Indian women’s rights groups say the terms for visas for non-EU partners are ‘ripe for exploitation’

The British Home Office has said it will look at arrangements for spousal visas, following warnings from Indian women’s rights groups in the U.K. that its conditions left the non-EU partner coming to the UK “ripe for exploitation”.

The Indian Ladies in the U.K., a campaign group, argues that the terms of the visa leave the partner not only dependent on the British partner for five years after arriving in the U.K. but enables the British spouse to cancel the non-EU spouse’s visa, leaving them “destitute and in limbo”.

The group says it has seen dozens of cases where a husband has “routinely abused his position of power, leaving women exploited, abused” and in some cases abandon them in India in the guise of going there on a holiday. They’ve cited recent example where a family went back to India on holiday, and the son took the wife’s passport, telephone and left India with the children.

Online petition

In another recent case a husband took his wife’s residency permit, and cancelled her visa claiming they were no longer married. “The Home Office based on his word alone has proceeded to cancel her visa barring her from seeking justice in the U.K.,” said ILUK. ILUK, which held a demonstration outside the Home Office last week and has launched an online petition urging change, is pushing for the Home Office to make the processes for cancelling a dependent visa more stringent.

“The Home Office must demand documentation proving that there has been a legal separation — meaning that the wife has been granted her rights under the separation — before proceeding with the cancellation of a visa... alternatively particularly in the cases of abandonment of wives in India, a provision must be put in place to ensure that the Home Office is aware of the wife’s position and that their most basic human rights are protected,” it said.

Home Office’s response

“This government will not tolerate abuse through marriage or other relationships and we will continue to take the lead in tackling modern slavery, forced marriage and domestic violence... We will look carefully at any evidence of where further action might help to prevent abuse or support victims,” said the Home Office in a statement.

“If there is evidence that an individual in the U.K. on a spouse visa has been the victim of domestic abuse, including controlling coercive behaviour, they can apply for settlement in the U.K.,” it added. “An individual on a spouse visa abandoned overseas could apply to return to the U.K.”

“I am extremely heartened by the Home Office’s commitment to crack down on the exploitation and abuse of women on dependent visa,” said Poonam Joshi, founder of ILUK. “I am also all too aware that this is but one step in bringing about change to not just the legal aspects governing migrant but also the cultural and social mindsets that enable their exploitation and abuse.”