3.2.1.- NORMAS LEGALES REGLAMENTARIAS APLICABLES A LA OBRA

In between the mobilities of people and their relocation between countries of origin and destination they also seek to establish a sense of emplacement. The next set of statistics describes different accounts of fixities of Filipinos in the UK. I present a consolidated data set relating to successful grants of settlement and British citizenship using Home Office publications over the years. In addition I also highlight the Philippine Embassy’s records on registered Filipino organisations and individuals who retained or re-acquired their Filipino citizenship.

4.3.1 . . . permanent residents

‘Grant of settlement is a grant of indefinite leave to enter (on arrival) or indefinite leave to remain (after entry) to a non-EEA national’ (National Statistics, 2009, p.132). In a span of 33 years, published reports from the Home Office show that almost 95,000 Filipinos were granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK (see Figure 7). Seventy one percent of all grants (68,000 persons) of settlement since 1976 were granted from 2000 to 2009. In fact 51,000 (or 54%) of all settlement grants were given in the years between 2005-2009. The highest total number of annual grants peaked at almost 15,000 for the year 2005.

Settlement statistics produced by the Home Office contain two important characteristics in estimating the Filipino population. First, they only include individuals on legal statuses; and second, it is indicative of number of families, including children, who are currently living in the UK. The number of potential families in which the second (and later generations) are born can be estimated by adding the number of grants to husbands and wives (i.e. on the assumption that this union is between fathers and mothers who can later bear children). This advantage may also pose some limitations. These statistics will necessarily exclude (a)

individuals with irregular legal status (e.g. undocumented and illegal-staying); (b) and those siblings who are both work permit holders who technically constitute a family. The resulting statistics are also conservative as it can only include those whose parents were born in the Philippines and therefore exclude descendants in third and later generations.

Figure 7 Filipinos who were granted settlement in the UK, 1976-2009

Note: Gathered and calculated from Home Office statistical bulletins on “Control of Immigration” published from 1977 to 2010.

Figure 7 shows the number of permanent residents by category. Almost half (45% or 43,000) of all settlement grants were given to individuals who have completed the requirement to hold a working visa for four or five years. Like the overall-trend, and responding to the intensified state-managed migration of health professionals in the late 1990s and the beginning of 2000s, settlement of workers’ spouses also increased. One-third (33%) of all settlement grants to Filipinos, from 1976 to 2009, were given on the basis that they were the husband (19% or 18,000 persons) or the wife (13% or 13,000 persons) of a permanent resident. It is also

5,180 4,610 2,070 8,465 22,295 759 3,640 5,205 3,515 5,000 349 830 925 1,780 8,890 299 1,620 1,550 3,055 14,625 - 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000 1976-79 1980-89 1990-99 2000-04 2005-09 Children Husbands Wives All others

important to mention that from 1976 to 2003 there were always more settlement grants to wives than to husbands.

But there was an unprecedented increase in the number of grants to husbands in recent years. From 2004 to 2009 some 10,000 husbands became permanent residents compared to 6,000 grants of settlement to wives. This is probably the result of huge recruitment of Filipino nurses in the late 1990s and early 2000s. By 2005, most of the Filipino nurses have already completed the five year requirement for permanent residency. As soon as they have been granted settlement their husbands/wives who have legally stayed in the UK for two years, may be eligible to apply for permanent residency as a spouse.

Overall 22 out of every 100 Filipinos was below 18 years of age when they were given the grant of settlement. In other words, from 1976 to 2009, some 21,000 sons and daughters of Filipino emigrants were granted permanent leave to stay in the UK. By implication this group of young people may be categorised as belonging to the 1.25, 1.5 and 1.75 generations depending on their age of migration or settlement to the UK. They were all Philippine-born but migrated to or were granted permanent residency in the UK at different ages.

4.3.2 . . . naturalised British citizens

The next logical step after securing permanent residency status is gaining British citizenship. Citizenship statistics show that even in the 1960’s there were already Filipinos who became naturalised British citizens. Historically a bulk of Filipino labour migrants to the UK arrived in the 1980’s, but a number of Filipinas began working as chambermaids after World War II (Asis, 2008b; Padilla, 2007).

Figure 8 charts the number of Filipinos who became British citizens for almost five decades (1962-2009). Over the last 48 years the UK government has granted British citizenship to almost

66,000 Filipinos. Seventy-nine out of every 100 grants were adults when they acquired their British citizenship. Fifty percent (or 33,000 persons) of total grants were based on residence requirement; and 29% (or 19,000 persons) were based on marriage to a British citizen.

There are two possibilities with those who became British citizens on account of marriage – either they were a spouse of a (a) Filipino by birth or (b) a non-Filipino. Both the Home Office publications on British Citizenship and the CFO data do not disaggregate by gender per previous nationality of individuals who gained British citizenship on account of marriage.

Figure 8 Filipinos who were granted British Citizenship, 1962-2009

Note: Gathered and calculated from Home Office statistical bulletins on “British Citizenship” published from 1963 to 2010.

A limitation of these statistics is that it is difficult to ascertain which of these marriages are with a former Filipino or a native British. If such disaggregation is available then the number of second-generation Filipinos from mixed-race families can be counted. However, even if these unions are in fact intermarriages it is of course not correct to say that all these unions

2,975 4,624 2,842 22,470 3,301 4,832 3,909 6,680 480 1,083 945 11,445 - 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 35,000 40,000 45,000 1962-89 1990-99 2000-04 2005-09 Minor Marriage Residence

will have children. Moreover, from 2005 onwards, statistics on grants of British citizenship may include individuals in same-sex civil partnerships44_.

