the3million

The most amazing start to 2025. The #EUCitizensNetwork gathered in Birmingham to strengthen relationships, create plans for our action teams, and develop skills and confidence to be effective community leaders making change happen for EU citizens and family members. We practised our skills in: 👉 negotiation, to be ready to meet MPs across the country and share the impact the hostile environment is having on our communities 👉 sharing and receiving multiple social truths, to be able to listen to lived experiences of people from very different backgrounds to our own and centre the experiences of people who experience racism and other forms of oppression. We then developed our plans for our three action teams: on fixing the digital status, welfare justice and MP engagement, getting ready to take collective action. Thank you to all the community leaders who joined us on the day, for your energy, passion and dedication. Andreea Salvage Cesare G. Ardito Greta Isola Linda Nagy Snow Snieguole Maliavskaja Kush Chottera Danail Ivanov Georgiev David Jai-Persad Ana Goia Anastasia Fox Carolina Henriques (she/her) Jorge Gomez Lorenzo De Falco Martin Mydliar Piotr Kardynal Vasiliki Sogia Ophélie Allard Zugravu Gheorghe Martina Valentini

‼️UPDATE: The government is postponing the shift to #eVisas. Until March 2025, people will be allowed to travel to the UK on expired documents (BRPs & BRCs). While we welcome this eleventh hour reprieve, there's still a lot to be done to avoid travel chaos. This is the first acknowledgement from the Labour government of the deeply flawed system they've inherited. 👉 We need to see an exceptionally well organised and resourced communication campaign to get airlines to accept expired documents, worldwide. We cannot stress this enough: it cannot be left to people to convince carriers to let them travel! Imagine being in front of a check in desk on 1st January 2025, asking the person to accept your document which expired on 31st Dec 2024. But what has led to the change? Minister Seema Malhotra shared it is the “real fear” of another Windrush-style scandal among minority communities. The reality is this digital-only system is not fit for purpose. How it has been implemented leaves people without ownership of their immigration status. It is a convoluted patchwork of different databases, which can and DO fail. With every technical error, people get cut off from their rights: to live in the UK, to work, to rent, to travel back home. For the last six years, we've been compiling evidence of failures, publishing reports, giving evidence in committees and speaking to MPs about it. We believe there is enough evidence for the Labour government to take a step back and investigate. We are calling for a public inquiry, to allow the government to truly consider in depth whether this system is reliable, inclusive and accessible.⚖️ https://lnkd.in/gYXcAb_D

🚨 BREAKING 🚨 Ministers are postponing the full shift to #eVisas. This acknowledges what we’ve been warning about for over six years: the system is flawed and puts people at risk of getting stranded abroad. While we welcome this rethink, it’s not enough. Too much remains unclear. We are calling for a public inquiry into the harm already caused and the risks ahead. What you need to know:  ❗️ Tens of thousands of people have had their online status mixed up with that of someone else, rendering it useless to prove their rights. ❗️ Glitches can occur on anyone’s account, as people face multiple flavours of ‘Computer Says No’. When it fails, people are pushed into the hands of the hostile environment, with lost job opportunities and tenancies, and being denied access to services.  ❗️We’ve been warning about the cliff-edge coming up in exactly 4 weeks, but lessons were not learnt from the failures in the EU Settlement Scheme, and we spelled out exactly what would happen if the December 2024 roll-out were to continue. The questions now are: 👉 Will the Home Office switch on its biometric printing presses again and put them into overdrive?  👉 Will they manage a massive international communications effort to persuade airlines and other carriers that they must accept expired cards? What about people who weren’t issued cards when the printing presses were stopped over a month ago? 👉 Will they change Carriers’ Liability so that carriers aren’t fined or held responsible for the cost of returning passengers who aren’t admitted at the UK border? 👉 Will they delay any further roll-out of the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme - which crucially interacts with digital status of UK residents? We raised these issues in Parliament, with the Independent Monitoring Authority, and even in court. We’ve proposed solutions repeatedly, but time is running out to prevent travel chaos and loss of rights. It’s too late to kick the can down the road. A public inquiry is critical, to investigate the impact of #eVisas and the risks of expanding the digital-only system. It's time to #FixTheDigitalStatus. https://lnkd.in/d8iANVmV

As a volunteer for the3million I attended the Common Ground Conference. It was encouraging to listen to Isabell Poppelbaum, EU Deputy Ambassador to the UK, talking about the vision of the future EU-UK relationship. I’m proud to be part of this network of incredible people committed to protecting EU citizens’ rights and driving initiatives that make EU-UK relations stronger.

