Strangers into Citizens

Javier

Javier is a hard-working, community-minded Brazilian who has been in the UK for seven years. He has done well; life here has been “a dream come true” for him; he belongs here now.

But Javier has hit a glass ceiling. His irregular status prevents him from buying a house, starting a family – even from returning to Brazil to attend the baptism of his daughter.

He could go back, of course. But that would be to give up everything he has built here.

Javier came here in 2000 with the intention of learning English and earning enough money to buy his mother a house. He was initially on a tourist visa but then managed to stay legally for 3 years on successive student visas.

“ I worked very, very, very hard”, he says emphatically – often 23-hour days and six-day weeks. But it meant he could buy his mum a house back in Brazil.

He had many jobs: cleaning, limestone polishing, decorating. He managed to get work in a warehouse doing deliveries. Little by little - with his good English and good attitude – he has moved up into a management role.

“ They saw how hard I was working and they gave me pay rises”, he says.

His employer wants to promote him further. But Javier cannot apply for a higher position in the parent company because he would need to present papers.

Javier has become increasingly involved in the Brazilian church in East London. He has begun to realise one of his dreams - to play and compose music. With hard work he has bought a keyboard, guitar and simple recording studio. He has work, a flat, a church community.

In 2005, he also had a baby by his girlfriend.

The relationship didn’t work out and the mother went back to Brazil with the baby. But they parted on good terms. Both mother and child now regularly see Javier’s parents and are planning together the baby’s baptism.

Javier has been unable to go back to see his family for seven years. He has never stepped inside the house that his hard-earned money has bought. And now he will miss his daughter’s baptism.

Javier has had offers of marriage from friends in order to regularise his status. But Javier doesn’t think it’s right. He thinks it makes a mockery of marriage. “And I wouldn’t want to put her in any difficult situation’.

An earned amnesty for Javier would be like freeing a flying bird who has been caught in the branches of a tree.

Many people who know Javier want him to be a citizen. At one point he lived for a year with a British friend and his ill mother, looking after her in return for cheap accommodation. They are good friends and his friends have offered to try and apply to the home office on Javier’s behalf. But Javier is reluctant to put his head above the parapet.

Javier got in touch with STRANGERS INTO CITIZENS because he thinks regularisation would bolster the rule of law.

People exploit others who are in an irregular position, he says. ‘Legalising people would make it easier to track them down’.

But whatever the benefits to the UK, he knows what regularization would mean for him.

He could be promoted to the job his employers - who know what he is capable of – think he should be doing.

He could get on the property ladder, and own his own place.

He could see his family again, and hold his baby daughter in his arms.

And Javier could fly.