Archive for the ‘UK immigration’ Category

The UK points-based immigration system is more ‘game show’ than gainful for UK cultural and business life.

The new immigration shake-up proposes sweeping reforms as to how overseas workers will be tested with regard to their suitability and cultural fit pending a permanent move to the UK.

Many of the changes to UK immigration laws in the past have had an adverse effect on UK economic and business sectors. And the latest proposals are in extremely poor taste too. 

Immigration Minister Phil Woolas and the entire Labour cabinet seem to have lost complete touch with the public they are claiming to serve.  And that is a public that is made up, in part, of immigrants.

Many immigrants just one year ago fought the British government and won a high court action to prevent damaging immigration changes preventing them remaining in the UK. 

The people Mr Woolas keeps referring to as “immigrants” are hard working, talented, highly skilled professionals whom UK Plc has gone out of its way to attract to the country and whom the country needs to continue to function and  prosper. 

Many of the people Woolas is referring to are not only electoral voters but essential to contributing to keeping our schools, hospitals and businesses running. 

Every year the government comes up with another absurd idea on the subject of immigration reforms. This is extremely damaging to UK Plc and completely unpatriotic. 

The people who the latest proposal could potentially affect are continually having the goal posts moved on them.  Our Immigration Minister must start to understand overseas people working in the UK require stability, clear vision and a stable immigration policy.  Not a flaky, knee jerk leadership that brings a ‘headless chicken’ approach to policy. 

If UK Plc is serious about attracting the best skills and talent the world has to offer to help run the schools, hospitals and businesses we all rely on, then Woolas with his out-of-touch and out-of-date vision needs to leave well alone. He is tampering with an issue he clearly no longer properly understands. 

Perhaps it is Phil Woolas and his blinkered government cronies with their preposterous proposals who should all be deported pronto. 

They may be pale and drink too much beer, but studies show British men make better domestic partners than their Spanish, Japanese and Australian counterparts.

Move to the UK for a dose of domestic bliss

Research shows that both men and women are more likely to move in with or marry their partner if he or she helps out with household chores – and UK men seem to have few qualms about chipping in around the house.

Researchers took a sample of 13,500 men and women aged 20 to 45 from 12 countries to compare, by nationality, how egalitarian partners are with housework.

The study showed that those from ‘more egalitarian’ countries are 20 to 50 percent more likely to be living with their partners.

Scandinavia topped the list for domestic equality, while the UK and US came in second and third. Australians scored last for pitching in with domestic duties.

British women came up as 8.5 percent more likely to live with their partner on average than Australian women.

The countries in the study ranked in this order for ‘relationship equality’: Norway, Sweden, Great Britain, United States, Northern Ireland, Netherlands, Ireland, Spain, New Zealand, Japan, Germany, Austria and Australia.

The lure of a domestically-trained partner makes as excellent a reason as any for restless Aussies and Europeans to move to the US or UK. 

The study was conducted by the Centre for Time Use Research at the University of Oxford and was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

Haggisgate has rocked Scotland and UK immigration

Scotland reels in shock today as the shocking news that the country’s most famous dish, the Haggis, is actually the invention of the country’s ‘Auld Enemy’, England.

It’s a blow to every Scottish patriot who recited the poems of Scotland’s great Bard, Robert Burns between great mouthfuls of the spicy meat-pudding.

This revelation by an acclaimed historian will surely have an even bigger impact on a nation still recovering from it’s last cultural blight, the Hairy Angel that was Susan Boyle.

Haggisgate is also particularly relevant after UK Immigration Minister, Phil Woolas announced a shake-up in the UK immigration system.

There will now be emphasis placed on measuring just how much anyone who wants to move to Britain from overseas knows and has participated in the country’s culture as part of their visa application process.

The news that even the humble haggis – once the butt of jokes south of the Border – now has a new home, just goes to prove that even the most established cultural icons and traditions are not always set in stone.

