Migrants in professional occupations will protest outside Downing Street on Tuesday to raise awareness of what they say are discriminatory, inhumane and hostile Home Office policies. The group, Highly Skilled Migrants, which says it represents over 600 doctors, engineers, IT professionals, teachers and their families in Britain, has raised over £25,000 to challenge the Home Office in the courts.

“Numerous members of our group are living in the worst of conditions thanks to the Home Office’s reckless, inhumane and unlawful policies,” said Aditi Bhardwaj, one of the protest organisers. “Most of them are fighting their cases in the courts. They have young children and with no right to work, they are living a miserable life. They are fighting a legal as well as social battle, fighting for their rights.”

The protest focuses on applicants applying for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) in the UK after being on a tier-1 general visa, a category designed to attract skilled migrants from other countries that was closed by the then home secretary, Theresa May, in 2010.

“These are people who have spent over a decade in the UK, working in highly reputed professions, many of which have serious employee shortages. They have devoted their professional lives contributing to the growth of Great Britain, contributing over £25bn towards its economy,” said Bhardwaj. “They have made the UK their home, bought properties, invested in businesses. They all are law-abiding citizens. None have been convicted of any criminal offence.”



Most members of the group no longer have any social, economic or family ties to their country of origin. Many have school-aged children born in the UK who have never travelled to their foreign parent’s country of origin and for whom English is a first language. “The future of these children has been marred by the uncertainties of the Home Office,” said Bhardwaj.

Another issue protesters want to highlight is that highly skilled migrants are increasingly being refused permission to remain in the UK using a section of the Immigration Act designed to tackle criminals and those judged a threat to national security.



“Skilled migrants with excellent educational and professional skills are being refused ILR on the ground of ‘tax error rectification’ because of small errors they have made in their tax returns in the past, which they have long ago rectified and paid off,” said Bhardwaj.

Immigration rules allow the Home Office to refuse an applicant by inferring that their “character and conduct” make them undesirable to be allowed to live in the UK. “Tax error rectification is not illegal or unlawful anywhere in the world, and not even in the UK Financial Act 2007,” said Bhardwaj.

Paul Turner, a barrister specialising in asylum, immigration and nationality law who has been hired by the group and is also founder of Imperium Chambers, said: “The UKVI refuse everyone I have seen who got their tax returns wrong. They do this even when HMRC the body charged with collecting tax – has not penalised, let alone criminalised, the migrant. These are probably the hardest cases to win.”

Jan Doerfel, a barrister who specialises in immigration, said delays are inhumane. “The culture of disbelief that governs decision-making within the Home Office, and excessive and scandalous waiting times for appeal hearings, are all part of the government’s aim to reduce immigration by creating a hostile atmosphere for immigrants and their families,” he said. “These are intentional effects of which the Home Office is well aware.”



The protest comes after the Guardian highlighted the fact that senior doctors from overseas who had been appointed to fill key roles in hospitals around the UK were being prevented from taking up their jobs by the Home Office because their NHS salaries were too low under immigration rules.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We aim to resolve all visa applications as quickly as possible and we continue to meet service standards for straightforward applications. It is vital, however, that the correct decisions are made, particularly with complex tier-1 applications that require detailed consideration and verification of evidence with HMRC.



“These robust checks are essential to avoid the potential abuse of our immigration or tax system. Where such abuse is identified, we will act accordingly.”

Dr Kazmi with his daughters Maryam and Fatima. Photograph: Family photo

Case study

Dr Syed Kazmi, who works in acute medicine at Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham, will return to Pakistan in early February after the Home Office refused his application for ILR.

Kazmi’s application was rejected because of an error in a tax return. He had noticed the error himself and withdrew his application in order to correct it. The Home Office, however, used this admission to trigger a section of the Immigration Act designed to tackle criminals and those judged to be a threat to national security.

“They said I was a deceitful and dishonest person, which is insulting,” he said. “This error came about because I had been defrauded years earlier. I had reported it to the police and the issue was settled in full with no criminal enforcement taken against me.

“I have loved working for the NHS for the past nine years in one of the specialities most hard to recruit into. I wish I could have stayed in the UK and dedicated my life to it. That was my intention in coming to the UK,” he added.

“But I am leaving now because the Home Office won’t change their mind ... Their claim that this lone error makes me into such a dangerous character is completely illogical. I have a totally unblemished record in every other way: professionally, financially and personally.”