What exactly is our policy on refugees from Zimbabwe

[dilemma456]

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Hideously unfair - it will be a real injustice if this family are deported. I am working with a black Zimbabwean student nurse at the moment. He and his family have fled here to escape Mugabe and he has told me that they cannot go back while Mugabe is in power. He and his family are able to stay and all are working.
It's terrible to think that because this family (in your news link) have used a different method of escape that they should be penalised.

slightly confused though - she's not a refugee though

and I am slightly dubiousa as to the "living it up" on the money made from the crisis in Zimbabwe. Foreign currency is in very short supply (yes even for those twats in high places) and the exchange rate (even on the blackmarket) is so ridiculous you'd probably have to empty the entire national reserves just to pay the council tax.

As for the other story - it is shocking, but I'm wondering how her late DH had dual nationality? It was abolished in Zimbabwe in 1985. So yes they probably would have seized her Zimbabwe passport as she wasn't legally allowed to have two.

I'm not saying that the two extremes aren't shocking, but I do think there's a little behind there's two stories than the words onthe page.

actually now thinking about I'm confused as to the whole deportation thing.

If they have dual nationality they are treated as residents, not citizens of Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe view them as Malawi Citizens -and I presume that is also what the UK immigration has ruled to send them back to Malawi as it's a "safe" country for them

As to what happens in Malawi - who knows. Don't know what Malawi's dual citizenship rules are mind, so I suppose it depends on how Malawi views them (as residents/refugees/citizens). It's all rather confusing, but certainly don't think it's quite as black and white as that news article though.

I don't understand the rules either. I know a couple from Zimbabwe who had Brit/Zim dual nationality but had their Zim passports taken away from them after they'd worked in the Middle East. But their son has a Zim passport so wherever they go they have to get visas, transit visas and god-knows-what. They went on a cruise this summer and the boy had to get a visa for Norway even though he wasn't actually going to set foot on land! It's all mad.

oh yes - that's why exH and I never ventured into Europe on holiday - or even for a short weekend. The hassle of him having to get a visa was going to be more hassle than the whole flipping holiday.

He has flirted with the idea of becoming a British Citizen, but has been put off by the cost (when he first looked at the idea it was going to cost more than the mortgage! - which isn't exactly small) and the issues it would cause when he travlled back to Zim to see family.

Some friends of my mum are white and born here. They moved to Zimbabwe in the 1970s and for some reason Zimbabwe said they had to renounce their British citizenship. So they did and now only have Zim passprts/nationality. We haven't been able to make contact for a long time but a few years ago they wanted to come back here and were told they weren't allowed!