Researchers at the University of East Anglia and a hospital in Norwich are looking for 40 female participants to eat “super-strength chocolate specially formulated by Belgian chocolatiers” daily for a whole year.

The aim of the trial is to find out whether the special chocolate formulation can cut the risk of heart disease. Project co-ordinator Peter Curtis said, “A successful outcome could be the first step in developing new ways to improve the lives of people at increased risk of heart disease.”

Some of the women will eat regular chocolate to test the placebo effect.

But there is a catch: Women must be menopausal but under the age of 75. Sadly, this excludes chocolate-loving younger women from experiencing cocoa bliss.

For the eligible few, what better reason to move to the UK than to gorge on chocolate for a noble cause?

Harry Potter mania on a UK visa

UK tourist figures are set to magically rise following the release of the sixth Harry Potter film. While official data has yet to be released, the film’s impact on tourism is expected to rival that of its predecessors.

Releases of earlier Harry Potter films motivated tourists to obtain UK visas to visit iconic filming locations.

The UK Film Council in 2007 reported: “Alnwick Castle, the location for Hogwarts, saw a 120% rise in visitor numbers following the release of Harry Potter. The films are estimated to have brought in £9m in tourist revenue to the area.”

The sudden popularity of tourist destinations like Alnwick Castle inspired several tour companies to develop Harry Potter tours. Tourists get to experience the thrill of travelling between Platform 9 ¾, the enchanted Great Hall and Hogwarts Express.

Jason Doll-Steinberg of British Tours says, “We do a lot of big tours and Harry Potter is one of the bigger ones. It’s up there with our tour of Stonehenge at dawn.”

The latest film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, earned ₤104m on its first day of release. 

The Harry Potter series has been filmed exclusively in the UK at the request of the books’ author JK Rowling.

The top three UK destinations for Harry Potter are:

Oxford University, Oxford

The stunning gothic structure of Oxford’s Christ Church College is the site of the magical Great Hall at Hogwarts. Many of the moving staircase scenes were also filmed here. The university’s Divinity School is the site of Hogwarts hospital in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Bodleian Library provided the setting for many of Harry, Ron and Hermione’s library exploits. Additional Oxford University buildings and corridors also feature in the films.

King’s Cross Station, London

The busiest train station in Britain is the site of the mysterious Platform 9 ¾, where wizard students are seen on film boarding the Hogwarts Express.

Gloucester Cathedral, Gloucester

Various ghost scenes, shots of talking portraits, and Harry’s Moaning Myrtle encounters were filmed in this 1,300 year old place of worship.

Harry Potter fans span the globe, with Japanese and US enthusiasts proving the most popular visitors to Harry Potter ‘hot spots’. 

Non-British visitors should be aware that UK visas may be required to visit filming locations around the country.

Join the latest Global Visas 'hot' debate

With strikes set to take place across Britain by UK immigration officials, travellers are looking at a holiday season that may descend into farce.  Are British Border bureaucrats the bugbear of travellers and UK visa seekers worldwide or do worse exist?

Who are the ultimate global offenders of immigration regulations gone mad?

Tell us your nightmare stories and join the debate to discover which country has the worst immigration staff.

Move to UK and consider life in Scotland

The decision by the Scottish government to reward migrants who move to Scotland with bonus points on their UK visa application is an attempt to stop the negative trends of an increasingly ageing population and skills shortages in certain sectors of  the economy.

And let’s hope the plan works. Scotland has a lot to offer migrants who tend to head for London or other major cities in the south of England. Apart from the ropey climate, a belief that all Scotsmen wear skirts and eat from a sheep’s gut, Scotland has plenty to offer anyone wanted to move to the UK and looking for a dynamic place to live and work.

So, in no particular order of merit, consider a new start in Scotland and enjoy…

A Royal education system – Scotland has one of the oldest and best educational systems in the world and is home to St Andrews University where Prince William recently attended.

A nation fit for sport – Scotland may be the birthplace of golf with many quality courses around the contry, but football is number one sporting passion for most.

