TfL staff urge skilled worker visa rule change

RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey (centre) went to Downing Street with TfL staff on Friday

Transport for London (TfL) workers have handed a letter to Downing Street after the government rejected a request from City Hall to discuss visa changes that could leave many forced to leave the country.

Changes to immigration rules have seen the skills threshold increased for foreign workers, the removal of some transport roles from the "skilled workers" list and salary thresholds increased for visa sponsorship.

The RMT union is calling for urgent transitional protections for all 63 affected staff who they call "a special category of workers".

London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan said in statement that he was "deeply disappointed by the situation". The Home Office said "net migration must come down".

'Inhumane'

Speaking outside Downing Street, the RMT's general secretary Eddie Dempsey said: "These are workers who are on permanent contracts of employment, who were given every expectation they have the right to remain here in Britain.

"They've started to build families here and we think this is just wrong. We're not here to argue about the broader policy, we're here to say 'this just ain't cricket'.

"These are good people, they're in a special case and what we're calling for is an exemption, we want them to pause and we want them to reconsider so these people can carry on living here in the lives that they've chosen."

One of the affected workers, Avi Kherg, told the BBC Politics London programme on Sunday it was "a shock" when he realised the new rules meant he might have to go back to India.

Avi Kherg came to London as a student from India

After coming to the UK on a student visa three years ago, he later got a station staff job, which, at the time, allowed him to apply for a skilled worker visa and stay for five years.

He said: "I felt like we were being treated as garbage, trash, just to use us for those years and throw us away.

"We followed every single rule, we paid every fee no matter how extortionate it felt.

"We sold all of our belongings back home. We have got no ties left. We call this country home… it felt inhumane."

TfL said that 61 staff visas are due to expire in next 12 weeks, but the number could be higher as staff don't have to tell TfL what visas they are on.

The TSSA union has suggested it could affect up to 300 workers.

Last month, the deputy mayor for transport, Seb Dance, wrote to the government calling for a pause in changes which he said had left many TfL workers at "imminent risk of losing their employment and their right to remain" and would cause "operational consequences" for TfL.

On 30 October, the minister for migration & citizenship, Mike Tapp, replied he "cannot commit to a meeting on this subject".

In the letter, Mr Tapp wrote: "Those coming to the UK as students or on youth mobility schemes should be made aware that this does not guarantee them future employment or extensions to their immigration permission."

'Scandalous'

A spokesperson for Sir Sadiq Khan said he was "deeply disappointed by the situation that TfL workers have been left in".

"These are transport workers who have given dedicated service supporting Londoners during the pandemic at huge personal risk and keep our capital city moving.

"The mayor thinks it is wrong that visa changes are impacting current staff in this way, putting them at imminent risk of losing both their livelihoods and their right to remain in the UK."

Earlier this year the Prison Officers' Association (POA) union, also warned the visa changes could affect more than 1,000 prison staff, mainly from African countries, who had been sponsored by prisons across UK on skilled worker visas.

Mark Fairhurst, the national chairman of the Prison Officers' Association (POA) union, said the change was "scandalous" and done in haste because the government was "pandering to Reform".

He said: "We have written to ministers asking them to reverse this decision and give prison officers an exemption because we need the staff they are forcing out of the country, but they won't give it to us."

A Home Office spokesperson added: "Under current arrangements, those already working in the UK on a skilled worker visa will be able to remain in post and apply to extend their visa when it's due."