For a while, earlier this year, the British immigration system was working rather well. Asylum applications were way down, while more people than ever before were getting in under the Highly Skilled Migrants Programme.
Some of the latter exaggerated their skills to get in (including, notoriously, the one-legged man who claimed to be a roofer). The sensible response would be "oh well – immigrants enrich our society and do the jobs that most native-born Brits are too lazy to bother with; let’s not worry if one or two are faking it".
Unfortunately, far too many British people are demented xenophobes for that attitude to prevail. As a result, visa rules have become so harsh that it now takes over three months to get in – not great if you’re a foreign expert flying in for a conference, for example.
Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.
"Asylum applications were way down,"
That’s not the system working well.
I’m currently reading "Pretty Straight Guys" by Nick Cohen. Okay, it’s pretty one-sided, and I obviously haven’t checked any of the facts, but he claims that it is now virtually impossible to "legally" apply for asylum (such as: if you have a passport, you’re deemed to be not pissing off your own government, hence you have no need of asylum; if you don’t have a passport, then by definition you are an illegal. Beautiful).
Given that the world appears not to have become a measurably better place to live in recently, I think I have to agree with Chris here. I suspect asylum applications are down for the simple reason that we’ve made it so bloody hard to make an application.
–Matt
Oh. I’d assumed that there was some genuine drift from people claiming asylum to using the HSMP, because the near-impossibility of getting residency without claiming asylum pre-HSMP encouraged would-be migrants to make asylum claims. Immigrants are more honest, and the government more shit, than I thought.
You think that bad? We now have genuine hsmp applicants that get approved and then get told to leave the country because the rules on switching in country have changed in the 6 months that it has taken for hsmp to be decided – yet the decision to make an in country application was made based on switching rules in place at the time – so now applicants must not only be highly skilled migrants, but must also be psychic as well !!
Now, was that post spam? It was a well-infomed and insightful post that provided useful advice to people spotting this post through Google, and yet unsolicitedly promoted the poster’s commercial services. On balance, I’d say no. So if you’re looking to get a work permit, go to Skillclear, Mr Marshall’s site.
John B, you brought a smile to my face with that post, and you were correct… I was getting some anger off my chest about what is happening currently with certain genuine applications whilst at the same time seeing… oh, all manner of less deserving situations being allowed through the system. On the plus side though, the Home Office do show exemplary racial equality… people of all nationalities are being treated equally poorly… Not sure if the chap who posted above is interested, or if this is the place to say this, but… did you know that a genuine asylum seeker who qualifies for HSMP is not allowed to make application without first giving up their asylum claim and returning to the country that he or she is trying to escape from… leaving them no real choice but to go throught the asylum process … I have spoken to many asylum seekers who would love to be using their talents instead of being in their current situation, but… An immigration system that was practical would alleviate many of the current problems, not to mention the fact that it is difficult to send a failed asylum seeker back to the country they were trying to escape from under European Law (not my speciality though, but this is my current understanding) – bit of a mess really! Oh, and I tried to post without the web site bit but then I think it would have shown my email, and I would rather not do that as I get enough spam already!