An amnesty on illegal immigration is back in headlines

[breeze123]

At the largest public event of the London mayoral election campaign, all four candidates pledged their support for an amnesty for illegal immigrants who have been in the country for several years and who can prove their contribution to British society. This would include refused asylum seekers whose claims have been rejected but who are unable to return to their countries
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 06310.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/p ... 695048.ece
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/co ... 06959.html

[JAJ]

Just because London mayor candidates think it's a good idea doesn't mean the national party will adopt it.

There is a difference between being "unable" to return to home country and "unwilling" to do so. And there is a lot more action the United Kingdom can take against nations that refuse to accept the return of their citizens.

[rockhall]

hmmm that amnesty call, will never happen!!

[Twin]

hmmm that amnesty call, will never happen!!

I actually think it will happen - next year, maybe.

[breeze123]

Recently,There are growing calls for immigrant amnesty but the Home Office said there would never be an amnesty and that it would continue with its efforts to remove illegal immigrants.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 07007.html

However, if there is an amnesty for immigrants, they would not talk about it until the right time comes. That would encourge more immigrants to come here and more to stay illegally.
Everything is possible. would Home Office change their minds? let's wait and see.

[rockhall]

If an amnesty does come, it will be worse than the points system, which means there will be so many conditions.

[PaulM]

I wish that in the near distant future there would be an 'amnesty' for people that have made a legal entry into this country. That we would be able to get ILR and Naturalisation smoothly and not have to jump through the hoops of probationary citizenship etc etc. Just a thought.

[try-one]

PaulM,
I agree with you; probationary citizenship and the proposed barriers look like a nightmare......

[liane1]

whenever we talk about UK , we talk about human rights and the human dignity
amnesty is a must in a country which preach human rights to others
ther are thousands of families in uk with children living in hell , insecurity , stress, and uncertainty , people who are suffering from physical and mental illnesses because of their immigration status , and the fear from a immigration officer knocking on their door at dawn
children of british cirizens been deported and parted from their parent because one parent is foreign !!!!!!
i think it is about time to put an end to these human being suffrances and give them amnesty like other european countries did and the most recent Holland and belgium

[rockhall]

whenever we talk about UK , we talk about human rights and the human dignity
amnesty is a must in a country which preach human rights to others
ther are thousands of families in uk with children living in hell , insecurity , stress, and uncertainty , people who are suffering from physical and mental illnesses because of their immigration status , and the fear from a immigration officer knocking on their door at dawn
children of british cirizens been deported and parted from their parent because one parent is foreign !!!!!!
i think it is about time to put an end to these human being suffrances and give them amnesty like other european countries did and the most recent Holland and belgium

I conquer your statement liane1, I tend to wonder if HO caseworkers have any conscience that they do not realise that peoples' lives are being destroyed just because of a "date" or "their decision" hmm the rules! the rules! but the punishment for destroying people is yet to follow. I could imagine what some people are going through in search of a better life.

[liane1]

Hi rockhall,
most of these overstayers they haven t choosen this sort of life , everyone has a story , it is their circumstances , no one just woke up one day and said : ohhh i am going to build a banana boat and go live illegally in Britain , no one dream t when he or she was little that when they grow up their dream is to be illegal immigrant
they are victims of life , ciromstances , politics , economie , violance , abuse , rape you name it
these new laws seem to think of immigrants as some sort of aliens from an other planet with no rights to love or to live , even being a mother or a father doesn t mean anything in their point of view
alot od contradiction and mixed messages in their speeches , on one hand we see the conservative party and the labour lecturing people about family unity , ethics and values , on the other hand a bried visit to Heathrow you see these mothers with babies being deported and british citizen father sitting there crying helpless!!!!!
i don t know how these people sleep at night knowing that they destroyed families , and deprived a father or a mother from seeing their little new born
i have never seen in tv any proram which bothered filming these families who s been deported , mothers and fathers , thats the other hidden face that no one likse to show

[rockhall]

To tell you the truth I have seen it first hand, I have a friend in the UK who has been there illegally for the past 5 years because she was running away from domestic abuse, I saw how how she lived the hardest thing is you are so restricted unless you are employed illegally which is in her case but still you are not free!

I was in the UK legally when my SEGS visa expired I left just not to damage my immigration record, I could not have stayed illegally do not know how I could have handle that not being free. I just hope that one day an amesty will pass that will be beneficial to people.

[jei2]

The government has always hedged its bets where overstayers are concerned - in actions if not in words.

Amnesty is now just a dirty 7-letter word and the government will need to have some concessionary policies in place if it wants to reduce the number of overstayers.

Most of us know that knee-jerk policies are not going to work effectively unless something else is done.

The government is caught between a rock and a hard place. It knows the implications of removing every single overstayer from the UK and the domino effect that it would have on the economy. It has to work out how to deal with this while keeping voters happy.

2008/2009 should be very interesting indeed.

[rockhall]

hmm you know I do not understand when elections are around the corner in the EU countries and even in the US, immigration is always on top of the agenda. Maybe its to keep the voters happy as u said and for political mileage!

[salimnina]

To tell you the truth I have seen it first hand, I have a friend in the UK who has been there illegally for the past 5 years because she was running away from domestic abuse, I saw how how she lived the hardest thing is you are so restricted unless you are employed illegally which is in her case but still you are not free!

I was in the UK legally when my SEGS visa expired I left just not to damage my immigration record, I could not have stayed illegally do not know how I could have handle that not being free. I just hope that one day an amesty will pass that will be beneficial to people.

tanx really needed