Anand Kumar is a senior physiotherapist working in the NHS. He’s set up a petition because his NHS wage doesn’t meet the government’s threshold for visa exemptions. He’s going to have to leave the UK, his job in the NHS and his home. Please sign and share the petition (link)
Anand Kumar, his wife and their dog, Casper.
1) Hi Anand, you’re a physiotherapist in the NHS, can you tell us a bit about your job?
I am currently working as a senior physiotherapist in the Trauma and Orthopaedic team in one of the biggest NHS trusts in Birmingham. I see patients with fractured and broken bones, respiratory and neurological disorders, and all the conditions that come with old age. I carry out discharges on a regular basis and ensure that our limited hospital acute beds are available for as many patients as possible. I also support students from university of Birmingham/Coventry in their placement. It’s a pretty vital role, especially with our ageing population and the complex problems that come with frailty.
2) How long have you been in the UK and what’s been your experience here?
I arrived in Sheffield in 2009. I had nothing but the two bags I carried. From working hard in the NHS I now have a house of my own where I live with my wife (who’s doing a masters in engineering) and dog, Casper. My colleagues have been really supportive and helped me build my career. We all pull together in the NHS – we have to.
3) Tell us about your immigration situation, how come there is a problem now?
The Home Office is desperate to reduce immigrant numbers so it’s very hard to obtain a visa. Recent legislation created an earnings threshold of £35000 per year for non-EU immigrants. This completely excludes the majority of NHS workers.
With the NHS desperately understaffed, some roles have been exempted. However, this very short and limited list doesn’t included physiotherapists. I even earn more than £35K because of the overtime I put in but that’s not counted. So I’m going to have to leave the NHS and the UK.
4) So tell us what you’re asking people to do?
I’ve set up a petition that calls on the government to at least reduced the wages threshold for NHS workers to something attainable, like the national average wage, £28,000. Ideally, they’d put all NHS jobs on the visa exemption list but the national average wage seems like a decent compromise.
Of course, they will only respond if enough people sign it so I’m asking all your supporters to sign the petition and share it with their friends.
Our NHS needs staff and the current system of visa exemptions is creating too many stories like mine – dedicated, NHS workers that need to leave the NHS because we aren’t allowed to stay in the UK.
Anand’s story is pretty common. The NHS needs staff like Anand, please sign his petition today
Anand, and professionals like him, are an invaluable asset to the NHS. He shouldn’t be victimised for being dedicated and loyal in his work.
I am a blind ex-serviceman undergoing cancer treatment, my surgeon was Iraqi, my oncologist #Hungarian my radiographer #Zimbabwean my physiotherapists nurses & care workers from all over the world, like the staff at Blind Veterans centres. Politicians like to wrap themselves in the flag on Remembrance Sunday, they must
ensure our NHS has the health workers we need, wherever they come from, and train more Brits for the posts
Utter madness. We train this man up and now want to throw it all away? How many people earn anywhere near 35k? I believe the average wage is only around 26k. Tell you what we will raise the 10k he needs pa to keep him. He is a credit to our country and exactly the type of people we need. Hardworking caring – pput a few white people to shame!
The back bone of Healthcare is surviving only because of Foreign Nationals contribution to healthcare. Bringing such rules will only ensure NHS sinks faster
This is such short sighted treatment of skilled NHS workers. I support Anand’s petition.
This makes no sense whatsoever. Let this man continue to work.
Workers from the EU and other countries who come here to help our NHS should be respected.
The NHS will collapse if EU migrants are sent home. Their lives will be seriously disrupted. This is cruel when they have played such an important part in the UK. Get real and stop this now.
The big problem with his case, and there will be many like his, is that we are reduced to making special pleading for some jobs. How do we distinguish between this man and his immensely valuable work and someone who is earning just over the threshold, but doing something of no public worth? Healthcare workers need to be recognised both for the value of their work and for the difficulty of replacing them.
This is a rediculous requirement and it is set much too high. It needs to be no higher than the national average wage
We should welcome and embrace such skills and talent. Our NHS will be sadly depleted by their loss.
Such people are decent, hard working people, part of our community who add skills, diversity and vibrancy to our lives. We need and value them!
This is absolutely outrageous at a time when the NHS needs every single member of staff it can hang onto.You have my total support, Anand.
I am disgusted at the way this government operates and is allowed to continually destroy the NHS!!!
The country has been fed lies and no one appears to be able to counteract them or force a reversal of anything including the referendum! I fear for our future and that of Europe and the World following the events of the past year!!!
Get a grip … an honest grip Mrs May and company. The NHS depends on many non-uk people. Don’t be idiots and let your relentless drive to PRIVATISE the NHS let people suffer. Hmm maybe you don’t care about the suffering you are causing, because you don’t care about anything but YOUR PROFIT. Watch out, you will be punished, believe me.
Pay NHS workers what they are worth!
Pay them a decent wage!
