Family drama.
This is a situation from December 2023…
“Mind the business that pays you.”
If truer words could ever be spoken, I am yet to find them.
Yesterday I found a BBC article that affected 2 family members.
These family members shall be referred to as John and Jane.
John- already has the visa in question and can be in the UK for the next 2 years.
Jane. Was on the cusp of applying under this visa.
The context for the visa is that if you applied today you need to earn £26,200 to apply for this visa, but when these changes come into effect, you need to earn £38,700. Which is around £10K+ over the national average.
So… I sent a link to both cousins and casually called my mother.
Which started a nuclear fallout within the family.
I said to my mum “these new rules affect Jane, please tell her because she only has 4 months before they come into effect…”
Nope.
Jane marries on the 20th-23rd (yes you read that right) of this month… so apparently we shouldn’t warn her until after her honeymoon… which will be effectively January. Giving her 3 months not 4… meanwhile the rest of the globe (her competition) is applying for jobs in the UK above the threshold to get to the UK and get moving. Because the point of the policy is that there were 744,000 people in the net migration figures last year. These changes mean that 300,000 people wouldn’t be eligible which could effectively halve the net migration figures. Therefore the point of the policy is to keep people like Jane out.
Another point of the policy is you can’t bring your spouse with you unless you earn the £38,700, Jane marries in less than 15 days.
Her husband is also a doctor, he graduated the year after her. So if she doesn’t earn £38,700 then he sure as hell doesn’t. and I say that with love and respect.
So in the west the decision would be easy. My mum would have gently nudged her towards the link and the bride Jane would take the appropriate action…
That wasn’t what my mother did. Nor what my mother said.
She demanded I delete the link, she told me to say nothing. I argued for over an hour, and then called John, who whilst Sierra Leonean, is very western thinking and forward planning and understands that time is of the essence and the importance of forward planning, because any given visa process will take a month anyway, and you have to have a successful visa before the deadline of March 2024… not be applying.
I am a woman of my word.
When Jane graduated from medical school in the middle of the pandemic we promised to help her get to the UK. I intended to keep my promise. She approached me 15 months ago and I promised to help her again. I went to my employer for free legal advise and when I didn’t find out anything new, I called 2 lawyers today. I went on the home office’s website and the BMA and GMC website and called them. That took me an hour (someone should employ me from the FBI) I got all the information that she needed 2-3 years ago. I thought she had herself down with the becoming a doctor in the UK. Turns out that is unlikely. I thought I was only helping her with the immigration part. I know… if only…
I feel so bad for her.
People are making decisions on her behalf, a good section of the family knows… 2 cousins an aunt, and her own mother. We’re all making the assumption she’d prefer to spend time worrying about seating plans and napkin placements than the rest of her life. We’re all treating her like a child.
All I can say is I want nothing to do with a culture that would consider 2 weeks “happiness” more important than a completely different life. Because make no mistake, if she doesn’t make it to the UK on this visa in the next 4 months, the door is shut forever.
May God forgive all of us if we’ve just screwed up her life.
No joke it’s a legit prayer.
Grace and Courage.
Annetta Mother-Smith