Oh, I’m an MSP! Now get me a work visa
A NEWLY elected Green MSP is still pleading for cash to help him apply for a visa to work in the UK.
Q Manivannan launched a fundraiser for a temporary graduate pass even before securing his place at Holyrood as a list MSP.
The ‘non-binary’ PhD student sent a message to party colleagues asking them to donate to a public campaign to raise £2,089 for a graduate route visa. The Holyrood incumbent has said it will help buy him time to save up for the £5,047 cost of applying for a global talent visa.
Manivannan secured a regional list seat for the Greens after standing in Edinburgh and Lothian East.
Speaking after winning a place at Holyrood, he said: ‘My name is Dr Q Manivannan, I am a transgender
Tamil immigrant, my pronouns are they/them. I am to some in this country everything that the hateful despise and I am standing here as your MSP now with care.’
He added: ‘Every barrier placed before me with the Greens was the reason also that we pushed further.
‘This is what diversity looks like in power.’
Former Conservative MSP Sue Webber, who failed to win a seat on
Friday, had criticised the situation. She had said: ‘Voters will be astonished that this candidate doesn’t even know if they will be able to stay in the country going forward.’
Anyone with the right to live in the UK – including those with only a temporary right – is eligible to vote in Scottish parliament elections or stand as a candidate following legislation brought in by the SNP government.