Immigration amnesty is ruled out

[JAJ]

renegotiation or withdrawal from the EU entirely

We both know that there's more chance of Tony Blair learning how to turn water into wine.

This is not the place to discuss the relative merits of EU withdrawal. However the reality is that imposing immigration control on other EU states is no more and no less "impossible" than the imposition of immigration controls on Australians and Canadians in 1962 might have looked a few years prior to that.

a seven year transition period

Do you know what this seven year period actually means on the ground? Would they be restricted from coming to the UK... or just from working? If it's the latter then won't there likely be massive numbers of them coming to work illegally? They could stay for a few months, return to Bulgaria and re-enter the UK as many times as they wanted. And as their incomes there are roughly 1/10the of what they are here is the UK government preparing for a massive increase in illegal workers come Jan 2007?

It's been 15 years since similar provisions applied. The transition periods for Spain and Portugal ended on 1.1.92 (the 7 years got reduced to 6 IIRC).

I don't have a copy of the Immigration Rules as they applied then but as I understand it, while Spanish and Portuguese citizens did not require United Kingdom visas to visit the UK, Immigration Officers were still free to refuse entry in cases of non-genuine visitors.

As to the relative disparity of incomes between these countries and the UK, I very much doubt that real living standards are 10 times higher in the UK compared to Romania. Even if some figures make it appear so, cost of living would partially compensate for that. Greece was a fairly poor country when it joined the EU in 1981. By the time the transition period ended in 1988 I don't recall a mass migration of Greeks to West Germany.

[Merdok]

I’ve got an idea (returning to the topic of failed asylum seekers or illegal immigrants).

Not to give them full rights in terms of benefits, work permits... But give them some hope – to restrain from diverting into criminal word deeper and deeper..

Give them the right to work as self-employed.. Cos anyway most of them do work by self-employed scheme, but not paying taxes, and with bogus CIS cards and stuff.. And it is gonna be beneficial in many ways – you wont be able to sue a trader, if he uses a bogus name and CIS card..

As for the rest – you better keep them as slaves, working illegally for 2/h, this is the driving force for some industries (indeed, why britain should be different from china?)

[Merdok]

Hmm, new member states, such as Bolgaria and Romania, will be joining the EU in January 2007.. The low-wages market will be flooded with cheap-labour.. I, for one, wont be able to find a job, or only something like 2/h.. I think I will resort to applying my skills to devising an alga-like microorganism that would produce weed active ingredients.. It’s actually impossible to devise such metabolic pathways in an alga by gene transfer, but there is another way.. Do you reckon I will find an interested party to pay me 5/h?

I saw poppies with three stems (to increase opium production).. Probably a work of some failed asylum seeker with apt skills and no way to realise them..

Another and even more subtle option is to increase the number of poppy flowers on the stem


write me: freethegalaxy AT yahoo.co.uk

[Merdok]

I, for one, do not need it now! Stuff it up yr... It 21st centaury slavery – you give us hope, and in return we give u our entire life. Just wait a minute, and amnesty’s gonna come, it’s forthcoming!! Yeah, right.. I understand that you build your prosperity and industry on slavery, and it will take you centuries just to move an once towards progress.. All contemporary countries done this, Italy, Spain, USA.. But Uk is too special, it is an opportunity of a lifetime to live in 2x2m box!!!

I can do without!!! In fact, I am better off without, you pompous, arrogant, effete snobs of HO IND..

Piwlu vu nah, pravda nazavzhdu!!!

[Jing Wu]

abc

[JAJ]

- It won't encourage people smuggling for the simple reason that any amnesty will be for people already here ... not those planning on coming here illegally in the future.

Wishful thinking - it will just encourage more people smuggling to wait for the next "amnesty".

[Merdok]

2 Jing Wu

In respond to your listing:


1. All those revenue, economy growth (1%), etc. are ultimately aimed to improve the quality of life (new hospitals, new schools, etc.) of people of this country. However, the very fact that hundreds of thousands will have access to these services and eventually eat up all the revenue and even set demands for more greatly overcast the immediate and actually minor benefits.

