[119/365] fuck NRPF

[cosmolinguist]

No Recourse to Public Funds was the bane of my immigrant existence, it meant my first years in the UK were just panic attacks, bailiffs and empty cupboards.

It actually got me into party politics after a Lib Dem councilor helped us when even the council didn't itself didn't understand why we weren't either paying council tax or getting council tax benefit. Ten years later, I ended up convincing the Lib Dems (well, I was the speech-giving figurehead of a group effort) to make it our policy to scrap NRPF completely.

I made the argument that it's ableist but there's plenty of other arguments against it. Another argument won today: it endangers children.

Fuck NRPF. I really hope the Home Office actually get rid of it this time (it's the second NRPF case they've lost in the last twelve months (here's some details on the first)) but I bet they'll just tweak it again.

Exempting immigrants with children, which is what I suspect will happen, wouldn't have helped me but it'd still be a big win because it'd end so much needless suffering that's happening now.

Comments

[redbird]

A version of that is one of the things that I (along with a lot of other people) was sending in public comments against during the Trump administration. One of the oddities of rule-making over here is that they have to look at every individual comment, all of which can be entered into evidence if/when someone like the ACLU or Northwest Harvest or the NAACP goes into court to say "this would be illegal, because reasons."

And one relief now is that Biden is blocking and rescinding a lot of the most obnoxious rules from the previous four years.

[otter]

So much legislation I'd like to see burn, that is definitely up there on the list.

[annofowlshire]

My household is financially comfortable, but I’m still an immigrant with NRPF, and we’ve definitely hit a lot of confusion about my eligibility to apply for benefits for our British child (the sorts like Early Education Credit which are supposed to be available to all children despite household income level) and whether that would hurt me on my next visa application (I’m in theory up for ILR next).

We can do without, but I’m really glad that this is being addressed for those who would benefit. (And I hope it’ll get extended out beyond just children, too.)

[barakta]

NRPF is evil and I am glad the government has lost another case.

As well as being IMMORAL and hateful. It costs more than it saves I am sure of it. Cos actually things go more wrong, more expensive, more broken and pieces cost more to fix later.

[silveradept]

Ugh. Policies like that are a big bullhorn saying "we only want you if you're rich", no matter what the government's official policies are.