can we talk about how deliberately, purposefully cruel the UK settlement (permanent residency) process is

[whitequark@social.treehouse.systems]

imagine paying several of your monthly salaries for this application (even as a tech worker that is steep, the base cost is slightly above my take home pay right now) then having to travel to your home country because of a family emergency and getting shafted by UKVI as a result

[tengu@snug.moe]

@whitequark What this for? ​​

[whitequark@social.treehouse.systems]

@Tengu UK settlement

[hypostase@bsd.network]

@whitequark yes. By design.

Even as a kiwi, about as close to British for immigration purposes as you can be without actually being British, I found the whole process frustrating, and in the intervening years I’ve watched them pile on humiliation after humiliation, just because they can.

[coral@empty.cafe]

@whitequark yes, it is. I didn't even know about the police registration requirement.

Many people who consider themselves internationally-minded and tolerant have no idea about any of this.

[whitequark@social.treehouse.systems]

@hypostase home office is the type of organization that would invent Racism 2 because they found the original one insufficient

[whitequark@social.treehouse.systems]

@coral that one was removed a few years ago

[hyc@mastodon.social]

@whitequark @Tengu Irish citizenship requires continuous presence in Ireland for 365 days up to the date of your application (along with 5 years legal residence). That's one reason I didn't apply until 3 years after I was eligible, was always traveling.

[arch@floofy.tech]

@whitequark I've heard that the Home Office operates at an insane profit because of these fees.

[whitequark@social.treehouse.systems]

@hyc @Tengu there is also that requirement in the UK (the exact calculation is a pain in the ass but there are rules like "no more than 180 day absence" and "must have resided in the UK exactly five years before citizenship application". Who the fuck tracks this shit)

[hypostase@bsd.network]

@whitequark ouch. I felt that one. Not even a little bit wrong.

[hyc@mastodon.social]

@whitequark @Tengu yeah.... who tracks it - they required a complete list of dates of entry/exit along with photocopies of all relevant passport pages with entry/exit stamps. Great fun.

And then after you've gathered all required paperwork, they're bound to say you got something wrong. I hired an immigration lawyer (solicitor) to help - they reviewed my stuff and submitted the paperwork on my behalf, so they dealt with any pushback first.

[gsuberland@chaos.social]

@whitequark yeah when Theresa May said "hostile environment" she really fucking meant it. it's grim.

[dysfun@social.treehouse.systems]

@gsuberland putting the grim in government.

[mini_ninja_64@chaos.social]

@whitequark its disgusting , every year they make it hharder and pricier, so many of my colleagues have had trouble with thr process and excess scrutiny applied for no reason other than where they were born

[ilmari@social.treehouse.systems]

@whitequark @hyc @Tengu I've lived in the UK for nearly 20 years and have EU/EEA Settled Status (can I have a "FUCK BREXIT!"?), but I still haven't got around to doing the citizenship dance because of the ludicrous paperwork requirements (need to list every time I've been outside the UK in the last 5 years) and fees (citizenship application "only" costs £1839, plus the language test).

[whitequark@social.treehouse.systems]

@ilmari @hyc @Tengu you know what's funny, Brexit has been a windfall for me. all the tech workers leaving the UK for EU have paved the way for GLT, which is probably the best European immigrant visa for people without a degree. 5-year citizenship route is incredible!

[whitequark@social.treehouse.systems]

@gsuberland it's convenient that my life has prepared me for literally everything around being adversarial

[whitequark@social.treehouse.systems]

i'm well-off enough that this stuff only feels like an existential threat to my life instead of being an existential threat to my life, and i can afford to pay all the stacked fees (even if it seriously eats into my finances). i don't expect most people to be so lucky

[chuckmcmanis@chaos.social]

@whitequark

Harrison wrote some stories based on that premise https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deathworld

@gsuberland