2 ms·

I wouldn't be surprised if this is all driven by the fact the government has made campaign promises to reduce net immigration which they simply cannot meet. The

by leoedin 11y ago

I wouldn't be surprised if this is all driven by the fact the government has made campaign promises to reduce net immigration which they simply cannot meet. They're unable to control immigration from the EU, so instead they're turning up the bureaucracy and stumbling blocks on other immigration and making it much harder for recent graduates to stay and work here. It's a sad state of affairs, one which is driven by the political climate which is in turn driven by the right wing media's hate machine. It certainly doesn't make me very proud to be British.

_petronius 11y ago
I would say that is the only reasonable explanation. The US, for all of it's faults in the immigration department, really only has a bone to pick with illegal immigration. Unfortunately, in the UK, it's also the legal immigration that takes the hit. What is doubly interesting to me, is that because there are no exit checks at the border, there are no reliable statistics for net migration -- immigration minus the British (and other foreign nationals) that leave the country every year. So the panic-machine gets it's statistical fuel with every passing year, despite it not being adjusted for emigration, and all the while ignoring the measurable benefits that increased immigration is bringing with it.
pjc50 11y ago
This is exactly it. Not only that, but quite a lot of the anti-immigrant sentiment is directed against Pakistani/Bangladeshi Muslims - who are quite often second or third generation immigrants and therefore are full British nationals. The spousal income requirement is targeted against people making arranged marriages in those communities, for example. Much of the rest of it is directed against EU nationals, who have a right to be here so long as we're in the EU. If the UK ever does leave the EU, immigration will be cited as a key reason. Moreover, we fought off an attempt at imposing national ID cards, but the government is clearly going to bring them back in by imposing them on immigrants first. (The "super premium" home visit visa service is clearly there for the benefit of the wealthy foreigners that pump the London property market and such like.)

by leoedin 11y ago

_petronius 11y ago

I would say that is the only reasonable explanation. The US, for all of it's faults in the immigration department, really only has a bone to pick with illegal immigration. Unfortunately, in the UK, it's also the legal immigration that takes the hit. What is doubly interesting to me, is that because there are no exit checks at the border, there are no reliable statistics for net migration -- immigration minus the British (and other foreign nationals) that leave the country every year. So the panic-machine gets it's statistical fuel with every passing year, despite it not being adjusted for emigration, and all the while ignoring the measurable benefits that increased immigration is bringing with it.

pjc50 11y ago

This is exactly it. Not only that, but quite a lot of the anti-immigrant sentiment is directed against Pakistani/Bangladeshi Muslims - who are quite often second or third generation immigrants and therefore are full British nationals. The spousal income requirement is targeted against people making arranged marriages in those communities, for example. Much of the rest of it is directed against EU nationals, who have a right to be here so long as we're in the EU. If the UK ever does leave the EU, immigration will be cited as a key reason. Moreover, we fought off an attempt at imposing national ID cards, but the government is clearly going to bring them back in by imposing them on immigrants first. (The "super premium" home visit visa service is clearly there for the benefit of the wealthy foreigners that pump the London property market and such like.)