Trans Green Party candidate with no British visa elected to Holyrood

I don't necessarily disagree @TheywontletmehavethenameIwant and @murasaki, but my point is that No Recourse to Public Funds has a particular meaning in law and it does apply to asylum seekers, whereas @SummerFeverVenice said that I was wrong to say so.

Agreed, more government fudging, if the government is paying it, it has to come from public purse because that's the only money a government has.
If it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, it's public funds.

Well if it is government funded, it surely is public funds. The rest is just semantics.

As I said before 'Public Funds' are defined in the Immigration Rules are are basically mainstream benefits. Asylum Support is a separate category of benefit that is created by the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. Yes it is paid for by the UK Government, but no it is not 'Public Funds' because asylum seekers have No Recourse to Public Funds. (https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9790/)

@SummerFeverVenice seems to think my wondering whether Q has the right to work is either anti-immigrant or anti-Q and it is in fact neither. I just know enough about immigration law, policy and practice to understand if someone says that they have NRPF, are a former student but they are not in paid employment they may be on a graduate visa but they may also be overstaying on a student visa or have lodged an asylum claim (not unlikely if you are a transexual Tamil from India). Of the three immigration statuses only a graduate visa would allow the holder to take on a full-time role.

I thought they could claim Asylum Support, about £50 a week, if that's not public funds, where's it coming from.

Asylum seekers do not have recourse to public funds smarty pants, and haven't done since the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, when the concept of no recourse to public funds was introduced into British law. What constitutes public funds in relation to NRPF is defined in paragraph 6 of the Immigration Rules and does not include asylum support.

Thanks for the correction, all I know about the Tamils are they're terrorist activities, they invented suicide bombing.
I thought they'd been given an area for themselves as part of the peace deal, but I haven't kept up with the current affairs from that part of the world.

Do we he hasn’t had his viva yet? He could well have had it, and still be legally here on a student visa.

Well he's not from Tamil, it's not a place, but an ethnic group. He is a Tamil from x country. Which would be fine, should he have ILR as a minimum. I genuinely don't know how he was allowed to stand on his current visa.

Aside from that, the Greens are batshit. Unfortunately someone was elected in the ward next to mine who was suspended post selection but pre voting. For anti semitism that even for them seemed a bit to far. So he's currently in as an independent. I don't think he should have been left on the list either.

Yes, people seem to think this is some kind of anti-immigration worry. It’s not. I am an immigrant from a non Western country. I am not anti-immigrant.

Q is not an immigrant. Q is a tourist who has been elected not as an individual but as a Green Party list candidate, to represent constituents in Edinburgh and Lothians East, and has previously posted “goddamn white people” and “ah white people at it again.”

Can you imagine going to Oz or India or Pakistan on a tourist/student visa, and having the total lack of self awareness to publicly slam the majority of the public and to ALSO think you should have the authority to represent them in their parliament?

Do you think his other jobs, such as the caregiving teaching and Bluesky poetry, are all done in less than one minute per week?

It’s very relevant. Like lots of women, I used to think this was a progressive movement and feminism-adjacent.

Well at least the Scottish Parliament have stopped men from using the ladies so no pretending that they aren’t anything but male. Probably come as a bit of a shock to the system for both Iris and Dr E when they leave the cosseting of the University environment.

Tamil immigrant
I though immigrant was a legal status, just because he's from Tamil and in Scotland, it doesn't make him an immigrant, it just means he's a person from Tamil.
I expect his knowledge of anthropology and poetry will come in very handy in coming up with policies to help dig Scotland out of the financial hole it's in.

Not at all. For a start, they might fail him.

That is why I find it extraordinary that he describes himself as a Dr when he is in fact a PhD student.

Not at all. For a start, they might fail him.

Is it normal to refer to yourself as Dr before completing your doctorate?

The student told cheering supporters at the Edinburgh count: “My name is Dr Q Manivannan, I am a transgender Tamil immigrant, my pronouns are they/them.

No it didn’t. PhDs on student visas have always been able to work FT once they have submitted. The Home Office generally tags a couple of months on to the student visa because of the gap between submitting and the viva. During which time you can work FT.

No. If he has submitted, which he has, he is able to work full time on his current student visa. He is now in the process of getting a new visa. This is very very normal, nothing remotely dodgy.

That’s uncalled for Secretsquirrel. Every MSP elected (or ‘selected’) deserves the opportunity to prove themselves to their Constituents. However they present or identify themselves. I’m just interested in how they conduct themselves and in the policies they support, form and enact as MSPs.

I have concerns that those MSPs who lean towards supporting ‘gender’ rights rather than sex-based rights, will cause issues and create policies that are unlawful. I’ll be watching like a hawk for that kind of nonsense. But there’s plenty of young, old, straight, gay/bi females and males who believe in that too.

They are there to serve us.

And by that, I don’t mean serve c**t 😂

Let’s hope he works out better than “the UK’s first trans MP” did.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjrlp2eqznno

I can see that some advice on the university sites is old because this change about working hours only happened this month?

They are the minority of visa holders are with NRPF.
As a matter of fact, your example of asylum seekers is incorrect as they DO have recourse to public funds.

I’m sure their visa will be sorted out soon - they’re an MSP FGS - if they can’t expedite an impenetrable visa system as a PhD MSP then who can?!! Personally I’m all ears to what they have to say. I believe they’re a poet so maybe they can have some poetry slams in the chamber with the Conservative Rabbie Burns champions (can’t stand RB poetry myself).

It’s going to be so interesting looking at the assembled masses of MSPs. I hope they address the issue of pronouns from the get-go - will they compell all MSPs to use chosen pronouns over sex-based ones? I hope so. I’m sure Alex Cole-Hamilton will say supportive things so that Iris Duane and Dr Q feel welcome. I foresee a standing ovation along the lines of a ‘doing it for Beth’ moment.

And then the Reform MSPs who Swinney will try and ignore.

I look forward to seeing Democracy at work.

If his visa has become graduate, yes. If he's still atudent, no. His visa status is unclear.