Words by Smiley Team
We Belong is a migrant youth-led organisation, campaigning for the rights of young migrants and for a shorter, more affordable route to settlement.
They’re working to create a strong counter-narrative to the UK’s environment by advocating for reform within the UK’s immigration system.
Why? Because there are 332,000 children and young people growing up in the UK with precarious immigration status.
We Belong works with 16– to 25-year-olds who migrated to the UK as children, predominantly from Commonwealth countries and call the UK their home. These young people are integrated within British society, but their further integration is prevented due to a complex and costly immigration system.
Young people normally contact We Belong at the age of 18, when they're about to go to university. This is when they recognise that, with their immigration status being insecure, they may not be able to access a student loan.
Many are charged international fees despite completing all their education in the UK. This is the first stage when young people realise they are different, and that not having a British passport will affect their opportunities moving forward.
(Read more about this fundraising 10-year-old running 5km to support vulnerable migrants)
If undocumented (without status) these young people have to apply to the Home Office to regularise their status. The current cost is £2,593. This price tag is extortionate and prevents many from accessing their rights to remain in the UK.
If these young people are able to gather the funds and make an application, they will be placed on the ten-year route to settlement.
For example, Amira arrived in the UK with family aged 8, at the age of 18 after many failed attempts, her family raised funds and applied to regularise her status. She was age 19 when she received her leave to remain. She must then renew this status every 30 months over a 10-year period. She will be 29 before she can apply for settlement and 30 years old when she can finally apply for citizenship.
We Belong believes Home Office policies need to change to ensure a shorter more affordable route to settlement for young migrants.
Based in London, they serve young people nationwide by delivering activities in person and online. They’ve already had considerable success, for example by submitting evidence in an intervention in the Supreme Court, which led to a change in Student Finance rules, allowing long term migrants the chance to go to university with access to a student loan.
They also successfully campaigned for the Home Office to freeze immigration fees for two years through our ‘Freeze our Fees’ Campaign.
But there’s still a lot of work to be done - so why not make a donation to ensure that young migrants can be treated equally and fairly.
