To wonder why we can’t have a points based entry system like Australia?

[Backonland]

Why can’t we be like Australia and only allow people in who will contribute to society, either by bringing wealth with them or a qualification or skill that we need in the country.

Im not being goady, I genuinely do not understand why we can’t adopt the same approach? Surely that would be the sensible way forward and appease most people?

Australian here, calling from Melbourne, which is now our largest city (5mil+). This might seem like the promised land, but there is a disjunct between the federal govt's bringing in 1000 immigrants a day (and 1.1 million immigrants in 2023-24) and the various state govts' having to provide the services and infrastructure to cope with the influx.

We can't keep up. There's no money for public housing. The homelessness crisis is appalling. Caravan parks used to offer a decent standard of living for low-income earners; this year, a new law is booting those residents off their sites, with nowhere to go. In Castlemaine, a pretty goldfields town where (incidentally) Germaine Greer lives now, local workers are camping out in tents because landlords prefer to AirBnB their properties rather than rent to long-term tenants.

In Melbourne's inner-east, where I live and walk around, many residences are empty. They're owned by foreigners who use Australian real estate as a safe place to park their money. There's no law against this. Occasionally I'm tailed by security guards who find it scandalous that I should walk on a public road past their gates or park my Toyota nearby. In certain suburbs, and particularly in the catchments of certain public (taxpayer-funded) high schools that sell off places to foreign students, agents discourage buyers who are not of a certain race.

I do like it here, but that's because I'm established and a home-owner. When my compatriots cry because they have nowhere to live, when they say they feel like second-class citizens in their own country, I wish we could put a brake on immigration.

Our federal govt is in thrall to lobbyists of all kinds. And it's all to one aim -- to boost the wealth of a few against the well-being of the rest of us.

And I was speaking of the Nigerians that were given visas for basic care assistant jobs

Okay but that doesn't say that they aren't a nurse in Nigeria. It says they have agreed to take on a care role in the UK.

And so what? We have a massive shortage of carers in a society with an increasingly aging population.

It's not a " skilled" job. So shouldn't be on a skilled workers visa. Tell me if I was a care worker and applied to another country to do that which one would let me in as a " skilled" worker?? Canada Australia New Zealand??? EU? Doubt it

I'm not bothered about the semantics, I'm concerned that we have an adequate care work force, that for whatever reason we do not seem to be able to fill without bringing in outside help.

Pay a better wage, get better management in, offer incentives etc and that would help. As a pp pointed out, those types of roles expect staff to be available 24/7 and when you have children that basically rules that job out, unless you have a good support network around you. It’s not as simple as saying people don’t want to do it, it’s more of a case of they can’t.

Well .... in order to do that we would have to pay more for social care. And that means higher taxes. Which people seem very reluctant to vote for.

Of course if you mum need care there is nothing to stop you privately hiring a carer an dpaying them a lot more.

@GinmonkeyagainCare is means tested. More than around £23,000 in savings - you pay. If you are on your own and own a house - you pay the care home. DM - £5,600 a month. Low staff turnover though. We won’t accept an insurance scheme so we pay! One way or another.

One, we do already, and two, you lost your argument anyway once you said goady

So the problem is AirBnB, and foreigners using properties to safeguard their money, but the solution is to reduce immigration?

That doesn't make sense.

Why not introduce limits on AirBnBs and foreigners keeping properties empty for financial reasons?

I said ''And around 500,000 came to Australia on there's on an average year. Not sure what you're getting at really.''

I'm not sure how that's talking to you like a child.

We already do, but together with 'student' visas and general overstaying, it doesn't work well in regard to getting people to leave when they no longer fulfill the conditions. So it's abused, same as with illegal immigration, very little chance of ever being deported. So it exists but it's crap.

Is there not a minimum salary that immigrants must earn? So some jobs are off limits.

You can't just open a betting shop. Have you read the requirements for a skilled visa or just looked though the list of jobs?

There's so much ignorance around how visas actually work.

@NapoleonsToe That is a government list. It says betting shop managers. It doesn’t say you are opening a betting shop yourself! You can if you get the licence etc!

You still don't understand how the points system works or what a skilled worker visa is.

If you would like to inform yourself you can look it up here:

https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa

Do you actually think that without immigrants you would have enough carers?

Absolutely correct. Maybe we should be showing clips of people on boats trying to enter Australian waters to the racist idiots here just to reassure them that not everyone wants to come to the UK.

We do have a points based system like Australia.
I expect you have little knowledge of or experience with the Australian system. I expect you would be shocked at some of the occupations on the Australian skills shortage list.
I also expect you don’t know anybody who migrated to the UK and asked them
about their process.

Also just as an aside, the Australian immigrant population, as a %, is twice that of the UK.

Care workers, florists and hairdressers are on the Australian skilled shortage list (or at least they where when I got PR in Australia.)

My stepmom migrated to the UK . As did my best friend. Stepmum went through naturalization process and gained a British passport. Mixes with people of all nationalities not just a small group of people that came from where she was originally from. Paid taxes and had no state help for night on 40 years I til she retired and got state pension

Best friend came here actually from a European country but before the EU actually exisited. Married to British guy for years, worked l tull time. , never had kids so not taking from the state that way. Kept original Belgian nationality but doesn't hold a passport at mo as not been outside the UK for over 10 years. No interest in Belgium which she hasnt considered " home" for 40 years plus

I don't agree with this at all. I'm in circles where people are unpaid carers due to having a child with a disability. Care work is popular for those who cannot work even traditional part time hours. Agencies are crying out for workers, training can often be a few online videos and then you are in. I know several mums who do ad hoc 12 hour shifts a few times a month and a single mum of 5 who only does school hours 3 days per week.

Not sure what you mean here. Do you think they are getting to Aus this way?

Britain has to pretend to be inclusive and kind and any tom dick or harry can come here and stay - sadly this will probably lead to Farage as PM - the difference is Australia doesn't allow boat people.

You may not know this, but in a way we already do

there is a list of jobs that are needed in the uk. People can apply for a skilled worker visa to work here if they can find a job on this list and are sponsored by the company/organisation.

other visas, such as for a wife/husband/spouse has a requirement for a certain amount of the spouse’s annual income (currently something along the lines of £30k), be able to provide housing etc and they are not permitted access to public funds. If the spouse income drops below this, their visa can be revoked. The visas need to be renewed regularly. Starmer has just increased route to citizenship in this manner from 5 years to 10 years. Costing many many thousands more per person.

all of the above also require NHS surcharge per person (a few grand each person). Each time the visas are renewed, there are fees to renew and nhs surcharge fees.