Setting the Scenery – Scotland is home to some of the UK’s most spectacular landscape inlcuding Ben Nevis (Britain’s highest peak), many lochs and castles, and over 400 islands around its coastline.

Look to the Scottish stars – Famous modern-day Scots include actors Sean Connery and Ewan McGregor, comedian Billy Connelly, pop diva Annie Lennox and author J K Rowling.

Breakling the rule – In 1999 the Scottish Parliament was opened, the first Scottish Parliament for 300 years. Scotland now makes its own decisions on social welfare, health and education.

So with a valid UK visa, you too can make the move to live and work in one of the most scenic and thriving countries in the world.

New UK immigration law is a marriage-breaker

For viewers who tuned into Newsnight on BBC 1 this week (July 24), you’ll have seen the shocking story about the teenage wife who faces deportation from the UK due to a new UK immigration law.

New immigration rule states that only women over 21 years old can apply for a UK visa after a marriage. The legal age was raised from 18 years. The ruling is part of the Forced Marriages Act, aimed at tackling the issue of abuse within forced marriages.

19-year old Rochelle from Canada married her Welsh husband Adam Wallis in November 2008.

They met two years previous out in Canada.The couple kept in touch via the web after Adam returned to the UK and in March 2008, Rochelle came to visit Adam on a six month UK visa. During their time together n the UK, the couple fell in love and decided to get married. They agreed to make Rochelle’s move to the UK permanent.

To get Rochelle permanent residency visa, they applied to the Home Office for permission to marry. But paperwork was lost in the visa application process at the Home Office’s end.

The outcome was that Rochelle’s application was delayed. This delay also meant that Rochelle had one week left on her UK visa before she would have to return to Canada. The couple had to either rush a wedding before Rochelle’s visa expired or the bride-to-be would have to return home and apply for a spousal visa and then return to the UK.

The couple opted for a quick wedding. But four days after they wed, the new UK immigration law was put in place. The law states that no forced marriages are allowed to take place unless the women marrying is 21 years old or over.

Rochelle now faced the perplexing prospect of having by law to return to Canada and wait an agonising two years until she turned 21.

The UK law was put in place to protect young women, particularly Asians, from being forced to comply with arranged marriages.

The UK Border Agency, responsible for enforcing the new law, described Rochelle’s case as an “inconvenience”.

Rochelle’s was justifiably shocked by the government agency’s seeming lack of care. “It’s more than an inconvenience, he’s ripping my marriage apart – he’s taking the only thing I have and throwing it away,” she said on the BBC’s website.

Rochelle and Adam turned to their local Aberystwyth MP, Mark Williams for help.

Williams was quick to support the couple and said: “I think it is a horrific case – government policy that starts out with good intentions, but a blanket approach that nets in the most innocent of people.”

For now, unlucky Rochelle has fallen foul of the new law and is set to be deported. Let’s hope the publicity from the BBC can save her fate and her marriage.

Laws to prevent forced marriages came into practice in 2007 in an attempt to stop forced marriages and protect anyone who has already fallen victim to such an arrangement.

It covers citizens within England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Anyone trying to force someone into marriage could face a jail sentence of up to two years.

Liza Minnelli sweated on her UK visa

The British government’s recent changes to the UK visa system have sparked controversy among the arts community at home and overseas.

The visa changes, in effect since November 2008, have been described as the “most contemptible ever devised.” They are having an adverse effect on the many UK organisations who rely on overseas artists and academics visiting the country for talks, exhibitions, concerts or artists’ residencies.

All non-EU visitors must complete a highly time-consuming points-based and costly process to secure their UK visa. And there exists even more bureaucratic controls while they are in the UK. Many artists and performers have found themselves banned, delayed or deported from the UK as a direct result of the new visa laws.

Artists who come from a country which does not issue a UK visa must travel to another country to obtain them. This adds time and cost to the visa application process.

For many African artists in particular, this is proving one hurdle too many and the spiralling costs of getting a visa means travelling to the UK is often not financially feasible. For UK organisers, looking to bring over international talent to the UK, the extra cost of visas cannot be absorbed in budgets.

