Immigrants but legal ones?

[Tiktakmam]

I’ve been living in the UK for 16 years, have two children, and work full-time. I consider myself integrated, living according to British values, and respecting this country. I look after myself and my home, and I try to contribute positively to the community.

Yet, many of us — especially from Eastern Europe — don’t feel entirely safe with the ongoing issues around illegal migrant boats. Even though we are legal residents, I’ve noticed growing dissatisfaction from some neighbours. When I mention that I’m from Eastern Europe, I often hear comments like, “Of course you are…” — basically implying I’m not British.

This makes me feel like I’ve somehow “brought these boats” here, as if I’m just another part of the immigrant problem. Seeing flags and attitudes that suggest “immigrants go home” is disheartening.

I also feel somewhat less confident around British people, especially in areas with mostly locals and fewer immigrants. For example, when I travel to campsites or smaller towns, I sometimes feel looked at as untrustworthy. Luckily, in London I feel much less like this.

Post-Brexit, it feels like the country has changed in ways that make life less secure, not just for immigrants but for everyone. It’s heartbreaking that all migrants, legal or not, are often dropped into one pot and judged as a single group.

I keep wondering — after so many years of people from other countries contributing to making the UK a brighter, more vibrant place, why does it feel like the country has been going downhill over time?

I feel so heartbroken, because I understand that the UK will never truly be my home, as I was not born here. Yet it hurts to realize that, with every passing year, it feels more and more like I will never be fully welcome.

Why has it gone so wrong on a broader scale? How can we have a healthier, safer society for everyone, while respecting the law and supporting integration?

I hope we can have a conversation about this that goes beyond fear and politics, and focuses on community, fairness, and safety for all residents.
Im just curious, in this era of migrant boats and heightened tension around immigration, how do you perceive or feel about other immigrants, even those who are legal residents? Does this climate affect the way you interact with them or how you feel about other immigrants, especially in less multicultural towns? What does your family of friends say?

I feel the same OP. I've been in the UK for over 2 decades, paying tax, contributing to society, but this anti-migrant discourse is causing me a great deal of stress. In turns I am angry, sad, and terrified.

Angry because:

Migrants on average pay a lot more tax than the average UK-born person. So we are disproportionately funding the exchequer, yet are treated like we're parasites.

Migrants on average are young, childless, and economically-active taxpayers. So much less likely to need the NHS. Yet we are required to pay a yearly NHS surcharge of £1500 (£700 for students). So we are disproportionately funding the NHS.

Migrants do the jobs UK-born don't or won't do, particularly agricultural, health-care, low-paid careworkers.

Those of you on Mumsnet constantly moaning about migrants: who do you think is picking your fruit & veg? Who is going to wipe your bum when you're in a care-home or need adult social care?

We migrants make a net positive contribution to this country. How do you think it makes us feel to be constantly demonized by the press and in these threads? It sucks.

The UK takes 1% of refugees. Mass migration isn’t the cause of working class problems

What are your views on Yaxley-Lennon? Do you think he is racist?

This is so sad.

I think it must be awful to be Israeli, or even Jewish, and be horrified by the war, or rather genocide. 7 Oct was completely beyond excuse but since then most of the blame belongs to a certain sector of the Israeli government, military and society.

I see red when some of them spout their nonsense in the media but tarring all Jewish people with their views and actions is contemptible.

I am sorry

Genuine question, as my professional background influences how I see asylum seekers, and I'd like to understand how others do.
The sentiments above seem to be extremely common.
Legal migration = no problem
'Illegal' migration (i.e. asylum seeking) = big problem that must be stopped.

All the people that say they're happy with legal immigration but not with 'illegal' immigration, are you saying that if we could reduce immigration by 16% (the percentage of immigrants that are asylum seekers), you'd be happy?

Or are you unaware of the proportions of legal and irregular migration are what they are, and you'd really like immigration in general to go down much more than this?

Couldn't we phase out our current practices for recruiting the lower-skilled immigrant workforce we need and instead recruit legitimate asylum seekers for those jobs? We'd give people in desperate need a safe home while keeping immigration numbers at a manageable level. A lot of the anger against asylum seekers seems to be the 'free lunch' 'they don't even work' stuff, but I've never met an asylum seeker who isn't keen to start work as soon as the govt allows them to. (On a side note, the free lunch in hotels is a pretty awful lunch that is leaving many children malnourished.) The problem is that they can't work until the govt makes a decision to accept them as refugees, and they can't be accepted as refugees unless they come her by irregular and often dangerous means. The govt could change that.

I’m not an immigrant to Britain and even I feel unsafe with the current rhetoric. I can only imagine how you are feeling.

Just know not everybody (even those with concerns about the scale of immigration) shares in the vitriol.

UK is still aiding genocides in other countries

Thats a pretty big accusation.

Can you list the countries we have bombed recently and how that corresponds with the motivations for leaving of the ‘asylum’ applicants?

I’ve just checked the answers on the MoD website.

I have absolutely no problem with you being here and imagine you contribute to society, quite possibly a lot more than some natives. I would assume your VISA was approved because you had skills we wanted and we should be glad you filled the skills gap. However, we should be making sure our own people have the skills so we don’t need as much legal migration - that’s a health of the country thing, not a problem with those who take the opportunity to answer the call. You’ve been here 16 years, you should definitely be able to become a British citizen.

