Unis Resist Border Controls (URBC) would like to thank the University of Birmingham branch of UCU for their donation of £250 pounds to URBC. Donations like these help us to sustain our work organizing, campaigning and providing casework support for those facing the hostile environment.
Continue reading “Trade union work & building movements to fight the hostile environment: be like Birmingham UCU!”
On the 26th November 2020, after waiting over three months, Unis Resist Border Control (URBC) finally received a response from Michelle Donelan, Minster of State for Universities to our #TuitionFeeAmnestyNOW letter. URBC along with the Migrants’ Rights Network (MRN) sent a comprehensive letter on the 10th August 2020 that explained in detail why international students demand #TuitionFeeAmnestyNOW.
The URBC/MRN letter, signed by 530 students, university lecturers, UCU, Unison, IWW union representatives, along with anti-racist, and migrant rights organisations, indicated the following:
Continue reading “#MichelleMocksStudents: Minister of State for Universities responds to URBC’s #TuitionFeeAmnestyNow for international students”
by Gwyneth Lonergan (Lancaster University) and Samuel Solomon (University of Sussex)
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Health Surcharge (IHS) has gotten a lot of media attention as the government agreed, after much public pressure, to waive the surcharge for migrant NHS staff and care workers. The surcharge is a levy applied to work, spousal, and student visas, and was introduced following the 2014 Immigration Act, ostensibly to defray the ‘cost’ of migrants on these visas to the NHS. Initially set at £200/year [£150 for students], it was increased to £400/year in 2018, and will rise to £624 in October. A person applying for a three- year Tier 2 (General) work visa will therefore pay £1,872 for the health surcharge alone. Non-EU migrants therefore pay a very literal price to work and study in the UK. A Tier 2 (General) visa costs a minimum of around £450/year, in addition to the health surcharge, and applying for “Indefinite Leave to Remain” costs a minimum of £2,389.
Continue reading “The IHS is unhealthy for everyone: the hostile environment as a threat to wellbeing in Higher Education and beyond”
In July, Unis Resist Border Controls (URBC) with the help of Migrants’ Rights Network (MRN) launched two letters concerning the COVID-19 situation for Tier 4 international students. The two letters called for an end to no recourse to public funds (NRPF) and a tuition fee amnesty for Tier 4 students.
Continue reading “URBC & MRN Campaign to End NRPF and Demand Tuition Fee Amnesty for Tier 4 Students”
In the beginning of May, Unis Resist Border Controls (URBC) launched a mutual aid fundraiser to support Tier 4 students impacted as a result of no recourse to public funds (NRPF). We have given up to £60 for grocery support and up to £150 for rent support to Tier 4 students left stranded because of NRPF.
Continue reading “Sign two letters to stop the exploitation of Tier 4 students as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown! DEADLINE TO SIGN // TUESDAY 14 JULY 2020”