Immigration - can someone please explain it to me in simple terms?

[Illbeinthehottub]

So for as long as I can remember I’ve heard that there is a problem with immigration in the UK. There are headlines about it daily and it’s always an issue for government. It’s a big part of what Brexit was about.

I don’t personally understand all about it, what is the issue, is it simply than people feel immigration is putting additional pressure on services?

I’ve just seen another headline saying that Kier Starmer has lost control of the borders.

Conservatives were in power for 13 years, presumably immigration was still unacceptable to people. Now people are unhappy with Labour.

Can someone who understands explain to me a) what is the problem with immigration b) why hasn’t any government been able to have an acceptable policy that works c) is immigration just something for people to whinge about?

But the years you have just arrived you are on a low salary you are not entitled to Jack shit, bar perhaps education. I'm older and so all the immigrant nurses I know are now earning above any welfare entitlements and if they need any free treatment then I feel like they have earned it.

Absolute compete gibberish about schools being full with recent arrivals displacing native folk. School rolls are falling - more bums on seats = more resources.

Housing, legit landlords can’t rent to irregular immigrants because of right to rent checks.

Being an asylum seeker is the pits. You get barely anything and are not allowed to work and contribute.

Refugees with refugee status are entitled to work legally. And to receive benefits, as they should be.

It’s not easy to get refugee status at all.
The interviews are harrowing and they employ your fellow country-folk to flush out the pretenders.

But at the same time, a lot of the 2025 graduating cohort of nurses can't find jobs because recently, the government did large recruitment drives from countries such as Nigeria. Combined with a lot of vacant posts not being re-filled due to budget constrains and the services/wards thus being staffed below the quota of what they need to be staffed by, many graduating nurses just aren't getting posts and are on waiting lists.

Bollocks. It is easy to scam the system. I have talked to loads of people who say they came for a better life and some who say it isn’t better here. I’m sorry to hear naive people expressing views about immigration because I know if this continues, we will all suffer. The cost of immigration is high, but it is the poor who suffer most.

Sweden has got immigration to 0 -Denmark is in the process of doing the same. Just seen this on Simon Reeve in Scandinavia.

Funny they do that when most posters on this thread think immigration (900,000 to the UK in 2023) is such a good thing.

Agreed. I don't understand what the government is thinking of. It is insane not to prioritise qualified British people for these roles.

Where has the post about the yellow clad people gone? That was very aptly put.

Sweden acknowledges it made a mistake. One thing it did is track the level of crime among certain populations of incomers compared with that of the substantive population. There was a distinct difference.

Do we track them? If we do it’s not published.

Can you link to those stats as I can't find anything to back it up.

What did the results show?

Tv prog
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002cg5l/scandinavia-with-simon-reeve

Rishi Sunsk had a stated immigration of 600,000 in his last year but it turned out to be much more 900,00

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338563093_Migrants_and_Crime_in_Sweden_in_the_Twenty-First_Century

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/swedish-pm-says-integration-immigrants-has-failed-fueled-gang-crime-2022-04-28/

In total, in 2024, the immigration services issued 82,857 residence permits (not including the 11,000 granted to Ukrainian nationals): a decrease of 9%, compared to 2023. While the ruling coalition is focusing on reducing asylum, the drop in arrivals is mainly due to that of immigrant workers: only 27,009 were granted work permits, compared to 36,514 in 2023 (-26%).

Last year, 6,250 asylum-related residence permits were granted in Sweden, according to the Migration Agency's statistics
https://swedenherald.com/article/asylum-immigration-at-a-40year-low

https://nordictimes.com/the-nordics/sweden/sweden-despite-paradigm-shift-mass-immigration-to-continue-in-2024/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z2hptrd#:~:text=There%20are%20many%20reasons%20why,for%20safety%20in%20another%20country..

migration increases when there are impacts of climate change and wars etc .

Nothing wrong with properly controlled immigration, as many other countries have, if people come here to work, to be net contributors, can speak English and are in good health. What's objectionable about that? I've lived abroad several times and had to fulfill these conditions and more, including having a job offer, having a medical, providing proof of savings, proof that I could speak the language. All fine by me, and surely no-one would object if it were the same here. Unfortunately our system is utterly unfit and so is massively abused both the legal and illegal routes.. I don't know what Reform could do about it but clearly the two major parties have failed completely (starting with Tony Blair if I'm not mistaken).

https://inquisitivebird.xyz/p/immigration-and-crime-sweden

I just watched this episode. Denmark has made a policy of redistributing newcomers from ‘non Western’ countries & implemented compulsory language classes & they have made a decision that they all need to adapt to Danish ways. They have moved families into predominantly Danish areas so they can integrate. They are also keen on babies & toddlers going to nursery so they can adapt to being Danish & learn the language. Simon Reeve didn’t seem too keen.

https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/denmark-says-swedens-failed-migration-policy-is-to-blame-for-exported-crime/

Having the NHS dependent on migrants from poorer countries is a bandaid which is not sustainable and it also causes serious issues in those countries.

For example Nigeria is one of the main sources of healthcare migrants to the UK, and the UK has about 3.2 doctors per 1000 people while Nigerian has 0.65 doctors per 1000 and the number continues to dwindle which leads to more brain drain and serious issues in countries like Nigeria just to sustain the NHS to prevent it from crumbling. The priority is the NHS irrespective of the cost to other countries and hundreds of millions of people in those countries who will never have the opportunity to migrate to countries like the UK.

Bringing in migrants to take on jobs like care workers and nurses is supposed to be a short term stop gap while the UK works on the fundamental issues but we have now made it our primary option. And then when you add the issues facing junior doctors you can see that it’s a messy situation.

It’s similar to how for many years now UK universities have used international students as the solution to poor funding from the government. We can all see how that is working out.

We continue to turn a blind eye to issues like this while we are consumed with the debate of pro immigration v anti immigration which mean you’re racist or this or that.

If you mean the crime stats, I don't think we track them here. So whereas the nordic countries are sensible enough to do so and have respectful conversations with their indigenous/substantive populations about the impact mass immigration is having on their societies, their lives (even just in that one respect, never mind mass demographic/cultural change).. our leaders haven't shown any willingness to lead in that way.

I felt the mother of the girl he spoke to demonstrated a lack of integration though she complained her children were themselves to blame for not taking advantage of their opportunities in Sweden.

Looking on from afar, I see that the UK population has hardly grown since the 1960s when I was a child, so I reckon the government is just blaming its lack of investment in public services on immigrants.