It’s the year 2033. The American dream didn’t quite work out for us and after considering all of our options, here we are at sea crossing the Atlantic in a dinghy boat making way for pastures new in England.
Family and friends can’t fully understand why we’re risking our lives in this way but I guess that story requires a blast back to the past. It’s 2016 and a friend tells me that she’s engaged to be married in 2018.
“Is two years enough notice for you to come? she asks and without any hesitation I reply “of course!”. Honoured that she’d even think to invite me, I wouldn’t miss a wedding in Washington for the world – the opportunity to travel to a new part of the globe an added bonus. My first trip to the West coast of the USA is imminent.
Fast forward a few months and wedding planning and wedding talk is well underway. Bridesmaids are confirmed and somehow I come up in conversation between Maddie (bride number 1), Cassie (bride number 2) and Haleigh (bridesmaid). Matchmaker Maddie puts myself and Haleigh in touch. I don’t know that there was ever an intention for things to become more but at the very least we’re both excited to have a new friend at the wedding in 2018.
We continue chatting and getting to know eachother. There’s a spark here somewhere but the wedding is still over a year away. If this is anything, surely it’s best to know sooner rather than wait another 12-18 months? I don’t even know if I want to do the long-distance thing again. Been there, done that but let’s at least meet and see how things go. I book a trip to Washington in September 2017.
At last! A first time meeting Maddie, a first time meeting the woman who she plans to marry and a first time meeting Haleigh! It’s a lovely first trip to Washington and any doubts I had about long-distance are alleviated. A freezing first date of sorts quickly establishes that there’s a genuine connection here and Haleigh is a lovely human being that anyone would love.
Trip number two to Washington (February 2018) comes long before what was trip number one to Washington (August 2018) and now infact actually trip number three to Washington. Trip number three sees me spending four weeks in the USA, three of which were spent with Haleigh exploring the West coast. Our longest spell of time together and also a trip in which I met a lot of her family for the first time.
Let’s fast forward a bit. There are trips back and forth and it’s obvious that this is the real deal. At least one of us is going to have to leave our home country in the future – maybe both but that was never a serious consideration. England or the USA were the logical choices for a permanent location in the future. What do we do?
I had nothing tying me to England but conversations over time leant more towards Haleigh probably coming here. Before Haleigh gave up everything I figured we should do a little trial run. I quit my job, built up some savings and then off I went to Moses Lake, Washington for three months in February 2020. Chinese passengers have already been denied entry in to the USA but I squeeze in just before a disease called Covid spreads globally.
Lockdowns aside, things go well. Living together feels natural, being together every day feels natural. It was a successful glimpse in to the future of what it would be like living together permanently. I propose and we’re engaged. We come full circle and Maddie and Cassie are now bridesmaids at our wedding in September 2021 April 2022. An unfortunate postponement due to the US border remaining closed meant we had to push things back to 2022.
We get married, honeymoon in snowy Oregon and then Haleigh applies for a spousal visa. Friends and family were very kind to give us a hefty chunk of money as a wedding gift and instantly that went *poof* on immigration application and NHS fees. So begins the process of becoming a legal immigrant rather than one of those disgusting illegals that the government convince you are responsible for all of your problems.
All of them crossing the English channel on a dinghy coming for your jobs and to take advantage of the benefit system in the UK. It’s not that we hate all foreigners, just the ones from poorer countries. We enjoy a bit of banter with those Europeans from the Western side of the continent – Germany, France etc, but as it is we stop them coming too. In 2016 we decide “Let’s leave the EU” and put an end to free movement – seemingly the answer to our problems.
The visa process drags on and on and on. Putin kicks off a war in Ukraine which adds to the number of refugees wanting to come to Britain and only extends the waiting period for ourselves. The government is by and large sympathetic to their cause so the Ukrainians are welcome refugees to the UK – the rest are on a waiting list for flights to Rwanda.
