We are United Impact.

We are a group of about 60 migrants, who have all experienced the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition. This has caused our families to live in extreme poverty. We have been homeless, and unable to buy food, clothes and other essentials for our children.

Most of our members are on the 10 year route to settlement. This means that every 30 months we need to renew our visas. For one adult this costs £1321 per visa. Every year we also have to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge in order to access the NHS. This costs £1035 per adult, and £776 per person under 18. Therefore for one adult every 30 months we currently have to pay £3908.50, plus any solicitors fees.

For families with children and partners, the costs are multiplied, and over the course of 10 years the costs are extremely high. Some of us are single parents and facing these costs alone.

• We believe that charging migrants to use the NHS, and for the Immigration Health Surcharge, is unjust and should be scrapped.

Until such time as that can be achieved:

• We believe that no one who is working should be subject to the Immigration Health Surcharge.
• We believe that the Immigration Health Surcharge should not be charged after the first application, and that the 10 year route to settlement should be changed to 5 years .

These costs have made life unbearable for us in the UK. For those of us with NRPF, we do not have access to welfare benefits or social housing. For those of us with recourse to public funds, we have access to Universal Credit, but this is not enough money to live on. For those of us who can work, we are working around the clock in order to pay for the cost of living, and at the same time save the money to pay the immigration fees. For those of us who cannot work at all for health issues etc, or can only work limited hours as our children are too young, we cannot save up the fees for the immigration costs.  

We believe that charging migrants for NHS care is unjust, puts people at risk, and NHS charging for all migrants should be removed. Not everyone is eligible for a fee waiver. For those of us who work and earn just above the income threshold which makes us ineligible for a fee waiver, this means we have to pay for our immigration applications, for the IHS, and in some cases for lawyers. This amounts to thousands of pounds that we have to save on top of the cost of living. 

The consequences are as would be expected. We have to sacrifice paying for food, gas, electricity and other essential needs. Our mental and physical health is suffering greatly due to the immense pressure and heavy weight of the immigration fees. Those of us who are working barely see our children, as we are forced to work double shifts, often night shifts. Health issues are on rise with increased blood pressure, depression, stress and we are visiting GPs and A&E more frequently due to the impact of the immigration policies imposed upon us.

Many migrants, including our members, have avoided seeking medical care due to fear of costs. An example of this is many of us have received extortionate invoices for giving birth. Healthcare charging disproportionately affects black and racialised women. We have received maternity invoices of over £15,000. We cannot pay them, and are plagued by hospital finance teams calling us every day.  How can we pay this when we have no recourse to public funds, or cannot work as we are excluded from the same childcare allowances as people with recourse to public funds? This has resulted in us leaving hospital early after birth, even when we have had complications that need vital medical treatment. Other migrants have been charged huge amounts for life saving medical treatment.

Has the government considered what NHS charging is doing to families? NRPF causes poverty, healthcare charging causes debt, and the Immigration Health Surcharge forces people into further destitution. Parents are being forced into exploitation in order to raise money, children also. Families are being forced to remain in domestic violence situations due to immigration charging. We have heard reports in our collaborations with other groups of migrants, of people feeling suicidal due to the untenable situation.

This is all amongst a huge rising cost of living, with no rise in income, but conversely, increases in charges we are subjected to.  This policy is not humanely justifiable and leaves migrants in unsafe positions.

We believe the narrative supported by some politicians and the media of using migrants as scapegoats for economic problems is false, racist and wholly unsupported by facts and statistics. 

The NHS was set up to be free for all ‘from cradle to grave’. Since then, hostile immigration policies have introduced charges for migrants.  We ask the government to equalise access to the NHS, and to treat everyone in the UK with dignity.  We ask the government to not discriminate as to who has the right to be healthy and safe, due to their background.  It is time that outdated post-colonial ideologies are exposed, and reformed.