A Brief Guide for Supporting ESEA Migrant Communities in the UK

ABOUT THE GUIDE This guide provides brief information about East and Southeast Asian migrants in the United Kingdom (UK). We hope it can be used to learn more about first-generation migrant ESEAs in particular. Amid challenges and issues faced by migrants of all backgrounds, we encourage all ESEA generations and UK society to contribute to the knowledge and practice of building an inclusive community for everyone. Hence, we hope this guide will be helpful to you whether you are a person of East/Southeast Asian heritage living in the UK or an individual, organisation or service that currently interacts with or hopes to reach out to ESEAs now or in the future.

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WHO ARE “ESEAs”?

East and Southeast Asia covers the geographical area including but not limited to Brunei, Cambodia, China, East-Timor, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar (also known as Burma), North Korea, South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. This guide defines an ESEA person as someone who identifies themself as a person of ESEA heritage wherever they may be in the world. As a result of migration, diasporic East and Southeast Asians live in many parts of the world, including the UK. There are several reasons for the migration of ESEAs to the UK. Historically, the British Empire's colonial presence in multiple countries brought about shifts in culture, religion, education, and so forth. Consequently, migration to the “Western” world, including workers’ migration, became a reality for many ESEAs. Other factors include reunification due to family ties abroad, opportunities to work in formal and informal sectors, including as health and care workers in the National Health Service (NHS), temporary seasonal work, and the pursuit of higher education.

ESEA MIGRANT CHALLENGES AND DILEMMAS IN THE UK ESEA migrants face multiple challenges in the UK, not least because of the UK’s immigration rules. First announced in 2012 as the “hostile environment policy”, the government now (since 2017) refers to its immigration rules as the “compliant environment policy”. It comprises a set of measures that make life in the UK very challenging for migrants, particularly those who cannot, for various reasons beyond their will, obtain permanent legal status. The compliant environment policy is designed to impede irregular migrants’ access to work, housing, public funds, healthcare, financial services and all other public services.

This is enforced partly by tracking individuals’ confidential information. As the human rights NGO Liberty reported in June 2020:

Data sharing currently occurs in respect of health, education, banking, driving, welfare benefits, employment, homelessness, local authority support, and policing. It often occurs without the knowledge or consent of the data subject, and in some cases the trusted public servant who initially collected the data. 1 People with insecure immigration status often live with extreme fear, especially of public authorities. This hinders them from accessing essential services or taking any action against violation of their rights. The compliant environment policy has also triggered citizen-to-citizen immigration surveillance in everyday life, causing damage to trust between community members.

1 See Liberty’s written evidence to the Public Bill Committee for the Immigration and Social Security Coordination

(EU Withdrawal) Bill, available at: https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/LibertysWritten-Evidence-to-the-Public-Bill-Committee-for-the-Immigration-Bill-June-2020.pdf (accessed in February 2024). p.9.

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Contrary to popular opinion, the No Recourse to Public Fund (NRPF) does not only apply to undocumented migrants but also applies to most migrants. The policy also challenges migrants with legitimate status to remain (aka “leave to remain”), including those holding student, skilled worker, global talent, spouse/partner, and dependent visas. In most cases, migrants with legitimate status are positioned as temporary residents with limitations on their jobs, social mobility, and recourse to public funds. This also increases migrants’ vulnerability due to the fact that their immigration status is tied to either their employer, education institution, or the person on whom they depend (such as spouse, partner, or family member). This means that even migrants who are eligible to work and pay their taxes to the government are still prevented from accessing public funds. This also means that when migrants are bound to their employer, educational institution, or a person on whom they depend, they will lose their immigration status immediately when their circumstances change.

In addition to these conditions, the financial burden of visa applications poses another significant challenge, particularly with the lack of proportionality between visa fees and migrants’ salaries (Migrant Voice, 2022).2 These challenges further affect migrants’ employment prospects and work conditions, financial capacity, health outcomes, access to welfare benefits and public funds, and their chances of settlement in the UK with or without dependents.