Having applied in early May, there’s still no sign of Haleigh coming to the UK any time soon. Her passport is somewhere in the application process and I’ve used up all my annual leave on a wedding. Consequently I haven’t seen Haleigh for months but manage to get out to the US in time for Thanksgiving 2022. Haleigh’s sick for the first half of the week, recovers in time for Thanksgiving and then that official documentation comes through in the mail. Haleigh has a spousal visa to come and live in the UK – hurrah!
Haleigh enjoyed Christmas at home, gave herself a bit of time in January to sort some things out and then moved to England in February 2023. After spending the first 10 months of married life apart, we are finally living in the same place – glorious Peterborough!
The first year living in a new place is challenging for Haleigh. The first few months offer some glimpse in to the life that immigrants and refugees actually face coming here. I can only applaud at those pesky foreigners stealing your jobs and coming here for the benefits because its weeks before Haleigh can even get something as simple as a bank account opened. If people are coming here doing anything beyond surviving they’re bloody geniuses.
Work offers its challenges, Haleigh struggles comprehending why getting a telephone appointment with a GP is a miraculous task (don’t even think about hoping to see your doctor) and also struggles with the reality that the UK is a nation of drunks –
“I just saw a bunch of people wearing traffic cones.. “
“Oh.. That could be a stag do, it could just be a normal Friday night in England. Hard to say..”
We discuss possibly returning to the US and giving things a go there instead. Teaching and sickness and everything has taken a toll up to this point but Haleigh to her credit wants to give England a real fair crack despite all of the frustrations faced.
In late 2023 the UK government impose new restrictions on immigrants coming to the UK. The threshold for applications now means you or your partner need to earn a minimum of £38,700 to come to the country.
Thirty eight thousand pounds. Dreamland. Haleigh’s not even earning that as a qualified teacher but we’re one of the lucky ones. The governments war on immigrants and refugees has won and the general population lap it up unquestioned. 12 years of Conservative rule is not enough to dissuade people from voting for them again in the next general election. – the Conservatives are elected again with Suella Braverman now leading the party after 64 further changes of Prime Minister in 3 years.
Nevertheless Haleigh still struggles with life in England and that’s the decision we make. Back home to the land of the mountains and everything else that comes with life in America. We start making a new life for ourselves in *that place, Washington* and things are fine for a while but nowhere is perfect. The USA also has its challenges, political turmoil and again we weigh up whether we’re completely happy here. Maybe we do go back to England and escape what is now happening in the good ol’ USA?
Alas, we were the lucky ones only that one time. We’ve left the UK and now we can’t actually return. We don’t meet the requirements any longer to apply for a visa. We’re too poor to be in love. I can return to England but not with my wife – the UK has turned its back on us.
and yet Russia has invaded Alaska! They’ve decided they should never have given it away and fears rise that the West Coast is prime target for attacks. We stock up on guns, particularly with the “illegal” living next door that we’ve never been fully certain of their intentions, but we no longer feel safe in America. It’s time to go home. For me at least. Haleigh can’t join me legally and so we’re faced with the prospect of doing so illegally.
I know of a guy who has a brother who knows a hairdresser that has a friend at the gym who can point us in the right direction. “We can guarantee safe passage to England..” he cries as Fox News ramps up stories of illegals crossing the border from Canada. Trump proposes building a wall to keep citizens in the likes of Vancouver and Toronto as far from the United States as possible.
We face treacherous conditions but with war on the horizon, the risk is worth it. So here we are at the present day, we’ve been at sea for four weeks and even my optimistic outlook is wavering. It’s hard to predict what will happen to us and we can only hope that we’ll land in England safely. To what greeting we’ll arrive to is even harder to predict. Rwanda have reportedly stopped taking the UK’s refugees so the 402nd Tory PM is negotiating with other countries about striking up a similar deal to stop illegal immigrants coming to the UK.
Life as an illegal will bring its own challenges for us but we make it work. I figure I’ll take a cash-in-hand job as a decorator and Haleigh can do some private tutoring to get us by until we land on our feet.
