paulp wrote:I have a question for all those who are having problems getting visas for their spouses. If the home office still won't budge after 1-2 years, would you consider moving abroad to be with your loved ones?
My position is even simpler. I'm outside the UK and my wife has been refused re-entry. So as things stand, I've no choice but to live outside my own country for the rest of my life, starting from now. And let me tell you, that's a hard thing to have to come to terms with.
I know there's a perception that the press especially is entirely negative towards immigrants. But there's still a lot of immigration anyway, so I wonder how it might look to people when they find out that while Britain's borders are still relatively open to foreigners there are British people who are being effectively prevented from returning to Britain to live? I've been surprised to find that the kind of people I'd have expected to be unsympathetic have seized on my case as evidence of everything that's wrong with immigration policy in the UK. Perhaps it plays to their prejudices but that tells me that this policy shift isn't necessarily going to turn out to be a vote-winner for the Government.
I wonder if Labour, in the run-up to the next general election, want to be portrayed as a the Party that keeps British people out of Britain? That's a question I'm asking my MP.
There are people on these boards who want to see people punished, but I believe the application of justice should be proportionate to the infraction. A policy which makes permanent exiles of British citizens seems both completely disproportionate and vindictive. If we're going to practice this kind of extreme justice then what's next? Shall we ban anyone who's ever received a speeding ticket from ever driving again? Once you've made a mistake, should the punishment be for life? Should the punishment extend to those around you?
People make mistakes. So do we practice proportionate justice or extreme justice? Well the answer is, predictably enough, when it's government minister, we practice no justice at all:
Home secretary: I smoked cannabis
"I did break the law... I was wrong... drugs are wrong"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6905886.stm
What happened to her? Absolutely nothing of course. No question of her resigning or any other sanction. I lose my country, my home. She loses... nothing at all. She says:
"I think in some ways I have learnt my lesson"
She doesn't exactly sound convincing - it's a good job she's not giving that line to one of her Government's ECOs - but I suppose she's asking for our understanding and forgiveness... how wonderfully ironic.