Marriages between a Filipina and White British men have been relatively popular since the 1980s (CFO, 2012). For example the documentary film Filipina Dream Girls aired in 1991 narrated the story of five Welsh men who joined an arranged trip to the Philippines to meet and find a wife. Records from the CFO indicate that UK citizens are one of the top 10 nationalities with whom most Filipinas tend to partner with. Between 1989 and 2010 more than 8,000 persons (presumably female) emigrated to the UK as spouse or other partners of a British national (CFO, 2012).

Perhaps the most important information that statistics on British citizenships generate are the number of persons who at the time of grant were minors. Twenty-one out of every 100 (or 14,000 persons) citizenship grants from 1962 to 2009 were to minors. Similar to the patterns observed on statistics on settlement and component categories, there was a dramatic increase in number of young Filipino who became British citizens in recent years. From 1962 to 1989, a span of 27 years, there were 480 Filipino minors who became British citizens. In contrast, record shows that in a matter of only four years, from 2005 to 2009, there were 11,000 grants of citizenship to young people of Filipino background. Before 2003 these individuals would have visited the Philippines a number of times but their stay would be limited because they would be legally seen as foreigners. Under Philippine laws, British citizens are allowed to stay in the Philippines no more than 21 days without a visa. The situation changed after the implementation of a law on dual citizenship.

44 _{Under the Civil Partnership Act of 2004, civil partners have similar rights (e.g. property rights, parental}

4.3.3 . . . citizens of two countries

Figure 9 Acquisition of dual citizenship (British and Filipino), 2003-09

Source: Philippine Embassy in London

The Republic Act 9225 or the Citizenship Retention and Re-acquisition Act of 2003 became a Philippine law on August 29, 2003. This law grants dual citizens the right to own real property in the Philippines, engage in business, practice profession, acquire a Philippine passport, and vote in the elections.

Records from the Philippine Embassy in London show that there are now more than 8,000 individuals who are both legally British and Filipino. Within only 7 years of implementation of the dual citizenship law the number of British-Filipinos has increased momentum beginning 2006 where more than 1,000 persons successfully retained or re-acquired their Filipino citizenship. - 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

4.3.4 . . . organised groups

The presence of different voluntary organisations formed by Filipinos themselves is another form of evidence indicating the presence of Filipinos in the UK.

Figure 10 Filipino Organisations in the UK, 2010

Source: Philippine Embassy in London

Since 2010, 165 Filipino organisations have been registered with the Philippine Embassy in London. Seventy-nine of these organisations are named after their current residence in the UK (e.g. Filipino Association of Birmingham, Filipino-Welsh Community, Liverpool Filipino Association, etc.). Others choose to organise based on their provincial or regional origin in the Philippines (e.g. Aguman Kapampangan UK and the Batangas Association). As most of Filipinos in the UK are also workers they chose to form occupational associations (e.g. Filipino Nurses Association UK). Whilst the number of these organisations indicates a presence variation in types may also indicate fragmentation within the diaspora. For example it is common to find at least two socio-civic Filipino organisations in one city and usually

Regional (UK and Ireland), 79 Regional (Philippines), 11 Religious, 19 Occupational, 17 Cultural, 13 Others, 26

these organisations are not on good terms with each other. They begin with one organisation until such a time when a rift divides them and one group decides to set up a new organisation.

Conclusion

I began this chapter by commenting on the information contained in a particular webpage about the Filipino community in the UK observing its limited amount of information and quality of data. I also inquired whether there were alternative data sources that can improve and complement official releases in aid of public information. Apparently several data sources are available but they are left unanalysed and unharnessed. Even the findings presented in this chapter were gathered from only four sources (CFO population estimates, APS data sets, settlement and citizenship statistics) leaving several others untapped (e.g. UK census and other administrative sources).

The Philippines is perhaps an exceptional case among migrant sending countries in its efforts in collecting and generating emigration statistics through its various agencies such as the CFO, DFA, and POEA. The very fluid nature of international migration makes it very difficult to capture and thus no one data source will be completely sufficient, reliable, and accurate. Whilst the actions to harmonise international migration statistics are still underway, the use and dissemination of findings from data sources identified in this chapter should be promoted.

The aim of this chapter was to create an impact on public information relating to estimates about the Filipino population in the UK. This chapter provided evidenced-based as well as closer-to-reality / time series quantitative data of the Filipino population in the UK which has been previously documented. Thus far the statistical narrative introduced here covers a longer

time period extending back to the 1960’s. The ‘local trends’ (population estimate in the UK) are also made meaningful in locating, comparing and contrasting them within regional (European) and global context. Liberal estimates (e.g. CFO data) are also balanced with more conservative ones (e.g. Home Office time series data on settlement and citizenship). In contrast to a ‘limited sample’ referenced at the opening extract of this chapter, robust estimates from national surveys (i.e. APS) and other administrative sources were used throughout the discussion. Most importantly this chapter contributes to public information by demonstrating an identifiable second-generation that can now be administratively validated. Given the availability of these findings it is high-time to update the 'Filipino community' section of the embassy's website.

The narrative presented in this chapter can be described as both macro and quantitative. It showed the wider backdrop of the international migration of Filipinos to situate the first and second-generation Filipino population in the UK. This story of migration, settlement, citizenship acquisition, and formation of socio-civic organisations were told using numbers. The next two chapters take a micro and qualitative approach. Chapter 5 simplifies and complicates the content of biographic narratives according to three themes: temporal, spatial and relational belonging.