2. Those who had any skills would have already switched to another immigration program. Thus, and you have a witness here, the majority of those illegal immigrants and failed asylum seekers would tend to rely on social services to top up their meager earnings

Or even more realistic – they are now working in the shadow economy. They will continue to do so, while resorting to social services claiming they are jobless or need to take some English courses, because they are unemployable (this courses can go on for years – fact!).

3. Load of nonsense. If someone is hawking drugs from the street, he will certainly sell drug from your office!!! There are plenty of residence who are hawking drugs, and they are not illigals!!! In fact, there is only minute proportion of illegals in any crime. They’ve come to work at kebab shops, they are happy with what they have, they send some money back home, and they try not to drunk drive a car, not to engage in a fight, etc. Of course, if they are given the status, they will gladly exploit it.

Now, a great proportion of not native criminals are those immigrants who got a status here, commonly through deception at the asylum process. Just watch the news, they are engage in people trafficking, prostitution, drug dealing, racketing (normally those of their own origin)..

4. Ok, mate, don’t make a case from an exceptional situation. Do not advocate for actually a crime against the native people just because you would benefit from it. Same here mate! I have contributes a lot, had I have the NI I would have done many times better.. I am in a similar situation, so what??? There are thousand of decent people out there who would gladly come here and work and contribute..

5. And here you have eventually come to the point – they need to get rid of illegal immigrants, since they overcrowd the social services. But if they don’t, let them stay as they are, they just work and do not do any harm.. And this is what they have come for in the first place, so let them take the medicine they prescribed for themselves. Mind you, many would live back home voluntarily in couple of years, I met such a lot. Not all of them can make millions like you, so they are much better off back home with some savings in the pocket!! At the end of the day, the quality of life in the home country is much much better!!!

6. Another load of crap, excuse me please. I am registered with a doctor, although I am not entitled to. A friend of mine, at the time a mere asylum seeker, has got a free brain surgery cost about 30 000 pounds. If you come to A&E noone would even ask any proofs..

7. To all your points that aimed to combat arguments against the amnesty – there are millions out there who can come illegally to these shores, and if given even a fade prospect of another amnesty in 20 years, since this turns out to actually take place in this country immigration regulation, they will come. Undoubtedly, having legalized hundreds of thousands, you will have twice as much illegals in 5 years, and this will become a vicious circle.. But I know you do not care, you are not native..

[Merdok]

But there are thousand illegals who would gladly return home at a fist opportunity, and same with failed asylum seekers. The latters also places a huge demands on HO services..

They would go if they could buy a ticket and had some savings.. Many of them had some illusions about the quality of life in this country, or had no other choise, but now have, or have merely been brought over for exploitation...

A temporal regularization, say exceptional leave to remain with work permit for 2 years, with a vow to go then, would greatly reduce the strain on this country..

[Rawling]

i got it wrong

[OL7MAX]

Rawling, I'm afraid you've been had.

If the UK government were going to be discussing an amnesty they wouldn't ask potential beneficiaries to vote on it. Do you really think that a poll of illegal immigrants would be used to decide policy?

Save yourself the 10p phone costs.

[angelus]

I get on my knees and express my sincere gratitude to all those illegal immigrants, those 570,000+ "ghosts" and "aliens" that drift in the shadows of this country...

- all those who contribute to this country in any way they can and go unnoticed...

- all those bona fides that commit NO crime, claim NO benefits and NOT a "burden" to a society...

- all those who make a living with NO legal status, NO passports, NO NI numbers in whatever way they can...

- all those who's got in their position due to the circumstances at their home, their countries or their families...

- all those with a "good" will, determination and passion...

- all those who achieve unachievable...

- all those whose times of trial are long...

To conclude - Sebastian Faulks wrote "real faith is not to be found in the pale face of the anchorite but in the ravaged lives of those who have had to struggle to survive..."


I salute you!!!!


angie ii

[OL7MAX]

I don't believe I've ever been saluted before

But, hey, thanks!