The UK is now one of the hardest countries to apply for residency for. The UK government is restricting thousands of people in their visa decisions, this has led to millions of British and UK citizens being unable to live in their own country with their partners and family.

After the UK left the European Union and immigration law was changed many businesses are struggling after losing employees, meaning the UK currently has a shortage of workers in key businesses such as medical workers, hospitality, IT, and many more, this has caused many businesses to close and has had a huge impact on the staffing of the NHS.

Under the current rules, the skilled worker visa can only be accepted by businesses with sponsorship, which costs both the employee and the business money (over £700 each), meaning the workers needed in the UK needs will not necessarily be accepted. If a worker is accepted into the UK with a skilled worker visa, they lose many of their workers rights because they have to work within that job for 3 years or more, and if they get fired, or need to leave because the employee does not suit them, they will also be deported meaning their employers can potentially use this to abuse the system.

As a British citizen who has lived and studied in Europe and now has a French partner, I now wish for personal reasons to move nearer my family but this would mean doing so without my French partner who is a skilled worker but the economic cost is prohibitive for us to be able to move. The laws indeed are now only favourable to the very wealthy!

Skilled workers even married to British citizens now have to prove they have over £64,000 in savings or earn £18,500 a year in the UK, if you currently don’t live in the UK on top of this the visa costs £1,500, NHS fee £1,500 plus £250 for the English language exam that only lasts 2 years. A job for £18,500 isn’t that easy to find if you do not already live in the UK and so it’s expected for the British citizen to live apart from their partner for a minimum of 6 months before the partner vacancy be considered for a visa and then with the applications now being on hold, this could mean a year apart it’s leaving people with heartbreaking decisions to make.

As one of the thousands of people stuck in the tragic circumstances of these new rules, I am now left feeling I will never be able to return to the UK where I need support from my family. I lived in a European world with the freedom to travel and be part of a bigger picture and now feel I am being locked out of my own country by needless harsh laws.

I know that there are likely to be many more thousands of British citizens struggling with the current visa restrictions, not only are they putting strains on relationships, but they are not allowing valuable people into the UK. With the UK’s ageing population and overworked workforce, something has to be changed to relax the current restrictions so that businesses can grow again. Whether you are currently living in the UK, living somewhere across the world, or have family members who come from different countries these restrictive rules could affect you one day, let’s try to get them changed.

Ideally, we need 10,000 signatures for the UK government to give a response. After 100,000 signatures, petitions are considered for debate in Parliament. So sharing, spreading the word and signing would be amazingly helpful and greatly appreciated!