Immigration to the UK: legal and illegal
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Immigration is a contentious political issue in the UK. Like most countries the United Kingdom has always had immigration and always shall. There has always been some opposition to immigration. There was no non-white immigration on any serious scale until the arrival of the British ship, SS Empire Windrush in 1948.
Immigration has in some ways been a boon to the United Kingdom. Some immigrants were invited in. They brought with them education, skills and a work ethic that enriched the UK. The United Kingdom could not live without immigration. 50% of nurses in the country are from abroad; so are 25% of doctors.
Immigrants in the UK tend to settle in major conurbations: London, Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham. This is partly chain migration. Ayesha arrives and in 2 years brings her sister Benazir who brings her husband Chaudhury who invites his friend Rajaram who then brings his brother Anand who then brings his cousin Suresh etc… It is much easier to come to a part of the country where one shall find people who speak one’s own language and be of one’s own ethno-religious background. In south-east England the population has gone up 50% in the last 35 years. There is a strain on public services due to mass immigration. Immigrants are not bad, and they have the right to access services too. They sometimes work in public services such as health, education and police etc… House prices have exploded in the last 40 years. This is a multifactorial problem but one of those factors is unchecked immigration.
In 1997 the Labour Government decided to pursue mass immigration. They said the aim was ‘to rub our right’s nose in diversity’. The United Kingdom received more immigrants in the 20 years after that than it had in all history. The UK is now an ethnically diverse country with 20% of people being non-white and at least 10% being ethnic minority whites i.e. Romanian, Polish, Italian, Spanish etc… Most people whether white are not are British citizens.
The Conservative Party was in office 2010-24. It promised to bring immigration down. It signally failed. Immigration rules were majorly tightened in 2024 shortly before the Conservatives lost office.
To bring in a foreign spouse a British citizen has to earn over £38,000 a year. This is well above the minimum wage. The foreign spouse’s wealth or earning potential is not taken into account. If a British woman wants to marry a Chinese billionaire, his assets are not considered. This is daft. Until 2022 there were golden visas. For a million pounds a person could reside in the UK with his or her spouse and minor children for 10 years. In that time, it was easy to obtain permanent leave to remain and citizenship. Permanent leave to remain takes 5 years. Citizenship takes one more year after that.
The Labour Party came into government in July 2024. Legal immigration has fallen from about 800,000 net per annum to about 600,000 net per annum. The UK includes students in its immigration figures which most countries do not. The great majority of foreign students study in the United Kingdom for a few years and then leave. If students were removed from the figure, then the number is about 400,000.
University students used to be able to bring spouses and minor children with them. This was thought to be fuelling immigration, so it has been prohibited. But this has reduced the number of international students. British universities urgently needed international students because the high fees they pay keep universities financially afloat.
The UK faces skills shortages in certain sectors particularly medicine, nursing and teaching. The country also recruits a lot of care homeworkers from abroad. British people have it too easy: they can spend their lives on benefits i.e. money from the government when they are unemployed or falsely claim to be disabled. British citizens usually refuse to do menial jobs like farm labouring, waitressing or cleaning.
Reform UK is the party most committed to reducing immigration. They say there will be net zero non-essential immigration. ‘Net zero’ means if 100,000 people emigrate, only 100,000 will be allowed to immigrate with an exemption for ‘essential’ immigration. Essential presumably includes doctors and the like.
Illegal immigration is a tendentious topic. Increasingly people have been gathering in north-east France and crossing the English Channel in small boats. These illegal immigrants come from Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, Mali, Pakistan, Burkina Faso and suchlike. Why do they cross a dozen safe countries to move to the UK to claim asylum?
About 90% of asylum claimants are either granted asylum or leave to remain. This is a much higher percentage than in other European countries. People learn English as their main foreign language in most countries. Therefore, it is most attractive to move to an anglophone country.
There is mounting disquiet about illegal immigration. Those who come illegally and claim asylum are accommodated in hotels and provided with food, medical care and a tiny amount of spending money. They are not permitted to work but some work cash in hand anyway. The majority of those who come are young men.
There have been some high-profile crimes committed by illegal immigrants. This is exploited by demagogues to suggest that all illegal immigrants are dangerous. There are not protests outside hotels where illegal immigrants are housed. The ever-increasing cost of providing for illegal immigrants infuriates the public.
From lodging a claim for asylum to getting a hearing takes about 18 months. If the claim is upheld, then that is that. The person is allowed to stay in the United Kingdom and work until and unless the danger at home goes away. In practice they are almost never obliged to leave. But if the claim is refused the person can appeal. It takes a few more months for the appeal to be heard. If that appeal is not allowed, then the person can appeal again. If that appeal is refused the person is supposed to be deported. But the appellant is often given exceptional leave (i.e. permission) to remain in the United Kingdom. If a person is ever deported it takes about 3 years and costs the UK taxpayer easily GBP 100,000 in terms of paying for a person’s living and legal expenses.
The United Kingdom sometimes offers resettlement packages for illegal immigrants to go home. A person might be paid GBP 10,000 to leave. This saves the British taxpayer a lot of money. The resettlement package goes a long way in some less developed countries.
Reform UK is again the party that is most determined to stop illegal immigration. It has said the Royal Navy should intercept boats in the English Channel and tow them back to France. What if the illegals puncture their inflatable boat to make it sink to force the Royal Navy to rescue them? Ben Habib a Reform UK politician said they should be thrown to another boat. What if they puncture that one too? Let them drown he said.
The UK has paid France to intercept people smuggling gangs and puncture boats on the beach in France so they cannot set sail. The French take the money but are not very cooperative. They see illegal immigrants as a problem and one they are happy to pass on to the British.
Russia and Belarus know that illegal immigration is a sensitive issue in Western Europe. So does Turkey and so do the Libyan rebels. All have sent illegals into Western Europe to hurt Western Europe. Russia and Belarus have granted visas to people whom they know want to cross illegally into European Union countries. The Russian and Belarusian border guards sometimes guide the illegals to places to cross into Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland. Some of the illegals go further west – all the way to the United Kingdom.
The extreme left in the UK is fervently in favour of illegal immigration. They protest with placards bearing the slogan ‘open the borders’ and ‘refugees welcome’. The leftards claim that ANY limit on immigration is racist.
The UK’s population went from 50 million to 70 million in the past 50 years. That is entirely through immigration. The United Kingdom has sub replacement fertility.