Liam Clifford, director of visa consultancy Global Visas says: “Getting a visa is always a complex issue but over the last few years the costs of UK visas and work permits have increased quite dramatically. To add the cost of having to travel, what can be many thousand of miles, to your nearest visa issuer, can understandably be a step too far for many performers or British organisers who operate on tight budgets.”

London-based Manifesto Club is spearheading a campaign aimed at overturning the current visa restrictions for artists wanting to work in the UK. They have also set up an online petition.

Campaign head Manick Govinda, writing for independent current affairs website Spiked, explains the problem: “The new points-based system is designed to keep certain types of people out. Many small, unincorporated, autonomous arts projects will have a tough job getting the necessary documents to invite non-EU overseas colleagues to the UK. Artists who want to collaborate, support each other and explore collective work will lose their flexibility and freedom to choose who they work with internationally.”

There has been widespread condemnation for the new UK visa law from both the international artistic community and the British mainstream press. Notable incidents already reported include:
• The barring of three guest poets from the Ledbury Poetry Festival in England.
• Canadian singer Alison Crowe and two of her band members being detained, fingerprinted and then deported after 11 hours of interrogation by UK immigration officials at Gatwick Airport.
• Congolese band Konono No 1 missed a gig celebrating African music at London’s Tate Modern in May this year as they could get their visas processed in time.
• Russian pianist Grigory Sokolov was forced to cancel a recent UK tour because he could not produce the required UK visa paperwork.
• US singer Liza Minnelli nearly missed her first UK tour in 20 years due to visa red-tape.

Guardian journalist Henry Porter is another prominent supporter of the Manifesto Club’s campaign. Writing in his blog, Porter says: “[N]ew rules barring artists from visiting this country and so enriching our culture are some of the most contemptible ever devised, even by this narrow-minded apology for a government.”

UK Immigration Minister Phil Woolas was quick to respond to Porter’s criticism: “The government is acutely aware of how important the flourishing arts sector is to Britain, and we have never been less than supportive. Foreign artists play a major part of this industry’s success – but that does not mean they will be treated any differently from the millions of people who apply to visit the UK each year,” he wrote.

He added: “Genuine foreign artists are important to us – they make a huge contribution to the cultural and of course the economic wealth of this country. The last thing we want to do is trip anyone up or put them off coming here. That is why we worked very closely with representatives of the arts sector in devising the points-based system.”

Non-EU artists coming to Britain must now not only show proof of who they are, including fingerprints, but also show they have an established sponsor willing to take full financial responsibility for them and to vouch for all their activities while in the UK.

It seems the British government needs to come up with a more creative visa solution for visiting artists worldwide.

What affect UK immigration on its population?

The population of the UK will pass the 70 million mark despite government policies planned to stop it, a think tank has predicted.

Migrationwatch UK warns the UK population, currently at approximately 61 million, will pass the 70 million figure by 2028 and around 70 per cent of that will be due to UK immigration.

In May this year, a research study carried out by YouGov claimed 70% of UK citizens interviewed want the number of UK immigrants cut to less than 50,000 people a year. And around 80 per cent of UK adults are “concerned” or “very concerned” about UK immigration.

Both Labour and the Conservatives have UK immigration policies aimed at curbing population growth on their agendas.

However, Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch UK, warns: “The main parties talk tough on immigration, but they’re trying to ‘con’ the British public.”

Sir Andrew added: “According to Government figures, we can expect almost another 10 million people in England in 20 years time of which 7 million will be due to immigration – equivalent to seven cities the size of Birmingham.

“Current Labour policy won’t begin to address this. The Conservatives are barely better: despite their rhetoric, they have a lightweight policy that sounds tough but won’t deliver.

“Until the main parties decide to be honest about an issue crucial to the future of our society and until they get real about the measures needed, extremist groups will continue to have a ball.”

Around 130,000 UK work visas a year are given to non-EU workers.