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.😊

So your solution is to take refugees and migrants because of that? Go back several hundred years and there were civil wars here too and religious killings. Yes, some countries are 600 years behind us in certain ways. That change takes either time or their citizens fighting for regime change, democracy or whatever they deem reasonable. It’s their country and not for us to interfere as long as they are not a threat to us. Course there are shocking things that go on, but I don’t actually think the true victims are the ones on the board boats and lorries mainly. If and only if economic migrants were automatically blocked from entering at entry point and turned round, it would stop them coming eventually. Then and only then would I countenance looking at real refugees in limited numbers, being allowed to enter and only from application from abroad, turn up get sent back, it’s not a given, UK gets to decide not them. UK has been invaded too. Let’s be honest they mostly are economic migrants with a story script. It would be comical if it wasn’t so serious. Most genuine refugees fleeing war, flee over the border. And why does Saudi or Dubai not take refugees? Rich countries wanting to remain prosperous and not import problems.

I'm generally opposed to illegal immigrants. Many are unfortunately young men with limited skills, from countries that are more lawless than ours and hold differing views on the treatment of women. Most are poor and some end up turning to crime because legal employment opportunities are closed to them. Some struggle with integration as end up sidelined by society. There is of course a natural correlation between poverty and crime.

I believe that everything needs to be planned in terms of resources in order to encourage integration and to ensure that the correct resources are in the right places and that, if people are granted asylum, they have opportunities to better themselves and integrate (which i believe most want to do).

I also generally like this country the way it is - we enjoy a good standard of living and the country is comparatively safe. I enjoy the freedoms that we have, particularly as a woman. I have many friends who have arrived legally to work in the UK from abroad. They earn high salaries, are highly educated, are open minded, share the same values of respect, particularly towards women, speak very good English and are extremely interesting. I love hearing about their culture and their experiences of living in other countries. They bring with them different viewpoints, experiences and contribute towards diversity in a really positive way.

There was a story on the main BBC news page yesterday. It was about a 7 year old girl who drowned on a dinghy recently crossing the Channel. She was born in Belgium and lived her whole life in Sweden, yet for some reason the dad wants to claim asylum in the UK because, I dunno, something about Iraq.

Why does the BBC run stories like this? Full of holes. Why do they never think illegal immigrants are capable of lying? Or why, when such tragedies occur, it's always the dad that survives. Always.

And you don't see why that is a very short sighted and destructive solution?

Instead of our own country finding ways to make people's lives better, better work life balance, better living conditions so that we are able to have larger families, instead they will just import some.

So no need to improve quality of life at all. Just keep packing people in like cattle to skim more money off. Who cares if they can't get medical care, if they are ill or die just import more. Who cares if they can't buy a house, just make them pack all in together or live in slums.

And if the native population keeps dropping, and the immigrant population keeps rising what will happen? Many of the newer immigrants don't share western values at all. Hope you didn't enjoy the benefits of workers rights. feminism, gay rights or the ability to criticise religion. We can kiss those goodbye along with our green spaces and previous way of living.

Yes exactly

I'm sure we wouldn't be in this predicament if there had been more affordable housing allocated to those people already living here.

Very true. The difference is they are allowed to come in, and if they suddenly were not allowed in, that would be that, they couldn’t and wouldn’t come. They pay their way from the get go or they couldn’t live there, many are retired and bring funds. Many of these countries have exclusions or an income or bank balance stipulation. For residence some of the best countries to live in require you to buy a property or donate a huge sum to the coffers. Immigrants are not interchangeable. You get highly desirable migrants to the UK. We should actively compete to get them over here.

I think we have been lied to about skills shortages

I think life was far better before the 00s and Tony Blair and his freedom of movement

We would have to spend so much more on enforcement of our borders than we do; and a lot more on the people who assess claims, to the spied of decisions, everything. If it's that important we would. We would also deport people very quickly after prison sentences. This stuff isn't beyond the UK. It just costs money. A lot of it.

I think we would also have to accept other things like less racial harmony and ID cards. The UK can be a lot tougher. It's just that it is expensive and you have to accept that the state will be interfering s lot more. ID cards for any public service use. Very strict language entry criteria. You can make it really difficult. We just haven't done it yet.

Nice swerve.

1 million? 10 million? 50 million?

It's going to have to be confronted at some point.

Idk if anyone heard an expert on human trafficking networks on R4 the other day. It’s the first time I’ve heard someone give weight to the huge multi billion business, about 150 billion dollars, that is financially backed, organised, mafia like and untouchable.

Arresting some guy on a beach with a stick won’t even touch the sides, supply of more is endless.

I’d prefer a better look at the reality of those networks - he also said ‘people smuggling’ underplayed the sheer scale and survival of the network

A falling birth rate? That doesn’t mean the population isn’t getting bigger - it just means the rate is slowing. There is no extra room or housing.

I've no issue with immigration per se, but it's got to be legal and documented (i.e. issued visas) and the figures have to be sustainable for the country (same with any country).

Load of racist scaremongering. I’m not engaging with it I’m afraid.

What makes you think that many want to come?
Not a swerve. I don’t know what correct levels of tax are, or how many schools or hospitals we need either, because I’m not privy to the info.

There’s plenty of room. There’s no housing because of austerity, right to buy and poor governance, not immigrants.

Unfortunately it is true in some circumstances that British people do not want to do certain jobs and they have the choice to leave healthcare and carer jobs. Someone does have to do this work and some immigrants are willing to do it. It's definitely not a new concept and there is a pretty long history of it in the UK.

Quote the racist parts of my post. Shouldn't be a problem if there is 'loads' of it.

So for example say there are 1000 waiting to cross the channel and are all given permission to stay. Sure, we could probably build houses and stretch resources to accommodate those. But for every one person who arrives there will be a whole family they will begin agitating to bring over. So one immigrant soon turns into quite a few extra people. Then when others see how easy it is to settle in the UK they will be replaced at the border by countless more. At what point do we say stop? When we have no land left? When our native wildlife species are decimated to make way for yet more humans?

They should apply for visas, same as anyone else and their applications can be assessed on merit.

Yes it grows as those connections bring more people in, plus you get under the counter work and no ID cards don’t resolve it, as Germany shows

I’m not dealing with disingenuous stuff from people who scream ‘white replacement’ in alternative words.

Tell me you know absolutely nothing about the reality of life for people who need to claim asylum without telling me…etc etc.

How did we manage to get visas to all the Ukrainians then? Or the Afghan scheme.

Continent? Did I miss something??

My bad - I meant country - blame autocorrect