If you are against immigration, what do you think about net contributing immigrants?

[IceLollyMolly]

I don't have the nerve to post in AIBU! I am a recent immigrant- I don't even have my ILR yet- and came in on a skilled worker visa in 2020, as did my DH. Both of us are high earners and pay a lot of tax. Both of us fill positions that were first advertised to British people, but could not be filled.

Lately, of course, there has been a lot of press about high immigration and how it should be curbed. There seems to be a simmering resentment against all immigrants, spearheaded ironically by Tory immigrants.

So far, I have not taken anything from the state and am unlikely to. I have private health care, and am pretty healthy anyway, so rarely use it. I have not given birth here or used state schools. If I ever had to go on benefits, I would likely return to my home country where I had a good standard of life, just not the international workplace I have here.

I am aware that the country needs both high earners and low earners- I am not saying I am more important than a care worker- but I sometimes get tired of the narrative that all immigrants are low paid unskilled workers taking jobs from British people, and a drain on the system. I am by no means the only one in this position. I work for a company that recruits globally. But many are now going to the US or Canada as they think they will be more welcome there.

I think that by paying high taxes, my colleagues and I are giving back more than we take. We are of course not eligible for benefits until we get our ILRs. Am I wrong? I also think the British economy should encourage high earning immigrants and global talent by making immigration easier and cheaper. My ILR next year will cost £2885 per person and may take 6 months! I think that is rather unfair. Prepared to be told I am being unreasonable even though this is not in AIBU.😊

I have lived in many countries.

My country of origin is nowhere near as tolerant as the UK.

Thankfully the UK has lots of lovely things like women's rights and liberal values. I'd like to see the UK keep those.

If it keeps immigration (the legal kind) at its current levels then it will not.

Kind of insulting then to say there is no such thing as British culture because “it’s not allowed.” I certainly can see the cultural differences between Britain and everywhere else.

Perhaps you are misunderstanding me?

I didn't say British culture didn't exist. I said it seemed to not be allowed.

I've known British people to say that they can't put their own country's flag on their house because people might think they are racist. Celebrating their history is sneered at as evil and colonising (as if no other country did exactly the same things). It is debated whether some of their national songs should be banned or changed. They are called names for even slightly protesting at the unprecedented levels of immigration and decreasing quality of life because of it.

To be honest I think it says a lot about British people, that they have been as tolerant as they have to other cultures demanding they change for them.

I would just like to add that EVERYONE is opposed to immigration to a degree. Unless they are in favour of a borderless world and you have to be very extreme in your views if you support that.

whether your cap numbers at 1 or ten million, immigration is a spectrum. Not ‘yes I agree’ or ‘no I don’t’.

fwiw, I know Romanian immigrants who have been here now for 20 years and are totally against more immigration because they think this is no longer the country they immigrated to.

so, your views on how many is too many May change in years to come when the neighbourhood you occupy becomes unrecognisable.

you feel like you do now because current lax immigration enforcement suits your cause, which is fine until it isn’t.

I don't think anyone is 'against immigration', as others have said, it's rather about those who cherrypick (and pay) to come here, destroying their documents on the way - excluding of course the very small minority who are genuine asylum seekers. I've lived in other countries and prior to being allowed to live and work there, have had to take a medical, have job to go to, proof of funds, prove I could speak the language etc etc. That's what other countries do and in my opinion is perfectly sensible and necessary. Net contributors like the OP are surely to be encouraged, but sadly I would think they are a minority.

They don’t all want to ‘fit in the UK’. Have you even looked at the actual numbers?

Not allowed by whom? What does this lack of being allowed look like? What aspects of culture are banned? The language? The miusic? The literature? What?

Did you miss this part?

But the legal levels of migration (the boats aren't even that many people compared to that) and the amount of dependants brought along are swamping the system.

Of course not every person from a war torn country is trying to come to the UK. But that poster was virtue signalling, saying they couldn't understand why anyone would turn away someone escaping that. My point was that there had to be a limit, a line. Because our asylum rules are so out of date that the number of people it will increasingly apply to is unsustainable.

