Sky News segment on visa overstayers tonight

[icannotbelievethis]

One woman who came here on a 3 month visitor visa 12 years ago, who is a “full time carer” for her sister.

One man who came here on a student visa which was then cancelled because he stopped attending his lectures, who has been here illegally for two years and works cash in hand. Therefore not paying tax or national insurance.

Wtf?! Why did Sky News interview them (and no doubt pay them!) and not turn up with the border force to get them sent home?! This is baffling

Like I said I don’t disagree with your anger at people being here who shouldn’t. I’m suggesting that a news organisation would soon have nothing to report if they grassed.

I am interested to hear what actual news is and how it would be reported on if reporters were expected to immediately burn sources.

I couldn't care less. Good luck to them. I'd swap them for a tory/reform voter anyday.

How's this lady affecting your life in anyway?
Presumably, if she's deported, her sister might have to go in care and cost the tax payer a £1000 a week in care home fees. Maybe the home office is aware of that fact and it's doing damage control.
Hard luck stories indeed.
You know no one stays poor or rich forever? If you look at history, empires rise and fall,look at the soviet union, look at the mighty empires of old.
In 100s of years Britain might become poor and some countries might become rich.
So immigration might reverse.
While its ok to have rules and whatever,
It costs nothing to be respectful of human beings.

My friend works for a university and says loads of overseas students come here 'to study' then just disappear. She says they just stop attending lectures, presumably because they either 1) don't like it and return home or 2) they use it as a route into the country in order to live here illegally.

All those who overstay should be rejected for future visas and removed. No but I have a baby here or a wife. You knew you shouldn’t be here when you did those things.

Need to stop being a soft touch as it just encourages more.

Hopefully the news has just put those interviewed right back on authorities minds. News can’t go handing everyone over though or nobody would talk.

When I was at university I knew 5 people who married for visas. 2 married boyfriends of the time, 1 paid a stranger to marry her, 2 married friends as favours.

that was London in the noughties 🤷🏽‍♀️

(eta- they were all visa overstayers)

The same way as they don’t report drug dealers and other criminals when they make a programme about them. I’m sure you have no issue watching other documentaries and you’d never think to make a thread about why they haven’t been dobbed in.

I think you'll find that, in order to do that, we would have to have an efficient Home Office. Instead, we have concentrated, & will continue to concentrate, on performative cruelty toward the low hanging fruit.

Why does it bother you so much?

Absolute tip of the iceberg. We have no idea who is here. All these numbers based about re. population - the authorities haven’t clue. They are just guessing.

Why does what bother her so much? People staying here when they have no rights to whilst other people are paying through the nose to stay legally or the fact that the other example is working cash in hand and paying no tax or NI?

That’s literally what’s happening right now 🤣. Your empire is becoming poor. and once the land is no longer fertile the dinghies will be heading elsewhere. Happening right now, not in 100 years time. Same with climate change - happening right now, not in 100 years time.

The problem you have is that overstayers have no recourse to public funds, so have to work cash in hand. So aren’t paying tax or NI, they can however use some of our healthcare and if they have children they can go to school. So they will take out more from the system than they put in and it’s just not affordable.
I am not anti immigration but immigration needs to be managed properly and for too long it hasn’t been.

I’m glad they are talking about over stayers. They’ve got to be the majority of people without visas?

As a (legal) migrant - one of the biggest holes in the colander wrt immigration ime is that the UK doesn't count people LEAVING, unless this has been reformed in the past 1-2 years. So we have no bloody idea if the student who came in here in 2015 is still here working under the radar. Combined with no ID system, it's very easy to get by.

Yes @13RidgmontRoad that still seems to be the case and completely ridiculous

Didn’t see it but if this is the woman’s sister and she’s so seriously ill, I’d say there’s a good case for her sister staying to care for her on companionate grounds, wouldn’t you? Or should taxpayers spend a great deal more to provide “legal” carers?
If she is in regular contact with the home office, someone there will be well aware of the details of her case, unlike you, and have made the decision that she can remain for the time being.

If the case of the man who has overstayed by two years is exactly as you say and he has no pending asylum claim, yes he ought to be returned to his country of origin.

Visa over stayers are a far worse issue than refugees but all we ever hear about is that

Ds is a journalist in national media.

His job is to find interesting stories and present them. Not to act as policeman.

You’re talking bollocks.

Illegal immigrants in terms of visa overstayers are not usually a great burden on this country which is why the government bothers doing very little about them.

They cant claim benefits, sure they can’t pay income tax or NI and often work cash in hand but then they are buying goods and services, paying VAT and council tax etc .

They are charged for NHS use but often can’t pay however this means they tend to be low level users because it brings them into the system and they are looking over their shoulders all the time re the risk of deportation. They do use schools if they have children.

Ive worked with a few families who were here illegally and their existence was very fragile, they were exceedingly low income (not top up benefits) and had no recourse when an employer was unreasonable. Fired during pregnancy? Working 90 hour weeks? No real options, except quit or put up and shut up

Become unwell? no recourse to benefits, push through or be deported. They’d be back at work a week post birth leaving the baby with a non registered childcarer.

They lived in one room with three kids, landlord kicked them out (and they did often) no recourse to accommodation, you find someone to stay with or risk deportation. Mouldy, unsafe housing? Not many options except hope to find somewhere else. Renting in the system is hard without evidence of non cash in hand employment so your chances of a dodgy landlord have gone way up.

If you’re reliant on legally resident family, better not upset them.

In London especially there are many families and probably many more single people living like this. When things go well it works but add in illness, injury, a pregnancy, a row with family and the fragile existence becomes untenable. What is really interesting is that many people consider this better than life in their home country.

It’s maddening that small businesses paying tax and doing their best around the dramatically changing pay, tax and employment law rules are heavily scrutinised yet some industries are under the radar and exploit incomers like this. Who are these industries that support the dubious means of getting visas or CIS cards or employ people without visas. Is it labour agencies? I thought the labour agency workers had to speak a reasonable level of English? Talk about two tier.

you can overstay your visa and be… Australia. Or South African. Or any other English speaking nation that needs a visa

Yes of course. I’m mainly talking construction as that’s what I am aware of. The lack of English draws the person to your attention.

Plenty of people not paying tax due, plenty of takers without giving, and plenty of companies too not paying any tax… tax that would equate to much more than what these two people “aren’t” paying. So again why do these two people bother you so much? What impact are these two people having on your life? Because the tax shortfall from companies like Amazon or Starbucks, or the wealthy who hide their cash and assets are having a much bigger impact on you personally and yet you seem so much more angry about individuals with very little.