Now being invaded from illegals on both borders, Trump ramps up the US’ own immigration policies and imposes a reciprocal policy to that of the UK. Consequently now meaning myself and Haleigh can never return there in the future either – we either separate or we’re effectively statelesss.
Immigrants wanting to pursue the American dream now need to earn at least $400k a year to meet the application requirements which limits immigration only to those with an offshore bank account sitting in a tax-haven country.
and okay, okay. I’m done. Honestly. To all of your surprises, my imaginative story is not real! Not yet anyway. We’re still in present day immigrant-hating 2023.
I’m not going to go as far as calling all Brexit voters or all Tory voters racists but this is the point that that fear of foreigners has led us to. Every time that the government or media de-humanise a refugee or immigrant coming to England this is the result. Every time Trump talks about illegals crossing the Southern US border, this is the result.
Brexit wasn’t solely about immigration but let’s be honest and say that it influenced a number of people. Somehow stopping people coming here on boats means that doctors and teachers and other key workers from Europe can’t come here. Brexit hasn’t deterred people from coming here enough so now we’re onwards to step two to stop all people coming here.
I might start making a point of referring to Haleigh as an illegal because whilst that isn’t strictly true, the reality is the only reason she isn’t is we were fortunate enough to get her to England at the right time. It’s a coincidence that Haleigh is a legal immigrant here and nothing more. This is the face of the illegals you hear about.
Horrifying.
I’ve exaggerated the story of course. There’s no way in hell we’d ever get on a boat from Washington to England but theoretically this is a Rwanda-bound woman that didn’t have the funds nor fortune to be here any other way.
The government have fooled you in to thinking foreigners are your problems. I don’t know if this policy will actually come in to fruition but to some degree I hope it does because I don’t know who the government blame when immigration is no longer the problem in the UK or likewise who Trump blames for those struggling there too.
This country has already cut off ties with the European Union because they’re worried about people coming over in boats from *checks notes* Africa or refugees from Syria and Yemen.
and I suspect that the real truth is that this new policy will do nothing to actually reduce people coming here “illegally”. All it will do is make it more difficult for people to go down the legal route – which is fucking extortionate by the way. It’s laughable how much money it costs to get someone here legally and how many hoops you have to jump through to do so.
I’d somewhat argue Haleigh has more right being in the UK than I do. She’s at least paid her way here, I’m here because of circumstance and nothing more. Your birthplace is coincidence and says nothing for your character, intelligence, kindness and whatever else.
I genuinely don’t know what the future has in store for us. It won’t be any secret to some of our loved ones but we have genuinely talked about moving over to the US in the future if things don’t work here. This sudden policy change would probably make it very difficult to ever come back here if we made that decision.
I’m hugely sympathetic to anyone coming here in the hope of building a better life for themselves and even more sympathetic to anyone separated from their loved ones because of some dickhead making policy that will never impact their own lives.
It’s much easier to talk about controversial issues when they impact your own lives and perhaps I’m a tad guilty of that here but I’d like to at least reiterate that I will always have time for people of any background. The media do a grand job of whipping up a frenzy of those of different nationalities, sexualities, genders, religions and so on.
I’m by no means perfect but I’ll always advocate for those struggling more than myself to have the same rights and luxuries I do. Unfortunately our backwards government have also clamped down on the right to protest so some of these issues you can’t even challenge without repercussions but the majority of people in this world are good people.
Those of you that can’t see that or have fear of “illegals” such as Haleigh really need to reflect upon your thought-process and the influences that lead you to think this way. If they’re not doing any harm, let people live how they want to live and stop getting worked up about things that will never have any impact on your lives.
I’m going to end this on a personal note but I hope anyone reading this will always consider this little space on the web a safe place to be. If you’re not a piece of shit and actually have compassion for other people, we’ll likely get along just fine.
Rounding back to the imaginative story. I don’t think it’ll ever get to that extreme a length that we’ll be heading over to England on a dinghy but the next time you’re reading about the horrors of illegals, I hope you picture me and Haleigh and realise many of these people are just genuine people wanting the best for themselves.
Until next time,
Jason
Jason likes to travel 