Bangladeshis were the largest group of callers to a new helpline set up by the UK government in the aftermath of a recent immigration scandal.
The so-called Windrush scandal, involving largely Caribbean-origin migrants who had been wrongfully denied their rights as British citizens, led the setting up of a new taskforce to tackle inquiries from those who believe to have been affected.
Under figures released by the UK Home Office this week, of the 162 callers for which a country-wise breakdown is available, 93 came from the Caribbean – predominantly Jamaica – while 62 came from elsewhere. The majority of these enquiries were from Nigeria (52 percent) and Bangladesh (15 percent), while a few also came from Pakistan (four), Australia (three), Grenada (six) and the US (two).
The figures indicate that a significant chunk of those seeking help for Windrush-related issues of falling foul of immigration rules after they changed in 1973 were not from the Caribbean.
“The uncertainty and difficulties that have affected those of the Windrush generation could potentially affect anyone from any of the Commonwealth countries who came here prior to 1973,” said Satbir Singh, the chief executive of the UK’s Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI).
The Home Office said the majority of cases remain from migrants of Caribbean origin.
“The home secretary has apologised unreservedly for the distress caused to people of the Windrush generation,” a spokesperson said.
The issue of Windrush centres around thousands of UK-based Jamaicans facing forced deportations due to lack of documentary evidence that they had the right to live and work in Britain because they arrived before 1973, when stricter new visa norms came into force for all Commonwealth nationals migrating to the UK.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid, whose parents hail from Pakistan, had told the House of Commons last month that the same issues could have an impact on other Commonwealth citizens, “perhaps people such as my parents and others from South Asia who settled in this country”.
According to the UK’s Migration Observatory based at University of Oxford, approximately 57,000 people born in Commonwealth countries who have lived in the UK since 1970 or earlier are not documented as UK nationals. Within that figure, it identifies an estimated 15,000 Jamaicans, 13,000 Indians and 29,000 “others”, which include Bangladeshis, who are non-UK nationals.
The 15 percent of calls from migrants belonging to this region to the new Home Office taskforce helpline would indicate that a large number of Bangladeshis are caught up in similar uncertainty over their immigration status in the UK.
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