Afghan interpreters win right to stay in UK
Home Office waives £2,400 fee to renew visas in the wake of the Windrush scandal
AFGHAN interpreters will be granted the right to stay in Britain without being forced to pay thousands of pounds, ministers are set to announce, in a shake-up of immigration policy following the Windrush scandal.
A group of translators who worked with the British Army in Afghanistan and later came to the UK, feared being forced to leave after it emerged they would have to pay £2,400 to renew their visas when they expire.
But last night Whitehall sources told The Daily Telegraph that the group would be allowed to stay in Britain and given indefinite leave to remain, free of charge, in recognition of their sacrifice.
It follows weeks of controversy over the Government’s hardline immigration policy, which resulted in members of the Windrush generation being threatened with deportation if they were unable to prove their right to live in the UK.
Sajid Javid, the new Home Secretary, signalled at the start of the week that he would make a break from the socalled “hostile environment” policy pursued by Theresa May when she was in charge of the Home Office.
In this latest shift the interpreters, who have been fighting for their right to stay for some months, will be told they will have the right to remain in the UK for as long as they like – although many still fear they will struggle to bring their wives and children to the country, as most of their family members still live in Afghanistan and cannot move to the UK because of requirements relating to income and savings.
Around 150 interpreters, who were granted a five-year settlement stay after the war, had written to the Home Secretary warning that if they were forced to return to Afghanistan because of the high cost of the new visa, they could be at risk of death.
One translator, who worked in Helmand province with the British Army and then for the British Embassy, told this newspaper: “I take my own life in my hands every time I go back to my country. I cannot return to Afghanistan because I will be killed if I move back there”. Sources said the Home Office would waive the fee and grant the interpreters the right to live and work in the UK, although it is understood this will require secondary legislation, which may take time. Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, had piled pressure on Mr Javid to grant the group the right to stay.
Following the news Mr Williamson told The Telegraph: “I am absolutely thrilled that we have been able to give our brave and loyal interpreters, who served our Armed Forces in the harshest and most trying circumstances, this reassurance. It is great that we will waive fees and the Home Office has agreed with me that this is the right way to go to show this country is thankful for their commitment and for their bravery to our country.”
The interpreters were allowed into the UK under a five-year relocation scheme and once that expires they were required to apply for indefinite leave, which would have incurred a fee.
The letter from the interpreters read: “We took great risk because we believed in the integrity of the British Army, only to be let down by politicians who see us as [a] number and not as people who have sacrificed more for this country than many of its citizens.”
Those who have signed the letter state that they have been told to pay £2,389 per person – a sum they say is “so great it is unaffordable for many”, with many of their wives and children told they cannot join them in Britain.
The letter also highlights how those translators whose children have been born in the UK are struggling to obtain documentation for them – and may have to pay £1,200 to apply for a British visa and Afghan passport.
Mr Williamson is understood to have been calling for the interpreters to be given the right to stay without fees for some months, but the decision is thought to have been prompted by the Windrush scandal, where the Government came under attack after some
Commonwealth nationals were threatened with deportation because they could not prove their right to live and work in Britain.
One interpreter, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “We do not deserve these problems… We don’t want any more problems and we feel we are part of this community, but the immigration rules and the restrictions say I am not from this society. If this was happening to an English person what would be the response to this?”