Some legal statuses given to migrants are more restrictive than those mentioned above.

For example, holders of overseas domestic workers and seasonal worker visas (horticulture and poultry) are only allowed to stay and work in the UK for a maximum of six months. These visas are non-renewable in the UK, meaning that the holders must leave the country and re-apply for the visa every time it expires. Not being able to renew or switch visas in the UK automatically prevents holders from seeking rights to settle and work indefinitely in the country. Furthermore, the need to ensure continuous sponsorship from their employers means some migrants are forced into submitting to their employers’ demands and this can lead to various forms of modern slavery.

Seeking asylum in the UK also poses many challenges to individuals, and the situation is increasingly difficult with recent legislation such as the Nationality and Borders Act (2022) and the Illegal Migration Act (2023). The journey of asylum seekers in the UK presents a unique array of challenges, including long, complex, and often opaque processes, a lack of legal support, and the possibility of detention. In such situations, many asylum seekers feel the threat of being returned to dangerous situations from which they are trying to escape.

The majority of asylum seekers do not have the right to work and can apply for work only if they are waiting for their case determination for more than twelve months. Those permitted to work can only do jobs on the government’s shortage occupation list, all requiring technical aptitude that does not match many asylum seekers’ skills or previous experiences.

2 https://www.migrantvoice.org/img/upload/Visa_fees_report_-_digital_final_to_upload.pdf

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A related issue is that the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) framework - used to identify potential victims in the UK of human trafficking, slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour - is heavily mechanistic and disregards the long exploitation and continuous threat that victims experience, making it hard for them to seek help and report their cases.

Applicants must qualify for conclusive grounds to get a positive result on their NRM application. For a person to be recognised as a victim of human trafficking, they should provide evidence of action, means, and purpose of exploitation. Likewise, to be recognised as a victim of slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour, a person must prove being held either physically or through the threat of penalty while providing their services.

None of this is easy for people being exploited and abused.

Beyond the limitations experienced within these sets of immigration statuses and regulations, many ESEA migrants face structural and cultural discrimination in their everyday lives in the UK. Multiple reports suggest hate crimes increased significantly throughout and after the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, with the majority of cases being racially targeted towards Asian migrants in the UK. Barriers that migrants face also intersect with their cultural background, beliefs, societal values, gender, and other factors. Hence, every individual has their own context and life story that often cannot be generalised by a mechanistic referral system or status. The following life stories of SEEAC’s service users (both names changed to protect anonymity) provide examples of the complexities and dilemmas migrants face in their lives, and which often inhibit them from seeking support or entering the legal system.

Life in the refuge It was already dusk when Chan pushed her daughter’s stroller from the park to the refuge.

Less than one mile from the refuge, the park has become the daily exercise track for Chan in the last two years, a place for her to find comfort while watching her four-year-old daughter smile and play with her friends. A former domestic worker, Chan has been living and working domestically in the UK since 2007. Several times her application to stay and work legally was rejected. She continued her domestic work even though she could only earn £100 per month.

Chan got married to a local in 2015 and lived in an abusive relationship in London for a few years. In 2021, she ran away from domestic violence for the safety of her newborn daughter.

A city council now provides Chan and her daughter with housing and support with legal proceedings. The council approached SEEAC asking us to help Chan by providing community support and care as needed, as well as translation and interpretation. Because of her domestic violence experience and family breakup, Chan does not want to participate in community activities. She told SEEAC that she feels ashamed meeting with community members, especially those of similar origin to her, and wants to protect her daughter. Limiting her interaction with outsiders and accepting only a few calls, including regular calls from SEEAC staff, is her main coping mechanism while navigating her and her daughter’s future.

