Immigration system needs independence to protect vulnerable

Published on Sunday 5 July 2009 22:12

THE loss of a loved one is a harrowing and life-changing experience – the last thing anyone who has experienced this should face is deportation.

But, due to the unbending and inhumane immigration laws currently enforced by the UK government, this is exactly the situation a constituent of mine, Nidhi Singh, finds herself in.

Mrs Singh moved to Perthshire from India in 2004 with her husband, Navjot, and daughter Kashish, who was enrolled in a local primary school. Settled and looking forward to a life in Scotland, they had another daughter, Tanisha. The children grew up knowing no other country.

Tragically, just months before his indefinite leave to remain was granted, Mr Singh passed away. Under the new "points-based" immigration system now in operation in the UK, his widow and children were forced to return to India or remain in Scotland illegally. They chose to obey the law and go back.

Mrs Singh is desperate to return to the country she feels is her home – Scotland. However, having gone through the trauma of having to leave, she has been informed by the Home Office that she must begin the process of emigrating all over again.

The appalling case of Mrs Singh suggests just how broken our immigration rules are and how incapable they are of responding to particular distressing situations. Being exclusively dependent on her husband's immigration status as a spouse, Nidhi Singh's right to remain in the UK effectively died with her husband.

Not only is this grossly unfair but profoundly discriminatory. Widows have no rights in the immigration process and their own personal situations are simply not considered by the UK Border Agency.

The United States has recognised that this is no way to treat people in these distressing situations, and the Obama administration has directed the Department of Homeland Security to halt all deportations of widows and widowers. If widows can secure this protection in the US, it must surely be only right and fair that the widows in the UK are offered similar protection.

There are wider questions for Scotland in all of this. Nidhi Singh was not only the spouse of Navjot Singh. She is a highly qualified migrant in her own right: she came to Scotland with a degree in electronics and communications. We should not be forcing people like her out of Scotland, we should be bending over backwards to encourage them to stay.

Scotland's population will fall below the iconic five million mark by 2017 and by 2041 the population may fall to 4.5m. Where it's true that we are not the only country to suffer from structural depopulation, we are about the only nation that can't do a thing about it.

Having no control over our immigration system means we simply cannot design the policies to tackle our particular issues and population challenges. If that wasn't bad enough, we actually have a UK immigration system that is designed to tackle exactly the opposite range of issues that confront Scotland. The UK's immigration system is designed to tackle the overheating and overpopulation in the south-east of England. In the sometimes poisonous debate about immigration south of the border, Scotland's population challenges don't get a look in.

The Singh case clearly demonstrates that Scotland needs its own distinctive approach to immigration. The UK's immigration system has failed Nidhi Singh and it is failing Scotland. Like Mrs Singh, we need to bring control of it home.

Pete Wishart is SNP MP for Perth and North Perthshire.