In addition
there is a points-based system called the Highly Skilled Migrant Program (HSMP) which
allows a highly skilled migrant to enter the UK with the right to work without
first having to find an offer of employment and without an employer needing to
sponsor the visa. Points are awarded for education, work experience, past
earnings, achievements in the field and achievements of the applicant's
partner. There are also points for being aged under 28 and for doctors
currently working in the UK.
Some people
work in the UK under a Working holiday visa which allows 12 months of work within a
24 month period for those aged 17 to 30. UK Ancestry Entry Clearance allows a person to work in the UK
for five years if they have a grandparent who was born in the United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man at any
time; or a grandparent born in what is now the Republic of Ireland on or before
March 31, 1922. After that they may apply for Indefinite leave to remain.
In April 2006
changes to the current Managed Migration system were proposed that would
primarily create one Points Based Migration system for the UK. The suggested
replacement for HSMP (Tier 1 in the new system) gives points for age and none
for work experience. This points based system is yet to be finalized and it is
thought likely that the new system will be introduced no earlier than mid-2007.
Refugees and asylum seekers
The UK is a
signatory to the United
Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
the intake of refugees, which means
that it has a responsibility under international law are obliged not to return
(or refoule) refugees to the place where they would face persecution.
Nonetheless
the issue of immigration has been a controversial political issue since the
late 1990s. Both the ruling Labour
Party and the opposition Conservatives have suggested policies perceived as being
"tough on asylum" (although the Conservatives have dropped a previous
pledge to limit the number of people who could claim asylum in the UK, which
would likely have breached the UN Refugee Convention) and the tabloid media
frequently print headlines about an "immigration crisis".
This is
denounced by those seeking to ensure that the UK upholds it international
obligations as disproportionate. Critics suggest that much of the opposition to
high levels of immigration by refugees is based on racism. Concern is also raised
about the treatment of those held in detention and the practice of dawn raiding families,
and holding young children in immigration detention centers for long periods of time.
However,
critics of the UK's asylum policy often point out the "safe third country
rule" - the international agreement that asylum seekers must apply in the
first free nation they reach, not go "asylum shopping" for the nation
they prefer. EU courts have upheld this policy. Since the UK is geographically
much further removed from any third world nation than most other European
countries, many assume that asylum seekers in the UK choose it out of
preference rather than absolute necessity.
In February
2003, Prime Minister Tony
Blair promised on television to reduce the number of asylum seekers
by half within 7 months, apparently catching unawares the members of his own
government with responsibility for immigration policy. David Blunkett, the
then Home
Secretary, called the promise an objective rather than a target. It
was met according to official figures, despite increase world instability
caused by the Iraq War. There is
also a Public Performance Target to remove more asylum seekers who have been
judged not to be refugees under the international definition than new
anticipated unfounded applications. This target was met early in 2006.
Official figures
for numbers of people claiming asylum in the UK were at a 13 year low by March
2006. Opponents of the government's policies on asylum seekers and refugees,
such as Migration
Watch UK and some newspapers are critical of the way official
figures are calculated.
Human rights organizations
such as Amnesty International have argued that the government's new
policies, particularly those concerning detention centers, have detrimental effects on asylum
applicants and those facilities have seen a number of hunger strikes and suicides. Others have
argued that recent government policies aimed at reducing 'bogus' asylum claims
have had detrimental impacts on those genuinely in need of protection.
Illegal immigration
Illegal
(sometimes termed irregular) immigrants in the UK include those who have:
·
entered
the UK without authority
·
entered
with false documents
·
overstayed
their visas
Although it
is difficult to know how many people reside in the UK illegally, a Home Office
study released in March 2005 estimated a population of between 310,000 and
570,000. Migration
Watch UK has criticised the Home Office figures for not including
the UK-born dependent children of unauthorised migrants. They suggest the Home
Office has underestimated the numbers of unauthorised migrants by between
15,000 and 85,000. In the past the UK government has stated that the figures
Migration Watch produces should be treated with considerable caution.
A recent
study into irregular immigration states that "most irregular migrants have
committed administrative offences rather than a serious crime".
Jack Dromey, Deputy
General of the Transport and General Workers Union and Labour
Party treasurer, suggested in May 2006 that there could be around
500,000 illegal workers. He called for a public debate on whether an amnesty
should be considered. David
Blunkett has suggested that this might be done once the identity card scheme is rolled out. London Citizens, a
coalition of community organisations, is running a regularisation campaign
called Strangers into Citizens, backed by figures including the leader of the
Catholic church in England and Wales, the Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor.
Legal advice
Although the
guidance notes and numerous online resources are available to help out people
applying for immigration to United Kingdom, one can also seek legal advice for
this matter. The guidelines to the immigration programs states that immigration
advisers should fulfill the requirements of good practice. An independent
public body set up under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 named The Office of the Immigration Services
Commissioner (OISC) maintains and publishes the register of advisers.