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Life under grey clouds In the past few months, Daniel has learned to live with ambiguity. Parks have become his bedroom in the evening; the night clouds are his roof. Fast food restaurants give him electricity to charge his phone, and a local shopping mall’s washroom is where he cleans himself before work. Occasionally, he participates in SEEAC’s online introductory English workshops. Daniel came to the UK in 2022 with a group of seasonal visa workers. Having been given the promise to work for six months and earn considerable money on a UK farm, he took a more than £5000 loan from a neighbour to pay for the recruitment process and travel arrangements. As Daniel started to work on a farm in the UK, he was told that the fruit had become rare that year and that the company only needed him to work a few days a week. Since Daniel earned less than he estimated, he requested the agent move him to another farm. However, the agent never responded to his request, and Daniel made only enough to pay for the caravan that accommodated him on the farm and its utility costs. He contacted his agent back home to arrange a repatriation but was told to wait. The agent refused to change his ticket unless Daniel paid for the excess of purchasing a new return ticket. Daniel started to get some loans from his peers because loan sharks from his own country of origin threatened him when he told them he could not yet pay them back. Finding another job elsewhere became the only choice for Daniel to be able to pay back all of his debt and survive. Thus, he left the farm and found a job elsewhere. However, when his short-term visa expired, he was kicked out of his accommodation. Continuing work and living in open spaces became his way to survive, pay for his debt, and support his family back home.

AREAS OF SUPPORT FOR ESEA MIGRANTS For many first-generation ESEA migrants in the UK, immigration remains the core concern from which all other uneasy experiences stem. Immigration routes for non-EU countries in East and Southeast Asia are limited (SEEAC, 2023)3 and have continued to be a challenge in recent years. Thus, a migrant’s immigration status can dictate their quality of life in the UK. In many cases of migrant and trafficked women, immigration affects their integration into society and the labour market. The complexity of legal and institutional barriers traverses cultural and social systems that often limit migrants’ efforts to succeed in the migration pathway.

Support for ESEA migrants should also be grounded in cultural sensitivity and competency.

In this sense, attempts to give access to information and support can be delivered in home languages with an awareness of religious, political, and social factors affecting their situation and decision-making. Apart from support in the form of advice, upskilling is also a way to engage ESEA migrants, especially on their pathway to settling in the UK. Collaboration with and between the limited ESEA migrant-led organisations has been improved to represent migrants’ issues and needs in the engagement with a wider range of stakeholders in the UK and overseas to contribute to systemic change. Several organisations, like SEEAC, have already built a level playing field at the forefront of 3 Southeast and East Asian Centre (2023) "I Don't Know Whom to Call for Help": Barriers and Opportunities in

the Re/Integration of Southeast Asian Migrant and Trafficked Women in the UK. Southeast and East Asian Centre (SEEAC), London.

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campaigns, research work, and policy advocacy projects. The following list outlines various kinds of support for ESEA migrants, which are often intersectional and intertwined with one another.

Immigration Immigration support usually comes in the form of signposting to accredited immigration advisors and organisations such as law centres, law firms and solicitors, and NGOs with certified immigration advisors. Besides immigration solicitors and advisors, Asylum and NRM cases may need to involve first responders and/or agencies. In the case of domestic abuse for partners on spousal visas, migrants can seek advice on how they can remain in the UK (possibly through the domestic violence indefinite leave to remain or DVILR route) without remaining with their perpetrators.

Welfare In order for migrants to lead dignified lives in the UK it is crucial they get information and access to housing support, benefits advice (if eligible), advice on rights such as parental leave, and those services available to those without recourse to public funds (NRPF). Apart from this, organisations may be able to respond to immediate welfare needs, and can help with food, grocery money, children’s basic needs, and other basic necessities of life. Those who are going through any form of abuse (whether by family, community, employer or others) - including women (not least pregnant women), LGBTQIA+ people, and persons with disabilities - can contact organisations that can help them navigate their challenges.

Healthcare Healthcare support is also crucial, especially for migrants who have not yet obtained an NHS number to access primary and secondary healthcare. Ageing migrants, trafficked victims, and those who are afraid to come forward and get vaccinations (e.g., the COVID19 vaccine) are among migrants at higher risks of vulnerability. Organisations like Doctors of the World are a go-to resource, as are grassroots organisations like SEEAC and Kanlungan which have initiatives such as the community-based vaccination programmes they ran during the height of the Covid pandemic.