Hi Anand,
I am a Physio too and been through what you are currently going through. I am not sure of your visa status but best to apply for band 7 jobs in London- or even some band 6 and you will easily cross the threshold. There is a job of Disability analyst through SJB medical- google it and call them. They are desperate- £38k. All the best.
This could help Anand to stay in the country, but in the long term it leads to London being the only place with sufficient numbers of NHS staff.
Quite right Rob. Its obvious that Birmingham needs this man in the post he is in.
Thank you so much for the brilliant support. I know I can get 35K if I move to private sector but sometimes I feel why should I leave my job which I like. The people I worked for, for so many years . Why Govt can not change this silly rule which does not have any bases. I do agree that immigration should be curbed and this is why I am requesting them to bring the threshold to 28K at least for NHS staff who work days/nights/weekends. I work nearly 7 days a week yet no respect from Govt
Utter madness
The NHS will collapse without workers from overseas. The minimum wage of £35,000 is ridiculous and should be scrapped – most British born workers earn nowhere near that amount! This man has given over 7 years service to the NHS, paying taxes and helping people live a better life, he should be allowed to stay for as long as he wishes.
Good luck with your fight.
How exactly does May intend on keeping the NHS going if a huge chunk of the workforce have to leave? Reducing the threshold to £28k is the least that should be done, really all skilled NHS workers should be exempt.
She doesn’t. That’s the whole point. It’s part of an ongoing effort to defund and destroy the NHS so that the work can be handed to private companies which many of the Tory elite have shares in. It just happens to neatly dovetail with their tunnel-visioned efforts to reduce immigration no mater the cost to the country.
Good luck
This will damage us all
We desperately need qualified NHS workers given the crisis in the health service.
Please keep this qualified NHS worker.
When this rule was first proposed it was feared that dedicated NHS staff would be lost because of the years of frozen salaries. valuable overseas workers simply do not earn enough to qualify for the cut off salary. This is a dreadful indictment upon our policies and our treatment of NHS staff.
Crazy …. even if you subscribe to this Government’s Xenophobic plans to reduce immigration,then NHS staff (at ALL levels) must be exempt … otherwise this is yet another and probably the vital blow to the NHS.
I am absolutely disgusted that this government would make money the criteria, typically Tory.
The level of salary needed to be able to stay in the UK needs to protect those people in key services who provide vital work like the NHS
If someone works for there money then leave well alone
We need MORE NHS staff! Not less!
I think it needs to go for all qualified health care workers and not just those working for the NHS. I work as a Band 6 Occupational therapist in a private mental health hospital and just like you, I only earn that with overtime so come 2018, after living here legally for over 8 years, I will be asked to go home. It’s just ridiculous. I have worked, pay my taxes, never been entitled to public funds and even pay health surcharge to use the NHS. I’m not a burden in any way, just contributing. The threshold is ridiculous
Absolutely! We have backed Anand’s petition because it gives such a clear example of a situation that affects so many health and care workers. Our hope is that we can use this example to get enough signatures to have it debated in parliament – and in that case we’ll be encouraging everyone to write to their MP to have a much broader debate on all workers that are affected in this way.
Completely support this. It’s crazy. Either:
A. NHS should be exempt or
B. The threshold should be lower or
C. NHS wages should be increased significantly.
Or all three. I would happily pay more tax to support the NHS, retain stafff like this, and protect the organisation from privatisation.
A sad consequence of bad policies under the present tory leadershio.
What an outrage, and how very stupid and stubborn this government is. It is blatantly obvious that the Tories are deliberately making the NHS collapse in order to privatise it – they MUST be stopped.
What more can you want from a citizen aside from integration, loyalty, hard-work and giving back to society (inc taxes)? If there is more what right do I have to be a citizen?
Please protect our NHS workers!
support NHS
For goodness sake this guy is working hard and paying taxes. We need qualified staff to stay in the NHS .
Brexit is INSANE, and so is this stupid rule.
Anand, and his fellow low paid workers in the NHS, have my full support. I hope we can collect thousands of names. We need his expertise and commitment and he deserves to be treated fairly.
The earnings limit is set to prevent immigrants claining benefits. It is entirely arbitrary. A family who have no rent to pay ie if living with family or owning their own home have lower living expenses than someone paying a high rent or mortgage.
If someone has been living here for a period of time meeting their own living costs I see no reason that anyone should ask them to leave
My late ex-husband came to the UK from Pakistan with nothing but a suitcase. Friends helped him to set up in business, Later he trained first as a bus conductor, then as a bus driver, then as a driving instructor and finally as a chiropractor. Until his death he paid taxes and National insurance and contributed to UK society. Under present rules he would not have been allowed to come here.
The rules are ridiculous
NHS is already extremely stretched and needs more staff. rather less. Mr.Anand is serving the NHS, has worked and paid taxes and is not a burden on the state.The earning limit is arbitrary and is designed to expel persons coming from outside the EEC block.Wish Mr. and Mrs. Anand all the best for the future
This is madness.
