By Kit Sandeman, Local Democracy Reporter
A victim of the Windrush scandal has talked of his ‘heartache’ after missing his brother’s funeral because he was refused a passport.
The Windrush generation is the name given to people who arrived in the UK between 1948 and 1971 from Caribbean countries as a response to post-war labour shortages in the UK.
The Home Office did not keep a record of those granted leave to remain or issue any paperwork confirming it meaning it is difficult for Windrush arrivals to prove they are in the UK legally.
And one man, who did not wish to be named, spoke at an event organised for victims of the Windrush scandal at the Pilgrim Church in The Meadows on Wednesday (May 2) of his ‘heartache’ at missing his brother’s funeral.
The man has lived in The Meadows since he was eight-years-old and now has eight grand-children who all live around Nottingham.
He said he had to fight the British authorities for 20 years before he was given a passport despite coming to Britain legally.
When the man applied for a passport to travel back to Jamaica for his brother’s funeral, he was only offered a one-way passport meaning he would not have been able to return.
His other brother, who came with him from Jamaica at the same time, has still not been able to get his British passport despite living and working in Britain for almost 60 years.
The man said: “At the time I actually wept.
“We had to stay in London with some friends because we were being told to go to and from the Jamaican and the British embassies all the time.
“At one point we demanded to speak to someone higher up in the embassy who could explain why we were not being given a passport despite the fact we had come here legally.
“When we did that they sent soldiers to make us leave.”
The man came from Jamaica with his brother and his grandmother to meet his parents who were already in Nottingham.
His father was a minister and set up a church in their front room to provide the small but growing Nottingham Caribbean community with somewhere to worship.
When he came to Nottingham in 1960, Jamaica was part of the Commonwealth and was not independent, meaning when they came from Jamaica they were given the old, black British passports.
The man said the stress of trying to get a British passport after Jamaican independence almost caused a divorce.
After being denied twice it was only with a supporting letter from his employer citing the mental distress the situation was causing he was finally given a passport 20 years after he first applied.
The man said: “When we came here, they said if you are here for more than two years then you would automatically become a citizen and get a passport.
“But when I applied they said I was an alien and I had no right to be here – the lack of understanding was heartbreaking.
“But I didn’t realise how many people this was affecting; I thought it was only me they were discriminating against.”
Central Government has established a task force to help process the large number of cases and has promised compensation to the families affected.
