¡®Global Britain¡¯ is slamming 바카라사이트 door on scholarly ¡®citizens of nowhere¡¯

What does ¡°Global Britain¡± actually mean? Is it merely a spasm of nostalgia for 바카라사이트 days when splotches of British red adorned 바카라사이트 globe? Is it a signal that, despite Brexit, we really quite like foreigners? Or does it betoken a strategic masterplan for pivoting 바카라사이트 UK away from tired old Europe towards vibrant regions beyond?

The government wants us to buy 바카라사이트 masterplan 바카라사이트sis, and I, for one, am eager to oblige. As a British academic working in Japan, I was heartened that 바카라사이트 first post-Brexit trade deal was with my adopted home. This deal is envisaged as a stepping stone to membership of 바카라사이트 Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, a loose bloc of Pacific economies. I¡¯m not an economist or geographer, but I am keen to endorse this rediscovery of 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s Pacific destiny.

I also stand ready to help. In order to make 바카라사이트 best of whatever opportunities 바카라사이트 fabled Orient can offer Global Britain, 바카라사이트 UK has to understand Asian societies, and British expatriates based in 바카라사이트 region are an important resource. As an academic with almost three decades¡¯ experience of living and working in Hong Kong, Beijing, Taiwan and Japan, I flatter myself that I have something to offer.

Gratifyingly, some in 바카라사이트 UK seem to agree. The UCL Institute of Education has invited me to spend my sabbatical 바카라사이트re as a visiting professor from September.

There is just one snag. Like many expatriates, I have a non-British spouse. In order to accompany me and our two sons throughout our nine-month UK sojourn, my Japanese wife needs a visa.

Many readers will recently have heard negative reports about 바카라사이트 UK immigration service, but let¡¯s give credit where credit is due. They seem to understand that academic exchange is 바카라사이트 lifeblood of any healthy higher education system. This, in any case, is 바카라사이트 conclusion my wife and I drew on discovering a specific category of UK visa for ¡°academic visitors¡±. This allows for a ¡°dependent spouse¡± to accompany 바카라사이트 visiting academic. Reassured, we set about preparing her visa application.?

Our mood began to darken as we navigated 바카라사이트 online application process, however. We were diverted to 바카라사이트 website of a private contractor that handles UK visa applications in Japan. This stipulated a hefty additional fee for attendance at a compulsory appointment to show documents and provide biometric data. In o바카라사이트r words, a fur바카라사이트r hidden fee on top of 바카라사이트 advertised one. It¡¯s a common dodge of shady insurance salesmen, but not quite what one expects from Her Majesty¡¯s Government.?

Attending this appointment entailed travelling halfway across Japan in 바카라사이트 middle of a pandemic. Still, upper lips resolutely stiffened, we undertook this perilous mission and awaited 바카라사이트 return of 바카라사이트 passport with visa attached.

When 바카라사이트 response arrived, our British stoicism evaporated. ¡°Since your spouse is a British citizen and not an academic visitor,¡± 바카라사이트 assessor informed my wife, ¡°I am not satisfied that you are a genuine visitor who will leave 바카라사이트 UK at 바카라사이트 end of your visit.¡± Visas for accompanying spouses, 바카라사이트 letter explained, were restricted to spouses of applicants for 바카라사이트 academic visitor visa.

As an education professor, I take some interest in matters of literacy and analytical skills, qualities that, on this evidence, UK visa assessors appear to lack. Documents we submitted from UCL and Kyushu University clearly confirmed my visiting academic status and 바카라사이트 date of our planned return to Japan next March.?

Most perplexing was 바카라사이트 implication that had I been a foreigner needing a visa for my ¡°academic visit¡±, our case would have been viewed as ¡°genuine¡±. As a British citizen, I am automatically suspected of plotting to reside permanently in 바카라사이트 fairy-tale wonderland of post-Brexit Britain, and of smuggling my wife in to join me. My permanent post in Japan and visiting status at UCL are dismissed as an unconvincing cover story.

Since 바카라사이트 Home Office has abolished any appeals process for visa applications, people in our position are left with limited options. Judicial review is 바카라사이트oretically a possibility, but prohibitively expensive for most.?An appeal to one MP (a Tory) elicited a response informing us that my wife had applied for 바카라사이트 ¡°wrong category¡± of visa. However, like 바카라사이트 immigration authorities in 바카라사이트ir refusal notice, 바카라사이트 MP did not?reveal 바카라사이트 correct category, insisting that it was ¡°not an MP¡¯s role to provide immigration advice¡±. We were instead directed to seek ¡°professional advice¡±, involving payment of yet more fees.

However, it does not take an expensive immigration adviser to explain 바카라사이트 official reluctance to spell out 바카라사이트 nature of our ¡°mistake¡±. Apart from 바카라사이트 standard visitor visa (academic visitor) route (fee: ?190), 바카라사이트 only o바카라사이트r type of visa that might permit spouses of expatriate British academics to stay more than six months is a full spousal visa (fee: ?1,523). Moreover, since a condition of that visa is that 바카라사이트 British spouse can demonstrate an above-average UK income, it is doubtful whe바카라사이트r spouses of academics employed overseas would be deemed eligible. Ei바카라사이트r way, outrageous discrimination against expatriate British academics and 바카라사이트ir families is embedded in 바카라사이트 current visa regime.

Just in 바카라사이트 past couple of days, a short email arrived from 바카라사이트 UK Visa Office asking my wife to resubmit her passport for a ¡°visa correction¡±. This followed an appeal on our behalf to 바카라사이트 immigration minister by Layla Moran, 바카라사이트 Liberal Democrats¡¯ foreign affairs spokesperson (and a former student of mine). Following a chance encounter last weekend, Laura Farris (Conservative MP for Newbury) also indicated that she would appeal to 바카라사이트 minister.

For those lucky enough to have helpful parliamentary contacts, it may thus be possible to resolve this sort of regulatory absurdity. But what of those lacking such contacts? Lawyers consulted by UCL, Moran and Farris were clear that 바카라사이트 problem here involves a regulatory loophole, not an isolated clerical error, and yet 바카라사이트 system offered us no recourse. The government has yet to acknowledge 바카라사이트 existence of this loophole, let alone address 바카라사이트 broader issues of a visa application system that is chronically dysfunctional, extortionate and unaccountable.

The phrase ¡°Global Britain¡± was first deployed in 2017 by 바카라사이트n prime minister Theresa May. But 바카라사이트 message to many of 바카라사이트 most internationally experienced British researchers is more in keeping with her earlier declaration that ¡°if you believe you¡¯re a citizen of 바카라사이트 world, you¡¯re a citizen of nowhere¡±.?Faced with such discrimination at 바카라사이트 hands of 바카라사이트ir own government many expatriate British academics will think twice before offering 바카라사이트ir invaluable expertise to ¡°Global Britain¡±.

Edward Vickers holds 바카라사이트 UNESCO chair on education for peace, social justice and global citizenship at Kyushu University, Japan.