We would like to extend our thanks to Ola Sobieraj and the whole the3million team for their hard work putting together Monday's Common Ground EU Citizens conference. It was a fantastic event which encouraged much stimulating thought and conversation. We are also grateful for the opportunity to share our perspective. Our Community Building Lead, Piotr Kardynal gave a talk on Eastern European experiences in the UK and ways to improve civil society networks. Thanks again to the leads on this project - the3million, British Future and Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini Image Credit: Angela Grabowska

I had the privilege of atttending the "Common Ground EU Citizens' Conference 2024" ✨ on Monday, 11th November. Co-funded by the European Union and delivered by Fondazione Giacomo, the3million and British Future, the agenda was packed with interesting topics. Isabell Poppelbaum, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to the UK, started the event off as the keynote speaker. She was followed by a podium discussion with Monique Hawkins, Policy and Research Officer at the3million, Jack O'Connoer, Vice-Chair of the EU-UK Follow-up Committee and member of the EU DAG under the TCA, and Pitor Sadowski, Secretary General of Volonteurope. The discussion concerning the question of "What does reset in UK/EU relations mean for EU citizens in the UK" was lively and very insightful. 🌍 After some lovely chats over lunch, I had the chance to follow a workshop delivered by the Migrant Democracy Project about "Electoral advocacy - EU citizens' democratic participation in the UK". The interactive session explained a lot and the inspiring work by the founders of the project really made the event an overall success. I am very grateful for the chance to have been present at this conference, as the European spirit genuinely was omnipresent. 🌷

What an incredible day of EU collaboration in the3million hosted #commonground conference. I felt energised in helping to set up the conference and in facilitating a session on E-Visas and Access to Welfare. I got to live out my talk show host fantasies by facilitating discussions between wonderful panelists and session attendees. We heard incredible initiatives being delivered by communities and organisations tackling pressing issues arising from the current state of the digital status, and from hurdles that pre-settled status holders face in accessing welfare.

It's been a pleasure to bring together colleagues from across the country for the #CommonGround conference! We all made new connections and had insightful and inspiring discussions. Together, we explored priority issues for EU citizens and policy proposals. Thank you to all of the speakers, facilitators and colleagues who made it happen! #EUCitizens #CivilSociety ©️ Photography by Angela Grabowska #CommonGround is a partnership project between Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini, the3million and British Future, co-funded by the European Union, connecting EU citizens’ communities in the UK.

Truly honoured to have our impact celebrated at the #EmpowerEUAwards as the winners in the Outstanding Achievement category. This recognition belongs to the countless people driving change for EU citizens: our amazing staff, volunteers, directors, partners, supporters, and allies, past and present. Thank you for making this journey possible! It belongs especially to those who have faced uncertainty and fear, at the hands of the hostile environment, but have found courage and strength, through community. Your strength and resilience are what inspire us every day. Our work is far from over. We’re committed to continue to fight - to keep speaking out, bringing people together and building community across difference. Congratulations to all shortlisted organisations and thank you to European Union Delegation to the United Kingdom for bringing us together to honour the hard work of countless incredible people. It makes a powerful statement on the importance of standing up for EU citizens' rights in the UK!

Can't believe this was last week! Still reflecting ... Honoured to have the amazing opportunity to take part at the #EUCitizensSummit organised by the3million and represent our EU communities! Thank you the3million & Andreea Salvage! I was truly touched by hearing the stories from some of the EU citizens that faced challenges and were deeply affected by the Home Office failings of Immigration system. Grateful to meet so many incredible and passionate people unwaverly committed to standing, supporting and empowering EU citizens to have a voice and fighting to protect their rights was so inspiring! Was encouraged listening to the EU Ambasador Pedro Serrano and Minister Nick-Thomas Symonds speak on the importance and invaluable EU-UK relations as well as the Liberal Democrats, Scotish National Party and Green Party taking a commitment to work together to reinforce and supports EU rights! Proud to be a European national, excited and hopeful for the future and the amazing positive things we can do together through the EU Citizens Campaign Network and the EU-UK relations . This is a great beginning, looking forward to see the real changes happen! All things are POSSIBLE 🙏🏼🙌🏼✨️🇪🇺🇬🇧