There are various mental health support providers and helplines that people in the UK can access. However, only a few services are tailored to the specific language and cultural sensitivity of ESEA migrant communities. The cultural stigma of mental health is still very much engrained in much of ESEA culture. Oftentimes, peer group support through cooking activities, gatherings, and relevant cultural events can be avenues for ESEAs to de-stress and find solace in shared humanity. Indeed, a variety of group activities may become additional therapy for many ESEA communal migrants.

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Labour and Employment Creating awareness of fundamental employment rights in the UK, especially for migrants on working visas, seasonal worker permits, domestic worker visas, and other “tied” visas to sponsors, is a prerequisite to help migrants in the UK navigate the current systems. Such awareness is vital because migrants’ rights in their countries of origin may not necessarily be the same as those in the UK. Both employers and workers must be sensitive to cultural differences when it comes to work and employment. At the same time, workers must be able to file complaints and/or pursue cases against employers without fear of the employer taking revenge and demanding damages in cases of abuse. ESEA organisations can refer and support migrant workers with their grievances to ACAS, which may be able to support service users towards an employment tribunal. Depending on the organisation’s capacity, they may signpost depending on the extent of the case and circumstances. Nonetheless, such reports and cases can only be known and supported when migrant workers are informed of their rights and supported to demand justice.

In line with these, upskilling and employability workshops, such as CV/resume writing, interview practice, and many more livelihood-related seminars, are ways to help migrants lead dignified working lives.

Socio-cultural inclusion Although racism targeting ESEAs is not a new phenomenon in the UK, multiple reports show how the case was heightened during the Covid-19 pandemic and has sparked a rise in identity-based hate crimes and incidents. At the moment, On Your Side UK is the only 24/7 hotline in the UK dedicated to anyone who identifies as ESEA to report any form of these crimes and incidents and supports ongoing casework support.

Another form of strengthening social and cultural inclusion is the provision of English language lessons and native language lessons. English language lessons have been requested by ESEA migrants in the UK as this helps and empowers them to integrate into everyday UK life and advocate for themselves. Many ESEA-based community groups also conduct ESEA language lessons to connect with second and later-generation ESEAs in the UK. Faith-based groups, artists/collectives, academia, media, and LGBTQIA+ groups are also among cultural and sector-specific groups where migrants can belong and create communities of support for one another. Cultural exchange among and beyond ESEA is also a great way to encourage inclusion and broader understanding among migrant UK communities. Events surrounding ESEA Heritage Month every September have been received well across the UK and serve as an avenue for ESEAs to be seen and heard and celebrate their cultures.

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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EMPOWERING ESEA MIGRANTS In the last three years, SEEAC has provided migrant communities with collective and safe spaces to share experiences and challenges and learn from each other. Through several peer-support groups, our online and offline activities have reached thousands of ESEA migrant communities in the UK. However, these programmes have progressed with numerous challenges. There remains segregation between ESEA communities based on their race, class, religion, and social status. Thus, it is tough to define a collective interest and ensure equal representation of the different communities in every activity organised.

Despite their skill, language tends to become a barrier to communicating with ESEA migrant communities. With migrants’ limited English, learning their subjective experience and encouraging them to demand their rights comes with a higher cost of having an interpreter or translator. Finally, the scarcity of charities delivering culturally sensitive activities for ESEA migrants shows the lack of understanding of UK society towards the diverse culture that ESEA communities have. Therefore, SEEAC’s efforts and those of a few other charities, may not reach the high number of ESEA migrants living precarious lives in the UK. Furthermore, there is much hope in establishing greater understanding amongst ESEA migrants and their supporters to create a social movement that brings positive changes to the lives of precarious migrants and empowers migrants to become the change makers.

SEEAC’s staff and community members therefore propose the following strategies and practices for reaching out to and empowering ESEA migrants.

