The controversy known as the Windrush scandal made headlines in 2018 as many people of Caribbean descent were faced with deportation, actually deported or not allowed to re-enter the country after returning from overseas.

Grace Michel was one of those people. She came to the UK with her parents in 1960,aged six. As a minor she had travelled on her father’s British passport that described his and her status as ‘British Subject Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies’. She lived most of her life in Stratford, attending St. Anthony’s primary school then St. Angela’s Secondary School for girls. Her family moved to Forest Gate, where she lived for many years.

In 1984, Ms Michel had to return to St. Lucia to help her parents who were not well. She had her own British passport at this point, attended the passport office but could not get it renewed. Due to time restraints, she obtained a St. Lucian passport from the High Commission, in which a stamp was placed stating she was a citizen and holder of a British passport. She travelled to St. Lucia with her children on that passport.

After her mother passed Ms Michel wanted to return to the place she called home. She tried returning to the UK on two separate occasions between 2013–2018 but was not allowed to remain, despite providing her original UK passport and her St. Lucian passport with the stamp confirming her status as a UK citizen. The Passport Office told her they were unable to read her British passport and that she had no right of residency. Her children were allowed to remain as they were born in the UK. So she had to leave without them. While in St. Lucia Ms Michel challenged the case and eventually succeeded after providing her father’s passport as further evidence of her UK citizenship. Last year, she finally returned to the UK and is reunited with her children and back living in Forest Gate.

Caribbean people came to England as “Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies”, as prescribed under The British Nationality Act 1948. However, the law later changed under the 1971 Immigration Act, placing the burden of proof on the person claiming the right of abode.

Ms Michel said:

People in the Caribbean fought for this country during the war. After the war, they were invited to come to the UK to help rebuild the nation. Everyone had to have a profession or skill, coming to work as nurses, engineers, machinists, but many ended up in jobs below their skill level working in organisations like the NHS as porters or conductors with London Transport. West Indians believed in this country, yet laws were intentionally put in place to discriminate against us. Records were destroyed to facilitate deporting people out of their own country. Anyone who already had status as a UK citizen before the Act should never have had their status disputed in the first place.

If you or someone you know are still affected by the Windrush scandal, we would like to hear from you. Please get in touch.

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