Migration news roundup 1 July 2024

• Stories that inspired us this week
• International news
• UK borders and migration policy
• Specific migrant groups
• Cohesion and integration

Stories that inspired us this week

The Entrepreneurial Refugee Network(TERN) and Open Britian have showcased a collection of portraits telling the stories of people who have succeeded as entrepreneurs after seeking sanctuary in the UK. (Source: BBC news)

Stories of Yorkshire’s residents who hosted Ukrainian families continue to feature on Migration Yorkshire social media. One of the recent stories is from Ian, who hosted a family of three and described his experience as ‘totally positive’. (Source: Migration Yorkshire Linkedin)

International news

The International Organization for Migration launched its World Migration Report 2024. The biennial report, which presents key global and regional migration trends and data, estimates that in 2020, 281 million (or 3.6%) people were international migrant, and that therefore the vast majority of people continue to live in the countries where they were born (Source: International Organization of Migration)

This article concludes that there is no evidence to suggest climate change will lead to more migration to Europe. Finally, there are reports that Russia is using its migrant population who have received Russian citizenship to provide manual labour in occupied areas of Ukraine. (Sources: Euronews, Politico)

UK borders and migration policy

This article speaks how migrants can get affected by the UK’s voting policy, including a story of an Elected Member for Hackney Council, who cannot vote as she has not got UK citizenship. Only British Citizens and some Commonwealth nationals have the right to vote in General Elections. (Source: The Bureau Investigates)

As the General Election looms, there’s focus on the matters which future government asylum policy might have to address. Notably, labour leader Keir Starmer has suggested that, if elected, they would look to process asylum claims from people currently deemed inadmissible to the UK asylum system.

This new briefing from the Refugee Council analyses the challenges of the asylum system which will be inherited by the next government. This includes matters like asylum hotels, removal to Rwanda, inadmissibility policy, and decision-making. Similarly, Free Movement also consider some of the main problems facing the asylum system, and how they could be fixed. While this post also looks at the priorities around refugees and safe and legal routes. (Sources: BBC News, Refugee Council, Free Movement)

Record numbers of people crossing the Channel in small boats continue to be reported with figures for January to June 2024 the highest ever reported for this period. While, a new briefing analyses data on Channel Crossings. (Sources: the Guardian, Migration Observatory)

There’s a couple of items to listen to. This podcast talks about the exploitation of overseas domestic workers.  While this one looks at how Rwanda plan became an important part of the UK immigration story and how it is impacting the debates across Europe. (Sources: Free Movement, the Conversation)

Specific migrant groups

Following many individual legal challenges, the Home Office may need to process large numbers of asylum claims that were withdrawn as part of expedited efforts to clear the asylum backlog. (Source: the Guardian)

This article looks at the different visa options for Ukrainians to regularise their stay in the UK. (Source: Free Movement)

On children and young people,  a project backed by the Salvation has enabled Ukrainian refugee children living in Scarborough to access lessons in their native language on Ukrainian heritage. Meanwhile, a school in Essex says the International Rescue Committee (IRC) healing classrooms programme has improved their support for refugee children, after they introduced trauma-informed teaching and increasing cultural awareness. (Sources: BBC News, the Guardian)  

This report concludes that provisions in the Nationality and Borders Act have negatively impacted survivors of modern slavery, pointing to a fall in positive Reasonable Grounds decisions made within the National Referral Mechanism. Elsewhere, this publication considers the role of national financial inclusion strategies in relation to modern slavery risks, while this accompanying review shares examples of practice. (Sources: British Institute of International and Comparative Law, United Nations University Centre for Policy Research)

Despite the uncertainty of the rising cost of living, many students from India still see Sheffield as a welcoming and affordable study option in the UK. While, the University of Coventry is another university to recently highlight the financial contribution of their international students to the city’s economy, which new figures reveal to be £651 million. (Sources: Education Times ; University of Coventry)

The ‘manifesto for Windrush justice’ calls for the new government to give British citizenship and waive passport fees to all those affected by the Windrush scandal. The estimate is that 50,000 may be eligible. (Source: the Guardian).

This article examines how manifestos by different parties match with expectations of voters from the Hong Kong BN(O) visa community. (Source: UK in a Changing Europe)

The guidance for employers and landlords in relation to right to work and rent checks for EU nationals were changed on 21 June. The Home Office no longer requires employers or landlords to carry out repeat or follow up checks on holders of pre-settled status. (Source: Home Office)

Cohesion and integration

Variety writes how UK Charity Counterpoints Arts is working to authentically represent migrants on the screen. They are working closely with film and tv productions to make sure lived experiences are at the centre of developing projects. (Source: Variety)

BBC News has conducted a series of interviews in the city of Peterborough about how immigration has affected the city. The interviews are conducted with both local members of the community and migrants about work, housing, and integration. (Source: BBC News)