Once inside the UK, people can apply to change there reasons for being in the country and the length of time they are allowed in the country on there Visa’s as long as they are not defined as holiday makers or visitors. Once inside the country, people with Visa’s can find political embassies, though on English soil, the ground counts as foreign country. People from those countries can request to talk too ambassadors or appeal for help or protection, the <name of country> consulate takes care of the people living abroad in England.
When inside the country, there are several groups which –now- offer support to those ‘Visa Applied’ British citizens, these are the Home Office which looks after laws and rights that apply to British citizens. Inside the Home Office the IND is responsible for immigration and the FCO is a foreign representative.
In regards to education, training and employment in the country, due to a regulation passed in January 2005, the Visa holder must be on the Register of Education and Training Providers to apply for college, University and School level educations within the country. This also applies to job training and apprenticeship.
The above notes are a brief over-view of how the British immigration system itself works in this country today, however the system is not perfect and most recently in the elections, fears and worries over the problems of immigration have become more real and apparent to the UK’s population and government, it was a figure head issue on the recent elections and the controversial views and plans of the Conservative party cost them a lot of votes, there manifesto on immigration in my opinion was interesting to say the least and I supported the idea that –action- must be taken as there are real problems not being recognized currently with the System. The system of other parties such as the BNP that has flabbergasted the masses on the other hand are racist and in the wide perspective behind in modern thinking as it is now a very unlawful thing to be racist, for the good.
The current ‘issues’ with the immigration system are as follows;
- getting permission to stay in the UK longer than you originally intended
- getting permission to do something which you are not at present allowed to do, for example, being allowed to work
- bringing relatives into the country, for example, a spouse, fiancé(e), children
- being threatened with deportation from the UK
- being held by the immigration authorities in a detention centre
- wanting a passport and not knowing whether you are entitled to a British passport or some other passport
- wanting to apply to become a British Citizen
- if you are already living in the UK but wanting to travel (for example, for a holiday), whether you will be allowed back into the UK
- whether you are entitled to use state services or claim benefits, for example, education, health services, council housing, social security benefits, housing benefits, council tax benefit
- the right to vote
- a relative or friend being refused entry to the UK when arriving at an airport or port.
Credit to for the above list.
The very first issue, ‘getting permission to stay in the UK longer than you originally intended’ is probably the most well known and commonly spoken of issue with immigration, this issue ties in with many other important problems with immigration. Which span from religious problems too, over-crowding in Britain.
It is a genuine, not a racist problem that Britain over-populated and overly multi-cultured, communities are drifting apart, crime rates are rising, un-employed rates in some fields are rising, the racial tensions are rising. There is no doubt however that bringing in more people to the country improves the countries economy. The problem is, the number of people coming into the country each year is on the rise, but the amount leaving is getting smaller. In the past these numbers have almost been at a balance, but due to the ‘switch of the scale’ the country is beginning to suffer problems.
Racial tensions are becoming higher due to terrorism, bad community spirit, ‘foreign relations’ and the ‘fear of immigration’. It is said that in 50 years time Britain will be so over-populated with immigrants and the British Population that people will be asked to accommodate there homes too immigrants, this is not ‘bad’ because they are foreign, nothing to do with race. A home is where a –family- live, it will destroy social family bonds, be uncomfortable (maybe clash of views, morals etc.) and it will on the whole –increase- racism.
Another problem British politics is facing in regards to immigration is simply, we’re letting all these people in, but when they are entered into the country they go off and form ‘communities within communities’ they almost become foreign within Britain, there is no effort to create community bonds, that’s why you get the ‘Arab streets’ in London these days. A town community is now very often divided by religion, ‘Christian’, ‘Muslim’ etc.
As well as this, there is a lot of fear over Crime and terrorism, in other countries it is –true- due to the lack of money the countries have due to loans from the west, the crime rate is higher, crime is more common and the people that come into the country could very well ‘resort to crime’ as it was a norm ‘back home’. There is not enough done by the Government to again, involve migrants with the communities and teach them British ways, this would also –reduce- racial tensions, and the ‘positive view of England’ may rise in the middle east creating better foreign relations and cutting –down- on terrorist activity and popularizing.
To finish, Immigration is a delicate matter, and cannot simply be solved through quota’s, good on the Conservatives for at least trying to –change- things, but the several factions including community building, religion, ways of life, terrorism etc. must be all considered and dealt with as they are all inter-twined with immigration, controls must be put on and other countries in Europe that currently do not take in as many migrants as us, but criticize us for not taking any in due to our relations with the USA. (USA = Unpopular politically)
