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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not care about immigration?

485 replies

StuckinTheMiddlewithYou · 15/05/2011 10:17

So many people seem to have a huge problem with it and I really don't understand why.

The crazy thing is, I live in a hugely multicultural area and most of the people I know who have a problem with this, live in predominantly white suburbs.

We have a problem here with alcoholic homeless people fighting and screaming in the streets - none of them are immigrants.

OP posts:
TattyDevine · 15/05/2011 11:13

"My Sil and Bil have just spent the best part of two and half years to get a visa for Australia, why is it so easy to get in here"

Um - its not. I did the opposite, moved from Australia to the UK, and it took me 3.5 years to get further leave to remain and another year to get indefinite leave to remain, then 5 years later I got a British passport.

They took my passport from me to process the application and wouldn't give it back in between. They had it for more than 6 months. It cost me over a thousand pounds and these days its even more.

It was an incredibly long, drawn out and frustrating experience.

melikalikimaka · 15/05/2011 11:13

Tondelayo, just go to Calais, where they are smuggling themselves in every day, problem hasn't gone away. Don't be so naive, they get in somehow. How do we know there is only 70 million here??????

vintageteacups · 15/05/2011 11:13

Look at Australia - a country with so much spare land, it's untrue, yet they have a such a tight immigration law and one that works extrmely well.

The UK is so worried about saying no and hurting someone's feelings that they just keep on allowing the UK to take in more and more immigrants, which they invariably then have to hand out benefits to.

I know this isn't the case for all people but we have limited land and not enough affordable housing for brits; our resources are not finite and as such, immigration should be similar to that of Australia/Canada etc.

I really respect Australia for having such a tight immigration policy.

TattyDevine · 15/05/2011 11:18

Australia may have a lot of spare land but much of it is not inhabitable, doesn't have infrastructure to support a growing population, and its running rather low on water too (though the recent floods have relieved things a bit, for now anyway)

The UK's immigration policy is tighter than you might think - the thing is though, we are part of Europe. The only immigrants that I can think of that are entitled to any benefits are from Europe, and we have as much right to go there as they have to come here.

Its not that easy to come to the UK legally if you are not European and dont have a specific skill that is needed here.

melikalikimaka · 15/05/2011 11:18

You can bet your bottom dollar, they didn't fill in their census form properly!!

Hammy02 · 15/05/2011 11:18

"I really respect Australia for having such a tight immigration policy." Agree. We should adopt a similar system. I don't suppose we can do much about it though as long as we're in the EU.

BoffyMefferson · 15/05/2011 11:20

Rob, the people who were born here did not work to make Britain great, it was their forebears, so it was a lucky accident of birth for most of us here.

As for taxes etc, there are plenty who don't pay their way and the majority of them are not immigrants.

deuxpoints · 15/05/2011 11:22

Op; on issues like immigration you have to look outside of your own little area - because, ( and this may come as a shock to you ) immigration/migration has implications on the wider community. It's a country wide issue.

Maybe you're not able to grasp complexities?

TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 15/05/2011 11:23

melika for a start please don't call me naive. What is your point exactly then? You talked about Australian visa rules being difficult and then you talk about illegal immigration - which are you talking about?

If you are asking why is it easier to get into the UK illegally than Australia then I suggest you look at a world atlas.

vintageteacups · 15/05/2011 11:23

Thing is though - yes, I understand that we are in Europe and we have as much right to go and live in other EU countries as they do to come here, but they should create policies that take the size of the country into account.

France, for example, is a much larger country than the UK and so thast should be taken into account when setting policy.

we should have a ceiling - one in, one out type of thing. Why would we not have a limit?

RobF · 15/05/2011 11:24

"Rob, the people who were born here did not work to make Britain great, it was their forebears, so it was a lucky accident of birth for most of us here."
How was it lucky? I was born here because my parents lived here.

Do you think that one generation did all the work, and then everyone after them just "got lucky"?

melikalikimaka · 15/05/2011 11:27

Yes, schwarzkopf, I remember when Australia let all those illegals drown in the sea.

BoffyMefferson · 15/05/2011 11:27

Yes, your parents live here and you were born here: you hadn't don't anything at that point to achieve that, your parents had. An accident of birth, pure luck...

BoffyMefferson · 15/05/2011 11:27

done

DilysPrice · 15/05/2011 11:28

I'm going to light a blue touch paper and run away here.

Are you allowed to run the "We're overcrowded" line if you have four children yourself? What about 3, or 2, or 1?

Personally I think the world could probably do with (gradually) fewer Western Europeans rather than more, but the arguments hold good whichever way they arrive here.

creighton · 15/05/2011 11:29

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by Mumsnet.

RobF · 15/05/2011 11:30

"Yes, your parents live here and you were born here: you hadn't don't anything at that point to achieve that, your parents had. An accident of birth, pure luck..."
I ask again, how is it an accident? I am who I am because of who my parents are and because I am British. There's no "accident" about it. If I was born somewhere else, to non-British parents, I'd be someone else.

RobF · 15/05/2011 11:31

"This country was made 'great' by British people going abroad to steal from every country they could and enslave people. "

As opposed to other countries that became great by other means?

melikalikimaka · 15/05/2011 11:31

I really think OP is a wind up merchant. Well done you already have 43 messages for this.

RobF · 15/05/2011 11:34

Well there are people that genuinely think that the amount of immigration we have had over the last 14 years is a wonderful thing. They love the "diversity" and enjoy the fact that there are so many ethnic restaurants to eat out in, and the fact that they can hire eastern european nannies at a fraction of the cost of British ones, and Polish tradesmen will work for minimum wage.

Cheburashka · 15/05/2011 11:35

Oh come on, if Eastern Europeans were the biggest problem, then this country is blessed. There wouldnt be anybody around here happy to pick strawberries and clean public toilets for 5 quid per hour and at the same time trying to feed their children and, oh wait, shop for them Only in Lidl and buy them clothes Only for charity shops. Most immigrants here pay their taxes, therefore are not to blame. Problem comes from the ones that are here illegally. I suggest we change the name of the thread to "not care about legal immigrants in this country".

deuxpoints · 15/05/2011 11:38

Hmm - I must admit my face went like this Hmm when I read the op - it's remarkably childish.

Hammy02 · 15/05/2011 11:39

Oh yes. It is great that immigrants are happy to do work for peanuts. Excellent. Lets scrap the minimum wage too while we're at it. That'll be great for the working poor indiginous population. Lets hike down our expectation of the standard of living while we're at it.

expatinscotland · 15/05/2011 11:45

YABU.

What Hammy said.

Original poster
StuckinTheMiddlewithYou · 15/05/2011 11:53

I'm not a wind up merchant (which is an incrediably childish response).

I was simply wondering if anybody had any personal experience of problems caused by immigration. I do not despite living in a very multicultural area.

OP posts:
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