Reply With QuoteI agree, Britain should import more middle easterners, screw friendly commonwealth nations.
Thanks Britain, way to show gratitude for past help
Cheers for that poms. Next time you fight the Germans, you're on your own.Thousands of New Zealanders who enjoy the right to live and work in Britain through their ancestry could be left out in the cold as the Government in London considers severing ties with Commonwealth citizens.
British officials are proposing abolishing the ancestry visa, which allows people whose grandparents were born in the United Kingdom to live there for four years and eventually apply for residency.
The plans are contained in a Home Office green paper on charting new pathways to citizenship.
"We need to decide whether a Commonwealth national's ancestral connections to the UK are sufficient to allow them to come here to work without the need to satisfy a resident labour market test," the paper says.
The plan has also come under attack in Britain.
Labour MP Austin Mitchell - who was a university lecturer in New Zealand in the 1960s - wrote in the Daily Telegraph that the proposal showed "a great contempt for the long historic associations between Britain, New Zealand and Australia".
British High Commission communications manager Jonathan Kinsella said the proposal was still in its consultation stage and submissions were being accepted until May.
"You have to weigh up whether or not having a visa system based on ancestry has a place in the modern world and that's why we're asking the question," he said.
Asked if this would damage the historic associations New Zealand has with Britain, Mr Kinsella replied: "I wouldn't think so.
"The UK certainly values the economic wealth and skills New Zealanders bring to the UK on their working holidays and there are other routes into the country."
I agree, Britain should import more middle easterners, screw friendly commonwealth nations.
Yes - those New Zealanders, Canadians and Australians - trouble makers the lot of them. And they would probably complain about the Archbishop of Canterburys plan to introduce Sharia law. Better to bring in immigrants who already practice Sharia law, as they are more likely to fit in and make a positive contribution to British society than those other people.
Well I don't know about the rest of you bastards, but I was certainly a troublemaker, but then I was using a Paddy passport, so it was expected of me.
You couldn't pay me enough to go back, 6 years was way too long, but I feel sorry for those who haven't been yet and will only get to go for 6 month tourist visa trips.
So apart from Gypsum and Gaz, is there a Pom left in the country who knows how to pour a beer? If the antipode back packers aren't allowed to do it, who's going to serve the piss?
Last edited by digrar; 02-23-2008 at 05:12 AM.
Neu Arbeit strikes again. Cnuts.
its a consultation. Find out who they are consulting and whether you can add your views. It would be appalling if this was to happen and somebody somewhere in the Government should find something better to do with their time, but seeing as its here, take part in it and ensure as best as you can that its soundly defeated.
Hold on a second. Does it work the other way for Brits going to Australia or NZ? Or are the current arrangements 'one-way' and only operate to the benefit of Australians and New Zealanders? If the current system is purely one-way in their favour then it should be scrapped IMO.
My mother was born in the UK. Doesn't really affect me as I prefer to work in Japan (going in 2 months!) but here's a little concern I have all the same.
Britain seems to opening the flood gates to immigrants from certain south Asian countries that contribute to the growing pool of Islamic radicals in the UK. They do this even as they deny immigrant status to traditional allies (and ancestral brits!) such as the Kiwis and Aussies. What on earth are they thinking?
I don't agree. Look, most Aussies, Kiwis and Saffers who take advantage of the ancestral visa tend to be young, ambitious and at least fairly hard-working. That means they put minimal strain on British state services (unlike the welfare-addicted immigrants of certain Asian countries) and they contribute to the British economy. In other words, they're an asset. Preventing them from living and working in the UK seems silly.
Truth be told, I can't help but wonder if this is an attempt to halt some of the central Asian immigration from Commonwealth states done under the guise of stopping the numbers from Aus, NZ & others. The Brit officials know they can't get accused of racism if they present it this way, but all hell will be let loose if they admit they're trying to restrict the numbers of Pakistanis coming in.
On the flipside, for a good number of reasons, most British emigrants to other countries tend to be retirees. That's why it doesn't necessarily make sense for countries like Aus and NZ to reciprocate. The emigration profiles just aren't the same.
I think you may have something thereOriginally Posted by Maktab
There are over 800,000 white South Africans staying in London. I can only imagine how much they, combined with the Aussies and NZ'ers contribute to the economy. There has been an article or two about this issue in the local papers, because a few 100 000 more might emigrate to the UK as the situation here worsens. But it's easier for a non-educated African to get into the country than for the rest... How come? Let's take race out of the issue. There must just be certain basic qualifications, which any race can qualify for, ie. high-school, no criminal record, etc. Educated Africans also emigrate to Western countries, so no need to exclude them.
Thats's a very intersting angle which sounds similar in it's(restrictive) aims to the British Nationality act 1982.The act was believed to have been created to stem a possible flood of British passport holders from Hong Kong in the years leading up to the handover. The act couldn't be specific to Hong Kong as it could be seen as discriminatory, but what it did was to place stringent immigration and visiting restrictions on ALL those who were British Dependant Territories citizens(now British Overseas Territories citizens).The act caused many to apply for the provision in the act(and earlier acts) of 'Right of Abode' via a UK born parent or grandparent, known as 'patriality'. About 5-6 years ago all British Dependant Territories Citizens were given full UK citizenship(and right of UK abode) if they so wished.I think you may have something there
This new immigration proposal could be your classic 'slegehammer to crack a nut' in that it's true (but hidden) aims make some sense but hurts people who don't deserve it.
Last edited by retrobob; 02-23-2008 at 07:59 AM.
I used the ancestry visa to spend a few yrs living in the UK & all i can say if the british goverment does introduce cutting this visa it will only be detrimental to the UK. A lot of people that stay in the UK for a few yrs are generally extremely educated & working in corporate hi end companies basically running the country. (apart from the barman who has been stuck at the walkabout) If they want to do this let them it will only benefit the countries where these travellers return to.
Thank F*ck my grand parents left there, it seems to be getting worse.
It is one way - because of an accident of history. There was a view that you could always come back to the mother country if you went to live in the colonies, even if the third generation - so it had to be one way, a bit like saying, does Australia get a turn to be Queen? Why does England get a turn and Australia doesnt...
There is a 12 month visa for the English under 30 or 28? but a 2 year one for the Australians going to the UK. If it were up to me, I'd let anyone from England who wanted to stay, stay here. They put them through hell - even if they marry an Aussie, which is dumb.
Australia now has a special visa for the US, which is the only country that does. Australia offered the same deal to the US - and the US said no, I have it on good authority. Something about not wanting skilled people from the US disappearing into Aussie land.
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