I met Norwich South constituents who are migrant health and care workers, and members of UNISON. They told me about the issues they are facing with visas and pathways to settlement.
Despite these workers serving some of the most vulnerable in our community, they are often subjected to exploitation by employers who don’t follow the rules, and don’t treat them fairly or with dignity.
Many of these workers were invited to the UK during Covid to support the response to the crisis in our care system. Now, they are being discarded like used tissue paper.
Even before Covid, the experience of many was being bullied and threatened, with the precarious visa sponsorship system being weaponised against them.
The current visa system creates an environment where health and care workers, and their families, are being prevented from living full lives.
They came here under a visa that promised them a five-year route to settlement. Now they are being told they could wait 15 years.
These sudden rule changes overturn long-held life plans and ignore the vital contribution made by frontline workers.
All working people must see that how migrant care workers are being treated is a canary in the coalmine. Such highly precarious conditions only benefit those employers who seek to exploit workers.
As the government progresses proposals for settlement reform, I will continue to raise the voices and concerns of Norwich South’s migrant workers in Parliament.
