Do we not need to be very careful with our wording on this issue? To arrive, by any means, as an asylum seeker is absolutely legal. Enshrined in international law. And it does not have to be the first country a person reaches. So an asylum seeker arriving, by whatever means, in the UK does so legally.
Sorry to pee on your prejudice.
Illegal migrants are economic and not asylum seekers. Pretty much most who come to the Uk will be illegal. Or should be illegal because there are so many safe nations where they can claim asylum en route. They need to make cherry picking of destination illegal. The correct process, where surrounding nations are not at war, should be based on international agreement by safe nations to take an established quota of asylum seekers from refugee camps. This is what happened post-WWII. This is what should happen today. The international laws made sense in the past, but the world has changed.
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I am sorry you chose to add an ill mannered judgemental rejoinder to your post .
I am not rude to you and I would appreciate the same ā¦
An asylum seeker must be fleeing persecution in their own country and provide proof of the same .
Otherwise no one would bother applying for visas the world over it would be easier to just claim asylum .
The majority of ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS to the U.K. are Albanians ,
There is no war in Albania nor is there persecution of religion or any other serious issue it is not considered an unsafe country .
Albania is just under three hours by plane from the U.K. .
Albanians can apply to enter the UK with a visa for tourism, business or study.
In 2022, the UK received 31,965 visitor visa applications from Albanian citizens and granted 22,359 of them, according to Home Office figures.
It would be considerably cheaper quicker and safer to come to the U.K. by plane rather than a small boat . A refugee seeking asylum may enter a country by any means and ask .
So the question is why do they put their lives at risk in small boats ?
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This tract of land gets more like an Asylum every day.
see my earlier post ref Albanian economic migrants, please
{'m not sure its up to you to change internationals laws and conventions. Iād be genuinely interested in seeing the actual numbers of people who, after arriving via irregular routes, are proven to be economic migrants. Might you do some fact finding to back up your claim of āmostā?
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The gift of an atlas to tell me the surface area of countries and the UN figures on refugees. Are you going to argue about that?
Also, the Netherlands is the most densely populated country in Europe, apart from the small principalities such as Monaco. I prefer quoted facts to personal opinion. But, here is an opinion from me: there are still lots of empty space and empty buildings in the UK.
You know Strathmore when people make rude comments it devalues their posts and I lose interest ,
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Very condescending Strath and not welcome on a sensible debate.
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They generally disappear under the radar so our government doesnāt know. They are at risk of slave labour and many used to work long hours at top hotels/restaurants, under poor conditions, on casual contracts run by shady individuals. I came across this about 15 years ago when trying to help someone from an EU country (legally) find a job. It was a real eye opener. They have gangmasters who would drive people out to farms and take their passports, not pay them a wage for weeks, sleep them in primitive conditions. I hope they are stamping this out now, but from news reports they are constantly discovering slave labour victims. These people are terrified to go to authorities purely because they have no legal right to live and work in the UK, may no longer have documents, may not speak any English. You must have heard about the ābeds in shedsā. They have found multiple 3 bed houses crammed with 30-40 people sleeping on mattresses on the floor. When Grenfell burnt down there were so many bodies that some apartments must have been crammed with people who were not meant to be living there. The actual population and the registered population stats are hugely different.
Iām sorry if you are unaware of this but it is a massive underworld of human misery.
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Turkey has received 6 billion euros from the EU to help with the refugee situation.
Thanks for this fulsome response. I was certainly aware of such issues but perhaps not the scale and industrialisation of the exploitative labour that you describe. It is indeed shocking and should be addressed - site visits, reviews of employment practices, etc.
But this does not tell us the percentage of economic migrants (illegal) versus the asylum seekers, does it?
Given the numbers involved (3.7 million refugees) this contribution is necessary - and it will help reduce the numbers who decide to leave Turkey and move west to seek asylum. If the EU does not support Turkey in housing and feeding these refugees they will move on.
I wonder how much the UK has given - does anybody know?
In your post you gave the impression that Turkey was supporting the 3.7 million refugees on their own, no mention of the EU 6 billion euro contribution. I have no idea how much we are currently paying into the EU coffers.
I did not know about the EU contribution but 3,700,000 is an awful lot of people. My searches indicate that the UK has many fewer refugees to look after, something like 10% as many. Iād also note that Turkey is not a wealthy country compared to the UK - $9,700 compared to $45,500 GDP per person respectively. Even with the 6 billion from the EU this still leaves Turkey with a lot of administration, medical care and oversight of 3.7 million people.
How many illegals is Whelby putting up?
Iām not sure where you get your figures from Strath, but the actual figure is 1.1million migrants as of 2022. There are probably more by now, and this doesnāt take account of the illegal entries that have been apprehended, and lots more who havenāt been.
Although not all of them will be genuine refugees, they all have to be housed and fed. They will also be entitled to free medical care on the NHS, and entry into the education system.
Although other countries may have more migrants and refugees per capita of land, the UK has large areas of uninhabitable land. Scotland and Wales for example only have small populated areas. And England, has long since lost so much farm land to house and warehouse building than it is no longer able to support the population with food.
Justin Welby doesnāt need to worry though, he probably goes private for his healthcare and private education for his kidsā¦Or grandkids.
Yes the government does not know the % because this population is not accounted for. My direct experience goes back to 2009. At that time it seemed that some of these agencies were run by either Romanians or Russians. The workers were recruited and not paid for at least 2 weeks (probation), they were expected to pay for their uniforms during this period with absolutely no guarantee of jobs. So the uniforms/cleaning costs would come from their labour over these two weeks and they could lose this unpaid work at any time if they put a foot wrong. No real contracts or official employee status. I found it extremely shocking at the time. But it appears that this is still going on and I believe itās also how many Indian restaurants have been staffed in the past. Any business where staff do not speak English and work long hours is bound to be using under the radar labour. I understand that these days nail bars are a likely slave labour business.
My assumption is that whatever the authorities have uncovered in swoops and stings is the tip of the iceberg.
But the main point is that these are unofficial members of our population. They may have come through on a tourist visa, a student visa or otherwise. They then take on casual work when their right to stay expires and this makes them very vulnerable to exploitation. There are insufficient state resources to follow up on all these people.
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Strathmore quoted a figure for refugees not total migrants. Presumably total migrants include legal migration. There have been many people from many nations invited to the UK to fill key jobs. They have opened up the nursing visa to expand it to care workers too. We just donāt have the people here to fill these jobs. Iāve been informed that British carers are not willing to do the hours necessary because it affects their benefits. So this is part of the problem.
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