Going beyond nationalities/groups Since ESEA migrants come from various cultural, social, and political backgrounds, fostering and prioritising a safe space that includes all these differences is essential. Finding a common theme to connect and collect the diverse ESEA migrant communities sometimes becomes a challenge, leaving many organisations that attempt to empower migrants to focus on a particular community of like-minded individuals and cultural backgrounds, if not ethnicity. However, several activities have proved effective avenues for bringing together individuals of different backgrounds. These include cooking, art making, and sightseeing activities. Not only do these activities positively affect mental well-being, but they can become an avenue of sharing and learning that traverses across individual contexts.

Visit and explore places and events important to them Outreach should take into account specific locations where ESEA group activities often occur, such as churches, temples, mosques, restaurants, community centres and language centres. It is also essential to note holidays and milestones of ESEA cultures, which may also not apply to all ESEAs due to their religious diversity. Reaching migrants in these spaces and at these key events in their lives also provides advantages in understanding their context and needs. Visiting them during their activities also opens up spaces and opportunities for more collaboration.

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Tap local community champions Many community groups have their key persons or leaders. Religious or faith-based leadership, local community organisers, occupational societies, regional groups, and so on may have champion organisations to reach out to. Multiple approaches can be applied to reach these champions, such as through social media, word-of-mouth, and chat groups.

While these platforms are available, the most critical key is to build trust with the community and leaders. Regular encounters through migrant community activities can help organisations build trust, tap community champions, and, to an extent, allow them to lead their own initiative.

Grounded Consultation Grassroots and participatory approaches are best when applied to address communities' needs and context. Hence, every activity should consult with the communities, inquiring about their needs and how each organisation’s capacity can facilitate support for them. It is also important to allow ESEA community members to facilitate sharing and learning.

Many cases show that when facilitated by their community and in their own way, migrants can speak more freely in their languages. Such a participatory approach could also empower the communities to come together and collect their voices.

Embrace the process Challenges to approaching migrant community groups are inevitable. However, when the intentions are clear, safeguarding and consent are present, and activities centred on building trust and participatory self-empowerment, the seemingly time-consuming and exhausting outreach may be overcome. As migrants’ lives continuously change, it is throughout the process that we empower migrant communities and ourselves to make better-informed decisions. The learning and trust-building lies within the process, and outreach is not an end or a success. It is something that any organisation should embrace and continuously reflect on as they consult with migrants themselves.

Organisations should also care for the well-being of their staff members, particularly those working on the front line to serve and reach the needy communities. Many organisations’ staff working to support migrant communities are also migrants themselves. Hence, embracing the process should also go hand in hand with building a better infrastructure to care for and safeguard the whole community, including the organisation’s staff.

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The 4C approach Altogether, SEEAC has attempted to apply the 4C approach in our activities (Figure 1). In reaching out to ESEA migrant communities, we try to Connect with communities’ champions and leaders while actively listening to their perspectives on the subject matter.

We endeavour to Co-design activities that closely relate to their everyday lives, on what matters most for communities. We further Collaborate with community centres and other corresponding organisations and community groups to implement activities, not only to widen our networks but also to value the different experiences, competencies, and capacities that can bring changes to the broader migrant communities. Finally, we Consult and reflect on our activities with migrant communities to learn more from their experience and feedback. A constant cycle of connecting, co-designing, collaborating and implementing, and consulting and reflecting has become a process SEEAC uses to empower ESEA migrant communities. The process has been far from perfect, yet we strive to keep learning together with migrant communities to navigate and thrive as we encounter migration challenges.

Figure 1. SEEAC 4C approaches to empower ESEA migrant communities

Connect

Co-design

Empowerment of ESEA Migrants

Collaborate & Implement

Consult & Reflect

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This guide, supported by the ESEA Hub, is based on SEEAC’s staff reflections on their work with the East and Southeast Asian migrant communities in the UK within the organisation's four initial years. The reflection process and production of the guide will hopefully help other like-minded organisations attempt to empower ESEA migrants in the UK.

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