General Chat

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/cooper-outlines-labours-immigration-approach-082943609.html

Yvette Cooper is to lay down the opposition immigration policy today.

They are to concede that student visas and travel visas have been abused for years.

I struggle to understand the problem. We only need to keep those who we want to keep - for extended family reasons, for jobs that cannot easily be filled within UK. And I thought we all had a unique NI Number. And all immigrants had a passport of where they belonged and were the responsibility of that country till they had UK nationality and a UK passport.

Anyone throw any light on this? Why in every town there are young men and women from other countries who live here all year. They seem to have arrived here on short term visas then "got lost". It is so difficult to do that in very many countries in the world - Australia and India being two.

Hoped this story might be of some interest today

they come here on holiday visa"s and go missing,weve had immigration officers going into pubs and clubs recently in Bangor and caernarfon and arresting people,who shouldnt be here,its widespread now, we are the land of free housing and free health care and easy money,you cant blame them for jumping on the bandwagon :-(

this counrty gives free money to everybody but its own
you really cant blame them can you :-( :-(

How can you repatriate them when they destroy their passports? Cannot be done. Don't lay all the blame on the UK the EU are hugely responsible for this problem.

agree supercrutch. i dread to think what will happen next year, with the next influx. this country is full to bursting point. it wont be long before the bubble will burst.

We could get more cooperation from EU countries but they seem just to want to get them over their border and into the next country on their way to the UK. They openly admit they want to come here so there could be restrictions in place but our EU friends won't help.

Human rights don't help when an illegal immigrant is imprisoned and when released he is entitled to stay here with his family because of a spurious claim supported by his human rights that does make me want to kick someone hard.

"It's a myth that lazy foreigners are sponging off our welfare state".
(Philip Collins in today's Times).

WONDER IF OUR BORDER CONTROL IS
AS HARD AS AUSTRALIA

IF NOT
NEEDS TO BE

If we chop a few politicians heads off
all will change real quick :-D :-D

It depends on what you mean by "illegal immigrants" in Australia. They are the ones who arrive legitimately by plane and are allowed in the country on student visas, temporary visas and tourist visas. Then they stay. There are stiff penalties for employers who employ illegal immigrants and when caught they will be deported.

This is not to be confused with our asylum seekers. They are NOT illegally in Australia. From the moment we allow the boats to land and we accept them into the country we become responsible for them. They are sent to detention centres where they are fed and housed - the young ones are educated and they have English lessons. They also receive medical and dental care. We've accepted them - we look after them. Once they get visas - and 98% of them do - they are assimilated into the community. They have to look for work and they don't get anywhere near the benefits that people seem to imagine they do. They don't get free housing, cars and food. They get help to settle into this country.

The bogus college scam let in tens of thousands.
Scam and arranged marriages ditto.
Bogus holidays - ditto.

If we simply detained indefinitely anyone who could not prove they were in the Country legally, word would soon get around and the inflow would stop almost overnight.
It would only take the detention of a few hundred.
And your human right is to take your wife/partner/children and pets with you when you leave.

When immigrants come in on short visas, could we not automatically issue them with a NI Number. And only pay people for any temporary work and subsequent benefits on supply of their unique NI Number?

There is a huge "cash in hand" culture that needs to be stamped on hard imo. And anyone employing someone without giving a payslip wit NI Number needs to be prosecuted very hard.

And immigrants are getting married to local girls (who they often hardly see) to stay here. Surely we need to harden up there and look at these marriages and ask which country they intend to settle in.

Mentioned Australia and India. I did investigate the possibility of moving to India in retirement for part of the year. Mainly for climate, and health reasons. And a Mars Bar cost 8 pence there and you can have a 3 course meal out in an hotel for about £2!!! And no gas bills.

But, unless you were born in India or parents were born in India (what is called an Indian national), you cannot buy property and you have to apply for a visa (about £100) every year and it allows you to stay for a maximum of 6 months. No knowledge about rules for working there, but I expect it is very difficult indeed.

Edit. Brian. You posted whilst I was writing. ;-)

I'd like to know how Immigration are going to cope with the extra work load as they can't manage asylum claims now.

Someone we know came to the UK to escape the sectarian and religious violence in his home country in 1998 as a visitor.

His passport was stolen

When he went to his Embassy they told him to claim asylum (a reflection of their discrimination?)
He lived here for a further 5 years while waiting for his claim to be considered.

After a car accident, he was detained by police to await deportation but released on appeal.

That was 6 years ago.

He has

- No passport
- No identity documentation - these were retained by Immigration
- Has not claimed benefits (see above)
- He is supported by his friends and their families who occassionally give him cash-in-hand jobs
- His mother is now a UK citizen and an OAP. she helps when she can
- All his siblings are scattered across the world where they have been granted asylum
- Although he has moved several times in the last few years, his email and phone number remain the same, so can't be accused of 'hiding'

What sort of life is that?

Detective, it's funny how cases like that don't make headlines yet our newspapers are full of immigrants claiming millions and living in mansion stories :-)

Xenophobia rules OK

I believe that anyone wishing to work has to apply for an NI number.
But those are dished out like confetti with little or no check on identity and have no expiry date (correct me if I am wrong).
There are far more NI numbers in circulation than people of working age in the Country as once issued there is no mechanism for withdrawing them.

Chris. A nice house in Kerala in far south west of India is about £23k. That is a new build with a/c, marble floors, balconies, Internet etc etc. And you can live like a prince and princess on about £100 a week. Weather is a bit samey every day - 10 hours sun, 30C max, 20C min. The cheapest new car is a Lach - which costs about £1,350. A smart new car is about £4k.

And phones, internet etc are so cheap and you can speak to folk back home as if you are in next room :-D

Only problem is that there are not many jobs there where you can earn more than £4 a day. And no welfare benefits, OAPensions or NHS. You have to pay a doctor £10 upfront before he or she will see you. :-D