Immigration

What is immigration?

Immigration relates to the movement of peoples from one country into another, for residential rather than visiting purposes, which may be for a number of reasons, including economic, familial, social or personal.

Migration to escape persecution, political or otherwise, is termed 'asylum' and should be distinguished from the wider concept of 'immigration'. However, the two terms are widely conflated in the UK at present.

Immigration and asylum are the responsibility of the UK Border Agency, which is part of the Home Office.

Background

Modern-day immigration traces its roots back to the British Empire, which to varying degrees inculcated a sense of Britishness in local populations - a sense amplified by large-scale imperial participation in the Second World War, for the defence of the UK.

The first wave of immigrants came from the Caribbean: a landmark moment was the 1958 arrival of the Empire Windrush from Jamaica, bearing hundreds of immigrants who were able to travel to the UK at low cost for the first time. Also arriving during the 1950s were immigrants from Asia, principally India and Pakistan.

Immigrants fulfilled an economic role in taking on low-paid, low-skilled work, despite many immigrants having good qualifications and eminent careers in their home countries, but there was considerable hostility towards them. They were frequently confined to the worst housing, overlooked for promotion and ostracised from the company of whites.

Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, there has been an increase in immigrants from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The end of the Cold War and the regimes of the communist and right-wing dictators it allowed to survive, led to many outbreaks of regional strife that were previously kept below the surface.

The loosening of international obstacles to migration has coincided with dramatic reductions in the price of travel.

There have always been 'asylum seekers' and refugees fleeing persecution in their native lands, including the Emperor Haille Selassie (Ethiopia), Sigmund Freud (Austria), Karl Marx (Germany) and Wole Soyinka (Nigeria). But it is only since the collapse of communism and the splintering of the global order in the 1990s that asylum has emerged as a large-scale issue.

In recent years, there have been people claiming asylum in the UK from amongst others, the Balkans, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq - all areas that have seen war and instability.

Controversies

Immigration is a hugely controversial and politically sensitive subject. The debate has switched in recent years from 'Commonwealth immigration' - largely a euphemism for Caribbean black and Asian people taking up their rights to settle in the UK - to asylum seekers coming to the UK from conflict zones or other areas where they are persecuted. But the issues at stake remain the same in the UK and elsewhere.

Those receiving the brunt of criticism are the 'economic migrant' and the 'benefit tourist' - people seen as coming to the UK, not to escape persecution, but to find employment and enrich themselves or try to take advantage of the UK's benefit system. The extent to which these immigrants actually exist remains unclear, but they are frequently cited by some of the British media.

There are also concerns about illegal immigration: the open internal borders of much of the EU, and its long borders with poorer countries in the east, have led to 'people trafficking' by organised criminal gangs.

Indeed, illegal immigrants are particularly vulnerable to involvement in criminal activity or exploitation in the black economy because of their poverty and lack of legal status to work or claim benefits. Any involvement of immigrants in crime is frequently highlighted by the media, worsening their image further.

Since the late 1990s, the Government has been tightening the law on immigration and asylum, responding to social alarm about illegal migrants entering the UK. Attempts were also made to speed up the asylum application and removal process, which was a major cause of public concern.

The Immigration Act 1971 is the foundation for the current legal framework, but several additional Acts have been passed since that time to further strengthen the law on immigration. These include the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants etc.) Act 2004, the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 and the UK Borders Act 2007.

From February 2008, a '5 Tier points-based system' began to be phased in which was designed to simplify the whole immigration process by replacing all of the work permit and entry schemes with a single system. The five tiers were:
Tier One: Highly skilled
Tier two: Skilled with job offer
Tier three: Low skilled
Tier four: Students
Tier five: Temporary workers, Youth mobility

Labour claimed the scheme would ensure only migrant workers with the skills most needed to help the British economy would be allowed into the country. But both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats argued that the change would not address skill shortages and the Conservatives continued to call for a cap on immigration.

Another controversial proposal was the principle of "earned citizenship" established in the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009. This scheme, which attracted criticism from several human rights organisations, was intended to ensure that people who wished to build a new life in Britain "have earned the right to do so" by such things as learning English, paying taxes and obeying the law.

The Labour government had planned to implement the "earned citizenship" provisions of the Act in July 2011, but the Coalition government elected in May 2010 decided not to go ahead with the scheme.

The new Government also stated that it intended to introduce a cap on immigration and reduce the number of non-EU immigrants. Subsequently the Home Secretary outlined plans to reform all routes of entry into the UK in order to bring immigration levels back down to the tens of thousands.

These included changes to the student visa system following a Home Office review which found "widespread abuse" of the Tier 4 points-based system, and changes to Tiers 1 and 2 of the points-based system designed to limit non-EU economic migration into the UK. Plans were also announced for reforms to family and settlement routes.

Statistics

Under the annual limit, employers will be able to bring only 20,700 people from outside the EU to work in skilled professions under Tier 2 (General) of the points-based system.

A further 1,000 visas will be made available to people of 'exceptional talent', to ensure that Britain remains open to the brightest and the best.
The 1,000 exceptional talent visas will be given to those who experts believe will make the biggest contribution to science and the arts in the UK.

To ensure that only those with the skills we need can come to the UK to work, prospective workers will need to have a graduate-level job offer, speak an intermediate level of English and meet specific salary and employment requirements.
Those earning a salary of £150,000 or more will not be subject to the limit.

The Intra Company Transfer route (ICT), which is not part of the annual limit, will also be changed in 3 ways:

The job will have to be in an occupation on the graduate occupation list;
Only those paid £40,000 or more will be able to stay for more than a year - they will be given permission to stay for 3 years, with the possibility of extending for a further 2 years;
Those paid between £24,000 and £40,000 will be allowed to come to the UK for no longer than 12 months, at which point they must leave the UK and will not be able to re-apply for 12 months.

Also, from today, Tier 1 of the points-based system will be restricted to all but entrepreneurs, investors and people of exceptional talent as the old Tier 1 (General) category has been completely abolished due to widespread evidence of abuse.

The 'Exceptional Talent' route will be open to current and prospective leaders in the fields of science, engineering and the arts and will allow us to continue to facilitate those who have the most to offer the UK.

Under the new visa rules for investors, those who invest large sums of money will see their right to settle permanently in the UK speed up.
Those who invest £5 million will be allowed to settle here after 3 years, and those investing £10 million or more will be allowed to settle after 2 years. This compares with the minimum 5-year requirement that is currently in place.
Entrepreneurs will also be able to settle in the UK more quickly, if they create 10 jobs or turn over £5 million in a 3-year period.

In addition to these changes, new rules for settlement and asylum will also come into effect today.
The changes to the settlement criteria include:

a clearer criminality requirement for all applicants;
a new income requirement, and reform of the English language requirement, for those on
work routes.

Source: UK Border Agency - April 2011

Quotes

"The new system was designed in consultation with business. We have made clear that as the recovery continues, we need employers to look first to people who are out of work and who are already in this country."

Immigration Minister Damian Green - April 2011

"The Government is right to be putting the emphasis on the most economically beneficial part of the system. As the economy recovers, it will be vital that there are sufficient numbers in Tier 2 for the UK to remain attractive as a place to invest."

Neil Carberry, CBI Head of Employment policy - February 2011

"Yes, Britain will always be open to the best and brightest from around the world and those fleeing persecution. But with us, our borders will be under control and immigration will be at levels our country can manage. No ifs. No buts. That's a promise we made to the British people. And it's a promise we are keeping."

Prime Minister David Cameron, speech - 14 April 2011