Immigrants but legal ones?

I’ve been in the UK for 20 years and definitely more wary. The other day I had gone on a walk and came across a security guard who said hello, asked how my day was etc. Just a chatty guy, who was patrolling who parked on a private estate by the beach. He then proceeded to ask if I’m British (to which I responded yes - I do have a British passport amongst my two birth ones) and he went on to tell me how immigrants fuck up this country and others. I consider myself lucky that I don't look any different to what these people perceive British people to look like, otherwise I think I’d be very concerned to go out these days. (This wasn’t in any city but a small village).

Importing people from other continents than Europe

It took me a while to apply for citizenship and I thought it would make no difference, just a paper but it has actually deepened my connection to the UK, even with my shitty accent, I m British now, nobody can kick me out, so why would I care if an idiot decided to have a go at me because I m not British-born … which has never ever happened to me or anyone I know in the 12y I have been here I must say

And people are mostly angry at the rise of migration in the last 5y, and the massive cultural differences arising from importing people from other continents than Europe, not really at the European migrants who have been here ages imho

You nailed it

that’s how racists also rationalise their thinking too

People who come here as adults and start working immediately (as I did) have had all their schooling and healthcare in their country of birth - and so go straight into paying tax and contributing

That is such an excellent point, pointy, something I hadn't thought of.

I’m disgusted at the flourishing of the racist right wing, we’re going backwards. The media coverage inflames the issue. I heard the Green Party have as many seats as Reform, yet they’re not given the same airspace and coverage. I’m embarrassed to be British with this anti immigrant, racist dialogue now associated with our flag.

OP you are very welcome here. I’m sad that a vocal minority are making you feel uncomfortable.

I'm afraid you are part of the problem OP is talking about.

Oh FFS it's not a zero sum game, it is perfectly possible for people to come to the UK for a better quality of life than they would otherwise enjoy AND to contribute to the UK. The idea that if their life is better here then they must be 'taking' something is the thought process of the simpleton.

Having said that, in a way I would like all the people that the knuckle-draggers want to 'go home' to leave the country, because I suspect only then will they realise just how dependant the UK has been on immigration to keep the plates spinning. You can bet one thing though - when the economy and many public services did collapse, the people whanging on about immigration won't be the ones who get off their arses to sort out the problems they've caused, they'll just continue to blame their declining standard of living on another convenient minority group. And there will always be a charismatic shyster like Nigel Farage encouraging them to do so.

Do you ask British people moving abroad the same question?

By your logic nobody should ever leave the country they were born in.

And how do you define 'fully contribute'? People who come here as adults and start working immediately (as I did) have had all their schooling and healthcare in their country of birth - and so go straight into paying tax and contributing. Probably more than British people of the same age and in the same jobs.

And people don't always move because they want to 'take' something - I moved here because the man I wanted to marry was here. Back home I would be paid a great deal better for what I do (data analysis in the NHS). But I've put down roots here so unless Reform get in, I'm staying.

Your post exudes the xenophobia I mentioned earlier.

Well I am white British but, as I sit here having my dialysis I am being looked after by staff none of whom were born in the UK. I am extremely grateful that they are here with their skills, knowledge and compassion; If they weren’t, who would be doing the job?

So sorry to hear tha you are experiencing this op. I am the granddaughter of an immigrant and my grandmother experienced some very unpleasant and xenophobic comments when she moved here in the 1950's. I think it is upsetting to hear that attitudes of some people haven't changed. I am genuinely baffled about why someone would take a dislike or mistrust someone because of their nationality or skin colour. I actually blame the media for stirring up hatred towards anyone who is not British. They only report the negative stories about something an immigrant has done. What about all the immigrants working in NHS hospitals saving lives or caring for elderly people in nursing homes

I am similar to OP and have spent most of my adult working life in the UK.
However, I am fully integrated into UK society- DH is as British as they come!

I don't feel ostracised or uncomfortable because I am an legal economic migrant. That could be because of my skin colour or the fact that I am fluent in English.
Many of my friends and work colleagues all have very different backgrounds, and yes, some are migrants that are associated with illegal immigration simply by their shin colour.

So yes, I agree, the tide has turned for many people who are legally living in this country. It's sad, especially for people who hold a British passport.

She didn’t say that she hasn’t.

But if she has EU settled status there aren’t that many advantages to getting citizenship, so it’s a reasonable decision to avoid the (very large) costs of applying.

I’m British.

after Brexit (which I did not vote for) I went back through my family tree to try to see if in any way I was eligible for an EU passport. I wasn’t. My family have been east Anglian peasants for centuries.

i understand that the current anti migrant sentiment is not just a British phenomenon. It’s also in America, and in European countries as well.

people see that state services are creaking and that it’s hard to get jobs and it’s easy to blame migrants. It’s well known it’s hard to get GP appointments, and in my small town it’s because lots of new houses have been built and many of the people who live in them are not locals.

and by local I mean from the county that I live in.

hell, they don’t count me as local and I come from the next county along.

rural Britain has always been suspicious of incomers and that includes anyone who hasn’t lived in the village or town for the last seventy years.

Sadly, lots of countries are moving in this direction. The rise of right wing nationalism is not just a UK problem.

You are so right. I’m Eastern European myself although I never refer to myself as that as I come from an actual country in EE and it’s not one homogenous group of Eastern Europeans. And one of the reasons I’ve left my country was the xenophobia I experienced there. And it’s not improved in the past 20 years.
Ironically, I feel safer in my home country than some parts of England I go to. I have never experienced any negative comments though, but that might have been just luck.

There's always been a deep strain of xenophobicness in British culture, English culture anyway, I realised that in early 90s. Whipped up now by QAnon type conspiracies that have spread widely and have a development process similar to how viruses swap new genes in and out, different parts of the conspiracy (story) theory get swapped in and out until the conspiracy (story) is especially contagious and makes people especially agitated.

"Protect the Children!" was being shouted by rt wing protesters at Gaza-related protests at our city hall the other day.

How does law define an "illegal" immigrant now? If everyone crossing on small boats or back of a lorry claims asylum... do they only reach "illegal" status in law when they are still resisting deportation after exhausted all appeals?

Am pretty sure the people using "illegal immigrant" language view every single small boat or other "irregular" arrival as "illegal", isn't that what Farage said, they are all "illegal" but those are personal opinions not opinions with legal status. Then there must be some indigenous-born people who view all migrants as 2nd class. I imagine a hierarchy like...

illegal(?) < asylum seeker < legal immigrant < nonwhite citizen < white citizen

Can I ask why you came here op?
If it was because you have a skill the country needs (doctor) then isn’t it sad that you have taken those skills it from your home country.
If it was for a better standard of living that implies the UK is giving you something,so you are taking from the UK.
Im not saying that now you don’t fully contribute, but there was a chance you might not. Does the country have the resources to offer that chance to unlimited amounts of people?

You are most welcome here and this nation would be utterly broken financially without all the legal migrants who have made it grow and contributed. You have just as much of a legal right to be here then these people. We need to move to a contribution based system - that will shut all these losers up. Most of them simply don’t like the competition that overseas talent brings and simply cannot work out that our system only functions (just about) because of it.

Do you think that would make a difference to a random racist in the street? She’s hardly going to whip her British passport out to prove she is truly British is she?

And given plenty of 3rd gen black and Asian immigrants are also being told to “fuck off home”, I don’t think it actually matters what passport she has.

Most countries are like this, especially UK and Europe, who openly hate those who aren’t originally from that country eg Scotland and most of Europe hate England and there’s lots of xenophobia. I’m mixed race and British born and I’ve experienced racism from people from different countries.