This article was anonymously submitted via our email submission form
The Conservative UK government has plans to deport non-EU migrant workers who may have lived and worked in the UK for up to 6 years, and who earn under £35000 a year. This policy will be cause “chaos” for the NHS according to the Royal College of Nursing, and could result in the deportation of up to 29,755 NHS nurses (who earn an average salary of between £21000 and £28000 a year) by 2020. Nursing recruitment numbers within the UK are currently low with 1 in 4 NHS nurses coming from overseas. New recruitment of nurses will cost the NHS millions and drain time and resources – which will result in further health cuts elsewhere.
Furthermore, this new initiative will risk splitting up families who are settled in the UK and will jeopardise the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people. The income bracket of £35000 is unreasonable and unjust – especially considering that the average income of a UK born citizen is only £26,600.
The Royal College of Nursing and British Medical Association have both made statements protesting against this new policy, by demonstrating the financial and domestic problems it will cause. Recent discussion from the government suggests that nurses will not be removed from the list of occupations affected by the policy, so unless we can make a change we await this future.
To voice your protest agains this deportation policy, you can sign and share the petition below – Do Not Deport Non-EU Migrant Workers Earning Under £35000 a year :
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/do-not-deport-non-eu-migrant-workers-earning-under-35000
Sources for article :
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jun/22/new-immigration-rules-cost-nhs-millions-nursing
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jun/24/new-uk-immigration-rules-will-you-be-affected
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/06/22/migrant-nurses-deported_n_7633978.html
http://www.rt.com/uk/268897-nurses-deported-tory-migrants/
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/apr/04/nhs-recruits-one-in-four-nurses-from-abroad
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-33201189
The Statue of Liberty must be crying from the other side of the Atlantic. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”