Is immigration a problem ?

Gordon Brown has promised to "tighten" the UK's immigration rules by reducing the number of professions which can recruit from outside Europe. Is this the right policy?

The prime minister said these changes would ensure net migration continues to fall while maintaining "flexibility". He added that people who voice concern over immigration levels should not be branded "racists".

The Conservatives dismissed Mr Brown's proposals as mere "rhetoric", while Home Secretary Alan Johnson has admitted that the government has taken "a long time" to deal properly with the issue.

Are you an immigrant worker? Are you planning to come to the UK? Does your company rely on immigrant workers? How will these changes affect you? Should the points system be tightened up? Which professions should be allowed to recruit outside Europe? 😊

All i got to say, there WAY TOO MANY immigrants in the UK.

Originally posted by: P1nk

All i got to say, there WAY TOO MANY immigrants in the UK.

I thought that, in this forum, many people are directly or indirectly some kind of immigrants.

Calling it a problem wont be like saying "hi black kettle, its pot here"? 😛

Thing is these immigrants are claiming for benefit and make bogus claims they don't deserve, which is fraud and its COMING OUT OF OUR POCKETS because we pay tax. I dunnno, the goverment needs to tackle this. I read In the newspaper that jobs such as carpenter work, restaurant workers etc are employing more and more Eastern europeans cuz they work half the average rate


. Britain Is no longer what it use to be 10 years back.

Originally posted by: karandel_2008

I thought that, in this forum, many people are directly or indirectly some kind of immigrants.

Calling it a problem wont be like saying "hi black kettle, its pot here"? 😛

I think at some point or another foreign immigrants can be a challenge on a country. They can take resources, take job opportunities and even cause some cultural challenges. A sovereign nation has the right to limit immigration to prevent overload of immigration.

However, this may not always be the best choice. Many countries do depend on their immigrants. Countries like United States & Australia were built by immigrants. I'm not sure about the situation in UK. In the USA they often complain about Mexican immigrants (specially the illegal ones) But no one is willing to do their jobs, be the night cleaners, the dishwashers, the field laborers - most regular Americans do not want to fill these roles.

I think anti-immigrant stereotypes are rooted in racism most of the time. Let's face it, global history is full of migration. People wouldn't migrate to countries to find opportunities if their countries had not been colonized and pilfered for ages. Countries in the so called Third World now face the toll of heavily accelerated industrialization, and this includes physical impacts -- environmental poisoning (e.g. Bhopal), illegal drug testing by North-based pharmaceutical companies, physical displacement (like poor areas that are constantly cleared out in order to "develop" the country). I don't think any comment on immigration is worth the space it takes unless it considers this history and global reality first and foremost.

I'm not familiar with the UK context, but speaking about US & Canada, it's absolutely true that these countries have relied on immigrant labour and continue to do so. For a long time now, there has been a huge resistance from the Canadian govt. to actually pass a bill that guarantees *some* form of protection for immigrant workers, which includes caregivers like nannies from poor countries. Like Return to Hades pointed out, it's immigrant workers who fill the most exploitative jobs, doing the work that nobody else does under really dangerous conditions. It's important to get our facts straight before we further perpetuate the problem.

Immigration in the UK is becoming almost uncontrollable. There are so many bengalis and somalians coming in who usually don't even bother finding a job but go straight to claim their benefits. I have nothing against people who come here and work hard to learn the language, make an effort to integrate and get a job and pay their taxes but I despise those who sit on their lazy @ss claiming money from the taxes we pay. I almost hope the situation gets worse so that the labour party can see what fools they're making of themselves. For God's sake, everyone knows what a joke the UK border is! Wish we were more like france when it comes to kicking illegal immigrants out.

Also, recently wasn't their a problem in India too? Where in bengal a lot of illegal bangladeshi's were coming in to study due to the indian education standards? Wonder what the indian govt. did to sort out the problem hmm.