There's sneering at the English British all the time on here cardibach!

Britain is a very welcoming continent, provided people give back, or if they are in dire need. The majority of illegal immigrants are males aged between 18 and 25 and are here to play the ststem.

Care to give examples? And do you mean English or British? Despite your strike through they aren’t even close to the same thing.
I see people critical (not sneering) of thuggish behaviour (eg on the St. George’s Day thread) but sneering at the English in general? Or British? Not noticed that.

Britain isn’t a continent. Or a country even.

Why say they can’t all fit in then?
infrastructure is struggling because if 14 years of austerity. It’s not to do with immigrants of any kind.

Well... the thing is that all these talented people are still paying for a visa. They are paying tax above 50k then good, and I don't really see why it should be cheaper! Good for our tax take which needs to get better. I don't think visa cost is really that significant to this sort of person at the current amount.

Honestly, I think it's only a teeny group of people who are 'against immigration'. And I think those that say such stupid things out loud are mixing it up with economic migrants who arrive sometimes illegally.

I welcome anyone who applies and comes to live and work - I think it brings prosperity and a fabulous cultural mix to the UK. But we are a very teeny island and have public services under great pressure so we can't afford to have an open door to every asylum seeker or economic migrant who arrives on a boat or in the back of a lorry, seeking a better life.

We absolutely should have compassion and offer a set amount of places for people fleeing persecution or war zones but that can't be endless.

To actually answer your question OP I often wonder if you’re not fed up at the amount of work and money it takes to do things legally via the visa system compared to those who just ignore it.

@IceLollyMolly , this country needs immigration from skilled workers like your husband and you. This country has an obligation which I’m proud to say it has a good record of, taking in those genuinely in need of asylum. This country has an obligation to its citizens to protect its borders against those with no claim to asylum who seek to enter illegally.

There is a world of difference between immigrants who are here legally to fill a skills shortage and paying towards tax and illegal immigrants who just want to scrounge off the state costing tax payers millions.

The problem has been going on much longer than 14 years'

Too many people and housing shortages

How about you care to put a number on what is an acceptable number of immigrants per annum into the uk and what is not? You seem to be a fan of detail.

and then we can talk about who would be included in your quota and who wouldn’t.

otherwise you are just virtue signalling.

I agree it’s hard to keep up with housing demand and general infrastructure, so there has to be a limit used in the best way possible for skills etc

Tbh I would a British passport a lot harder to get. It really is a bit too easy and in years past professionally I was shocked to see who got ILR, who obtained citizenship. I wouldn't even have let them in!

The UK could be a lot choosier about who comes here. The Conservatives talk a good game on it but really they want cheap labour. They pretend not to, but they do. That is why it barely changes or indeed the entry figures keep going up.

I dont agree with ppl coming here and living off the state at the expense of the tax payer ..cannot even get a drs appointment dentist kiss goodbye the that on nhs ...this country is under strain and we are paying for it. we even have our own living on the streets how is that right ....we cannot afford for this to keep happening its about time something was done

I personally am not against immigrants per se but I am against the policy of unfettered mass immigration.

Controlled immigration that has time to be assimilated is fine. We as a nation have benefitted and I’m only sad that in some instances in the past well meaning newcomers were abused and made to feel unwelcome. I would love to see Britain, like Australia, as a desirable place to live for highly skilled and educated global citizens.

Unfortunately mass immigration, especially of low skilled economic migrants, has changed the landscape of communities and broken trust with established people (some immigrants themselves) who are all now struggling to access services and housing.

And sorry, but every time a boat lands chock full of young males from cultures where women, let’s face it, are not equal and they bring their misogynistic patriarchal mindset to bear on this country, I don’t jump for joy no. If it were a good proportion of families with women and children, fine. But it isn’t.

I’ve said nothing about immigration at all in that post.
However, we have a falling birth rate and an issue filling jobs, so I guess there’s space - how many is a decision I can’t make as I’m not privy to all the details. That’s for experts (I haven’t had enough of them).