Legal advisers for these applications are required to provide their full
details along with the OISC number with each application. A complete list of
OISC immigration advisers can be found on their website.
2.5.
Greece
Greece is largely an ethnically
homogeneous state, and throughout the early period of its modern history it
experienced emigration far more than immigration, particularly throughout the
mid 20th century owing to
the Greek
Civil War and The Second World War
(around 12% of the Greek population emigrated from 1881-1951). The only
previous (prior to 1990) examples of
large scale immigration throughout Modern Greek History
were the population exchanges between Greece and Turkey. Though the 1970s
experienced the arrival of a small number of Polish, African, Egyptian and
South Asian migrants (around 50,000 in total).
Throughout
the 1990s, however, there has been a rise in large scale immigration, a large
portion of it illegal, from neighboring Balkan countries, particularly Albania into Greece.
This has become a major political issue in Greece and all major parties have
addressed policies aiming to deal with it. However, in recent years statistics
show that the relative peace in the Balkans today has led to a decline among
Balkan based immigration to Greece. Other recent immigrant communities are
Pakistanis, Iraqis and immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa.
Reasons for large scale immigration
in the 1990s
The reasons
for this widespread immigration throughout the 1990s are widespread, the fall
of the Soviet Union,
compounded with other Balkan problems such as the Yugoslav Wars led to
widespread political unrest and political uncertainty not only in the Balkans,
but throughout other former Eastern Bloc countries as well. The demography of the
region is also of particular interest, both Greece and Italy, which have aging
populations, attracted immigration from countries with a younger workforce, the
push factor being the latter's inability to find jobs in their home country
combined with Greece's need for cheap labour (especially in small scale family
businesses, which are still prevalent). Another primary factor in this large
scale rise in immigration is also the narrowing of the gap in terms of living standards
between Northern
Europe and Southern
Europe, Greece has become, according to some, an attractive
destination to economic migrants because of steady growth rates and EU member status - the presence of an informal
economy that pays well has also added to this 'pull' factor in immigration
trends, for example - An Albanian worker in Albania is paid on average $3 per
hour, whereas he or she can earn anywhere from $6-$10 on average for working an
informal sector job within Greece. Greece's large coastline and multiple
islands mean that policing the entry of migrants has also become increasingly
difficult, as Greece's reliance on Tourism has meant that
borders have never been harshly policed (though this has begun to change as
with the rest of the continent).
Chapter 3. Conclusion
Freedom
of movement is often recognized as a civil right, the
freedom only applies to movement within national borders: it may be guaranteed
by the constitution or by
human rights legislation. Additionally, this freedom is often limited to citizens and excludes
others. No state currently allows
full freedom of movement across its borders, and international human rights treaties
do not confer a general right to enter another state. According to Article 13
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
citizens may not be forbidden to leave their country. There is no similar
provision regarding entry of non-citizens. Those who reject this distinction on
ethical grounds, argue that the freedom of movement both within and between
countries is a basic human right, and that the restrictive immigration
policies, typical of nation-states, violate this human right of freedom of
movement. Such arguments are common among anti-state ideologies like anarchism and libertarianism. Note
that a right to freedom of entry would not, in itself, guarantee immigrants a
job, housing, health care, or citizenship.
Where
immigration is permitted, it is typically selective. Ethnic selection, such as
the White Australia policy, has generally disappeared, but
priority is usually given to the educated, skilled, and wealthy. Less
privileged individuals, including the mass of poor people in low-income
countries, cannot avail of these immigration opportunities. This inequality has
also been criticized as conflicting with the principle of equal
opportunities, which apply (at least in theory) within democratic
nation-states. The fact that the door is closed for the unskilled, while at the
same time many developed countries have a huge demand for unskilled labor, is a
major factor in illegal
immigration. The contradictory nature of this policy - which
specifically disadvantages the unskilled immigrants while exploiting their
labor - has also been criticized on ethical grounds.
Immigration
polices which selectively grant freedom of movement to targeted individuals are
intended to produce a net economic gain for the host country. They can also
mean net loss for a poor donor country through the loss of the educated
minority - the brain
drain. This can exacerbate the global inequality in standards
of living that provided the motivation for the individual to migrate
in the first place. An example of the 'competition for skilled labor' is active
recruitment of health workers by First World countries,
from the Third World.
References
1.
Immigration
to Greece during the 1990s: An Overview, Maria Siadama;
2.
Michael
Sauga. Skilled Immigrants? No Thanks August/ Spiegel Online International, 29,
2007 #"#"
title="#">Official report on Spanish recent
Macroeconomics, including data and comments on immigration;
4.
Roger Cohen. Globalist: On French
immigrants, the words left unsaid/ Herald Tribune International, NOVEMBER
11, 2005
- #"#">http://www.wikipedia.org
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