Windrush group citizenship fears

MORE than 200 people from the Windrush generation who retired to the Caribbean have sought help amid fears they may be barred from returning to the UK.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid revealed the number of West Indian migrants who inadvertantly ‘forefeited residence’ in Britain when they went back to the country of their birth.

Every Commonwealth migrant was given an automatic right to stay if they arrived in the UK between 1948 and 1973. But many never applied for passports or were formally naturalised. Some went back to the Caribbean, despite having worked all their lives in the UK. But Mr Javid said they ‘retain strong ties to this country, which we should respect and nurture’.

Updating the Commons’ Home Affairs select committee yesterday, he said that 11 individuals who fell into this category had now returned to the UK and a specialist Home Office taskforce is handling another 226 inquiries.

Mr Javid said there was already provision in the immigration system for people whose permanent residence status had lapsed, through a prolonged absence from the UK, to resume it by obtaining a ‘returning resident’ visa. It is limited to those who have spent most of their lives in the UK.

But he told MPs: ‘I am adjusting the visa rules to ensure they are interpreted generously in respect of the Windrush generation, who spent a considerable time in the UK and who may have been unaware that they were forfeiting residence here when they left.

‘This will be made available free of charge.’

He said if individuals preferred to come back to visit friends and family in the UK, they would be issued with a ten-year visit visa, also free of charge.