target of £550, to allow enough to cover Go Fund Me's commission. If we raise more than that, anything in addition will be kept to go towards Ella's first 'leave to remain' renewal, which will be due in 30 months**
Ella says: 'I just want to get on with my life, and be the best I can be. I don't want to keep feeling down. I've never been that kind of person. I want to be able to breathe again.'
Read blogs by young migrants from the Let us Learn campaign on the impact of the government's doubling of the immigration health surcharge here:
https://metro.co.uk/2019/01/12/temporary-migrant-feels-like-im-probation-8334827/
https://inews.co.uk/opinion/comment/ive-grew-up-in-britain-and-i-work-and-pay-taxes-here-yet-the-fees-i-have-to-pay-to-use-the-nhs-have-just-doubled/
* 'Ella' is a pseudonym to protect her privacy. The photo shows her (right), and her two younger sisters, a few years after she first came to the UK.
** From 8 January, a 'limited leave to remain' application costs £2,033 (£1,033 in Home Office fees; £1,000 for the immigration health surcharge). Leave is granted for 30 months, after which a new application and payment has to be made. Home Office fees increase annually, with the next one due in April 2019.
Organizer and beneficiary
Fiona Bawdon
Organizer
England
Rosie Eatwell-White
Beneficiary
