On 11 September 2024, we ran our second workshop on the 10 year route and fee waivers, in partnership with Notre Dame Refugee Centre, in London. This blog gives an overview of what happened in the session. If you’d like more information about future workshops on this, and other topics, keep reading to find out more! 

This is the second time we have run a workshop on the 10 year route and fee waivers, and it was brilliant to be able to do so again with Brian Mitchell, immigration advisor at the Notre Dame Refugee Centre.

For this workshop on a complex area of immigration law, we were joined by individuals living and working in London while navigating the 10 year route and fee waiver process, as well as people from a range of support organisations. This mix of experience in the room is important, and offers the opportunity to learn from a different perspective. After a round of introductions, we invited people to share one word to describe how it feels to be on the 10 year route, or a word to describe the experience of helping someone navigate it, and these were some of the responses: 

Long …. Frustrating …. Terrifying …. Stressful

We have written about the hardships of the 10 year route, and shared the campaigning work of organisations such as GMIAU and Praxis. We know that this route to settlement is racist, and disproportionately affects Black people, and women, who work in low-paid jobs. It is important that as well as building knowledge about the 10 year route and fee waivers, our workshops are also a space to build solidarity with others who are navigating this process. It is valuable to share space with others who understand the complex and hostile nature of the systems people are subject to. 

After introductions, we asked all participants to write down how confident they felt with the topics we were discussing – from 0 (not at all) to 10 (very confident). At the end of the workshop, we always return to these scores to see people’s measure of their own confidence improves.

The aim of this workshop is to build confidence and familiarity with the 10 year route and fee waiver process. To do that, in the workshop itself we cover: 

• An introduction to Right to Remain’s resources and how to use them
  
• Understanding key terminology, such as ‘Section 3c leave’, ‘NRPF’ and ‘Immigration Health Surcharge’
  
• Introduction to the types of application under the 10 year route (including the difference between family and private life)
  
• Fee waivers: eligibility, process and top tips
  

This workshop was a success, and we are grateful to the participants who gave detailed feedback on how they found the session, including: 

Very informative session which covered all aspects of the 10 year route and fee waiver process. I enjoyed the case studies. 

All exercises were very useful, and this workshop was facilitated to allow everyone to share thoughts and expertise.

Really interactive and well designed workshop.

I didn’t know that I could support someone with a fee waiver! Also, I was very unclear and this really helped clarify what private life means. 

I love these kinds of community empowerment spaces! Thanks for all the amazing work you do. 

We also received feedback suggesting that we run this session online in future: 

It would be great if this workshop could be hybrid or online in future!

I would love a future workshop about evidence gathering on the 20 year rule.

At Right to Remain, we are a tiny team, with only 2 legal education officers, but we have a range of workshops on different topics.

Also, if you are interested in attending a future ONLINE workshop on the 10 year route and fee waivers, you can register your interest by emailing Esther on esther@righttoremain.org.uk