I have a massive issue with illegal immigration - the number should be zero. I want the UK to be selective about the sort of cultures and attitudes that come in, and to ensure it is hard-working, law-abiding people, to increase the odds of successful integration and so legal migrants such as yourself don’t get tarred with the same brush as those with backward attitudes by the ignorant. There are many people who are ignorant and putting our fingers in our ears and going la la la won’t make those people disappear. I believe secure borders are essential to any country in any case. I don’t know why people assume I’m racist because of this. I don’t care about colour at all.

Genuine asylum seekers fleeing war… I would have said we should help in the past, but we have so many genuinely poor working native people now who can’t get a roof over their head, although so much of this could well be due to terrible economic mismanagement. Just not sure what I think on that issue.

Would I vote Reform? Unless other parties get as ready to tackle this issue as Reform, I probably would. They have no economic credibility though so therein lies the rub.

Just in case you’re wondering, I voted Remain as there was no plan for Brexit and look at the half-assed, expensive way it has been done so I don’t regret my vote, although I’ve always been against the EU in principle (although it did have great benefits).

I think the two biggest letdowns on this issue has been the political class and the media. They are the cause of much unnecessary public anger.

I'm so sorry you've experienced such appalling treatment, @banananas1999 . It's especially appalling coming from doctors imo.

I gets really, really boring though. I have lived here longer than I have lived anywhere else, have a British passport, British mum, British cousins, etc, etc, but have an accent from elsewhere.

Only yesterday, a person said to me, "You must have come a long way". And I said, "I've come from Camden" and she said, "but originally......" and paused, and waited. And this was at the theatre so yeah, it wasn't rude but why it was the most interesting thing about me to her, I really don't know.

I would much rather talk about the theatre at the theatre. About books in a book shop. About the weather if it suddenly starts pouring.

Can you point to the sources for the claims below, please?

"Migrants on average pay a lot more tax than the average UK-born person. So we are disproportionately funding the exchequer..."

"So we are disproportionately funding the NHS."

My daughter’s mixed race and had 2 passports. Her dad was born in the UK but his parents travelled and moved back to their home country when he was a baby. He done all the visa process years before we met and holds British status. My daughter is literal my twin bar a couple features but holds her dad’s surname. She has never experienced any racism until last year someone called her the N word. Which didn’t make sense cause she’s white but her dad isn’t. However the person knows she’s is mixed race and more than old enough to know what she was saying. My DD asked her why she called her the N word and she replied to ‘you know why N’ so my DD smacked her in the face then went to the girls door and told her parents who were utterly mortified. It’s a sad world we live in xxx

Government policy is nearly always set by looking at the average case. There will always be many real-life examples of a much better outcome (or worse) than the average.

So long as we have immigration controls, this will always mean turning away some lovely people who would have made a very positive contribution to the UK. To place this in context, the current world population is around 8 billion. 1.5 billion live in Africa alone. In contrast the current population of Western Europe is just 200 million. For the whole of the EU this is estimated at 450 million.

Overall, the annual arrivals by boat will be a large net financial cost to the UK. It is much better for a country to manage any shortfalls in employment in key areas through relaxing its visa rules. These can be changed as and when needed, and proper background checks can be done on new arrivals.

I am very sorry if this thread seems to be a personal attack. As I said before, we can like and value (or love and have families with!) individuals who have immigrated to the UK by a range of routes. And still we can worry about the total numbers.

Reform's immigration plans have no credibility either

Exactly ⬆️

There is a very long history of people from Britain migrating all over the world and not making any effort to learn local languages or respect local cultures and traditions, but instead forcing everyone too speak/ read/ write English.

And those people have been rightly criticised because it is not always to the benefit of the people already in that country (although some African countries report that they have appreciated British education, infrastructure and rule as they are now far ahead of their neighbours).

Are you now suggesting that we have to accept zero effort for integration from some migrants because of the behaviour of some ‘yobs’?

As others have said, many countries are like this and hold those born and with family native to that country as 'higher'.

My brother and his wife moved to N.Ireland, he is highly skilled, but found it hard to get a permanent job, and has been on a succession of temporary contracts, originally he couldnt even get interviews, and then when he changed his surname to his wife's Irish sounding surname he got some. When they were looking to adopt, it took them over 2 years to jump over all the hurdles, when should take 6 months, they were told they were 'ineligible' for a baby with no reason given.

It's terrible when people are judged by their nationality, rather than the skills they bring.

The UK taking 1% of refugees is huge

Me too. And I'm also afraid of what it means for our future. Imo a far-right government could well be the outcome of the next GE.

I'm old and will hopefully have shuffled off by the time they've done their worst, but if I was young, I'd be really worried about what the future holds under a Reform government.

Wtf? Wow.

I said it because it actually happened.

Why do you keep saying such inflammatory and untrue things?

No, we are not. In fact, we have welcomed immigrants since the Middle Ages. Learn your history! To say this is just lazy, lazy lazy!

Asylum seekers (incl those from Ukraine, Hong Kong and other humanitarian routes) is 16% of total UK immigration

You said, without qualification: Unfortunately, the racism is dripping from your post.

In my post, as one if the issues we are experiencing, I mentioned the totally preventable rapes and murders perpetrated by these men.

I asked if you included those in your definition of ‘racism dripping from my post’ - now you accuse me of weaponising VWAG.

I note you don’t confirm that you view any of my other specific points as the ‘racist’ ones so I have to ask again - what are the racist bits?