This is mind boggling! A skilled, committed worker in our NHS being forced out ! How does this even have to have a petition? It is so glaringly stupid you’d think somebody in authority would have enough brain cells , gumption and courage to sort it out. I wish you every success in this campaign and hope somebody sees sense fast!
The domino’s are falling.
Can’t comment, words fail me. Since when did we become so stupid?
First and most importantly, I would like to sincerely thank Mr Anand for his work and dedication to our NHS. The situation is bleak where a national institution is so loved by the overwhelming majority of people in the UK, finds itself under threat through forced starvation and now many of its trained local workforce will be forced to leave it’s service as a result of knee jerk politics and dogma and yes pressure brought to gear by the out of control xenophobic British media. Myself and my family wholeheartedly support Mr Anand in his fight for what is right and to try and make this reactionary government see sense. I also wish him and his lovely family a long and prosperous life in the UK. I know how hard his wife has to study to achieve her goal, it’s one of the hardest qualifications out there and her contribution to the UK economy will be valuable indeed. All of this families contribution could be lost if we dont stop Hunt and May and this out of control truck that is speeding into a very dark place for all of us.
Thank you so much for your kind words and spending your extra time in writing this. I am so happy that most of the people living here have supported my petition. Although, the signatures rate has gone down but after reading I am so happy that even if I will have to leave, I will be able to cherish these memories. Thank you once again.
Absolutely crazy. Where on earth is this country heading. It makes no sense at all and is disgraceful.
Stop sending desperately needed doctors away. The government is an Asus. They need psychological help. Put their brains collectively together and you may be lucky and get a whole one.
Thank you so much everyone for the beautiful comments. Please keep signing and sharing this petition to everyone you know. So far I have received positive response from 90% of people living in the UK and I am happy that many people love the work I am doing here. Hope I will be able to collect 100K signatures so that Govt can think about bringing this threshold to 28K at least. You all can contact me on anandthephysio@yahoo.com for any advice if you have. I can not thank enough for the valuable time you have given me and shared your feeling about me. Feel happy to be honoured by people living in the UK
I think this is totally wrong, & has got to be addressed
Anand is not alone. In a few years, I will be there as well and I teach in the FE sector. A sector that suffers for teachers because many UK students refuse to go on to Higher Education and be saddled with debt.
How did the UK get here? The prime minister tried to deliver on a promise to curb migration and he targeted the migrants who contribute the most because the law restricted him from touching EU migrants. He then got a group of professors in their ‘wisdom’ to decided that a graduate in the UK had to earn £35k p.a. after 5 years to be considered of worth to the country. Currently, a student has to earn £25k per year to be sponsored. This is moving to £30k in April. Who is going to pay a student right out of Uni 30k? As a result the UK has realised a drastic fall off in students who now prefer to go Canada and Australia.
We as graduates paid full university fees which are sometimes 4 times as much as Home and EU student rates, visa fees, we paid landlord rents and in many cases are propping up the UK buy to let market. Even after we start to work and pay taxes we have no access to public funds. We also pay £200 per year for NHS services even if we do not use them. It is insanity that a London metric set way outside the real level of earnings for professionals was used to determine value to a country. A country is not only built on investment bankers and lawyers. They also get sick and their children still need to be taught. The UK continues to shoot itself in the foot.
This situation is absolutely ludicrous. They do say ” The Law is an ass”. Perhaps we should add, The Government to this as well !!! It just doesn’t make sense.😠
The NHS in crisis and our Government wants to evict some of their workforce ! Beggars belief
Ludicrous – public vitriol and racist policy making which will only reduce the care and expertise offered by such highly qualified and dedicated staff.
Thank you so much for the support. I am trying my every possible way to get signatures. I might not change this 35K immigration law but I am happy that I am being supported by people living in the UK who respect my hard work and contribution to the nation.
please watch this video where I am explaining about my role and about this law.
https://youtu.be/pvwYBVkuD2c
https://youtu.be/NdiYdFZz6IA
https://youtu.be/hBVdB3wYYG0
Please continue to support my petition. #anand35k
Another 3K to complete 10K.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/176987
Please join my facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/294173277355432/
Please join my Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/294173277355432
I am wondering if you are able to apply for UK citizenship as I believe that after residency for 7years there is entitlement to make an application and of course once granted nationality income is not an issue.
It’s sad Anand we need skilled people in this country. I been through same stage my sister lives 6 years with husband and baby born in U.K. But she has to leave because she couldn’t find sponsors who can pay that amount so she can stay in UK with baby at age nearly 3 years. Good luck keep trying I wish you will find sponsor.
Shame on this evil government
This is not the England I was born into, neither is it the country in which I want to die
There was a similar story on weekend womans hour and I am afraid it could become a familiar story whilst we are ruled by the influence of right wing xenophobes the like of which have proliferated in recent times
We should all oppose this sort of vile conduct with every ounce of our being before the proponents get firm foothold whilst we still have recourse to the ballot box