Is UK immigration policy putting women at risk?

And the Immigration Bill, critics warn, puts migrant women and children at risk of sub-standard housing - or destitution.

On 22 October the UK parliament's Immigration Bill 2013-2014 is expected to have its second reading debate.

The Bill requires short-term migrants such as international students and those working in the UK for less than two years to pay a levy for NHS services when they apply for their visas.

Private landlords will have to check the migration status of tenants, banks will have to carry out checks on those wishing to open a current account and illegal migrants will not be able to obtain or retain a driver’s licence.

These measures have led to widespread concerns that women and migrant families will be denied access to healthcare, risk homelessness or be placed at the mercy of landlords offering poor quality and dangerous accommodation.

Although the government has given assurances that no patient in urgent need will ever be denied access to NHS treatment, there are concerns that the new restrictions will cause confusion and discourage migrants from seeking treatment.

The Roman Catholic Bishop for Migrants, Patrick Lynch, said: “The expectation placed on private landlords to conduct immigration status checks on tenants before providing accommodation, will deny many vulnerable migrants the right to suitable housing and could lead some migrant families into destitution”.

“The [NHS] charging proposal will not only deny access to healthcare but increase inequalities among members of society and will have a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable migrants particularly women and children."

Writing on the National Union of Students blog, international students' officer Daniel Stevens explained why the NUS was against the bill.

Among other points, he said that the new proposals would make international students feel less welcome and deter them from coming to this country to study.

And, he pointed out, the new landlord checks would turn ‘certain students over to a dangerous and illegal subsector of non-law abiding landlords, many of whom already prey on those who are unable to find accommodation elsewhere’.

The Home Affairs Select Committee has already criticised the standard of the accommodation that asylum seekers are forced to live in.

In a report published earlier this month, they said they were ‘alarmed’ by the ‘sub standard’ housing provided by companies like G4S, Serco and Clearel.

The committee also found that asylum seekers have to wait longer for a decision, some as much as 16 years.  It also criticised the authorities for forcing pregnant women to move around the country.

Committee Chair Keith Vaz said: "These companies must be held accountable and deliver a satisfactory level of service. It is unacceptable that in 21st century Britain thousands of people are forced into destitution due to the inefficiencies of the system."

Story published on Women's Views on News on 21 October 2013.