Labour unveils ‘good citizen’ test for migrants seeking settlement
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/labour-unveils-good-citizen-test-for-migrants-seeking-settlement-dhvgjt7mj
Posted by pppppppppppppppppd
Labour unveils ‘good citizen’ test for migrants seeking settlement
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/labour-unveils-good-citizen-test-for-migrants-seeking-settlement-dhvgjt7mj
Posted by pppppppppppppppppd
25 comments
Seems common sense and promising
But aren’t they already here? What if they fail the test?
>#Labour unveils ‘good citizen’ test for migrants seeking settlement
>##Foreign nationals will need to work, pay tax, volunteer and speak fluent English to qualify for settlement under Labour’s tougher rules
>Migrants will be forced to leave the UK unless they can show they are good citizens under Labour’s plans to toughen up immigration rules to combat the threat of Reform.
>Foreign citizens will have to volunteer in their community, have a “spotless” criminal record, speak English to a high standard and be a net contributor to the economy to qualify for permanent settlement.
>Shabana Mahmood will use her first speech at Labour conference as home secretary to announce plans to make it harder for migrants to qualify for indefinite leave to remain, which allows foreigners to live, work and study in the UK permanently. It marks the latest hardening of Labour’s immigration policy in an attempt to stymie the popularity of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
>Mahmood will warn that if Labour does not toughen its policy there is a risk “working people will turn away from us — the party that for over a hundred years has been their party — and seek solace in the false promises of Farage”.
>Farage announced last week that he would abolish indefinite leave to remain altogether, a proposal that Sir Keir Starmer labelled as racist.
Reform’s plans would also apply to those with settled status in the UK, which means that hundreds of thousands of people could face deportation.
>Labour’s plans would force migrants to leave the UK if they did not contribute to society. However, they will not apply to foreign citizens who already have settled status.
>Stepping up his attack on Farage at the start of the Labour Party conference, the prime minister told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “What was said last week about deporting migrants who are lawfully here, who have been here for years, working in our hospitals and our schools, running businesses, our neighbours, and Reform say they want to deport them. That would tear our country apart.”
>At present migrants can apply for indefinite leave to remain after five years and it is often granted automatically when basic conditions are met. Under Labour’s plans, this would be lifted to a “baseline” of ten years. Settlement will have to be earned through qualifying criteria that will determine whether they are contributing to the economy and society. Those who do not contribute sufficiently will have to wait longer than ten years while others will not qualify at all, Labour said.
>The conditions that migrants will have to meet to gain indefinite leave to remain include being in work, making national insurance contributions, not claiming benefits, learning English to a high standard, having a clean criminal record and “giving back to your local community” through volunteering.
>Migrants who commit crimes will not automatically be barred from settlement but will be penalised by having to wait longer to apply for it. The length of time will depend on the severity of their crimes: those who commit serious crimes will be barred from staying permanently. Labour sources said that in these cases migrants would be forced to apply for another visa, which would probably be rejected on the basis of their criminal record. They would subsequently have to leave the UK or face deportation.
>Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said the new conditions marked a shift away from the “box- ticking exercise” of settlement rules. She said requiring people to volunteer would be particularly hard to assess. “There aren’t clear ways of assessing whether someone is contributing socially in the same way as you can assess how much someone earns or claims in benefits,” she said. “It’s easy to assess whether someone’s claimed benefits or how much someone earns. It’s going to be very hard to assess whether someone is a pillar of the community.”
>The vast majority of migrants are barred from claiming benefits until they are granted indefinite leave to remain and Labour’s plans will mostly affect refugees. At present about 120,000 refugees receive universal credit. They face having to wait longer to apply for settled status or decide to stop claiming benefits. The condition to work and pay national insurance is also likely to hit refugees the hardest because their employment rate of 37 per cent is below that of other migrants.
>On Saturday a record number of migrants crossed the Channel to Britain on a single small boat: 125. It beat the record of 106 set last month.
>Lord Hermer, the attorney-general, warned that Labour risked losing the argument on human rights to right-wing populists in the face of the small boat crisis. He said it was critical Labour made the positive case for remaining in the European Court of Human Rights.
They’re already criminals, though, since they travelled and entered illegally 🤷♂️
> “giving back to your local community” through volunteering
So forced unpaid labour.
Going to be particularly difficult for Skilled professionals such as a Surgeons, Doctors, Nurses, Scientists and Engineers. Most will be working a 40+ hour week. They will be renting, likely far from their place of work and without a car – requiring long commute times.
We treat criminals better than we do medical staff, coming to our country, saving our lives, paying vast taxes and extra immigration fees.
Labour can’t out reform, reform. They should focus on the economy than driving the very people away, we desperately need.
The main change I can see is the introduction of a new requirement – volunteering and potentially a 10-year residency period before permanent residency is granted. It’s not yet clear how volunteering would be assessed. Mind you that people on Skilled Work Visa are already working full-time and are not allowed to have unpaid leave, the Labour is suggesting that those migrants volunteer during the weekend for 10 years just so they can qualify for the permanent residency
The English language requirement was already agreed to be set at B2, and applicants with serious criminal convictions are generally excluded from applying for permanent residency. Minor offences, such as issues with road tax or failing to pay a fixed penalty notice, typically wouldn’t result in refusal if the applicant is otherwise eligible.
From this, it seems that dependents and potentially some spouses would be the most affected group, as they would now need to work and pay taxes. And since Labour has confirmed that most applicants aren’t even entitled to claim benefits (for some reason many people believe that some random immigrants can claim benefits on visa)
Should our goal really be to make the UK unattractive to highly skilled professionals – doctors, nurses, and others – who we rely on so heavily, by imposing unnecessary and even absurd requirements on them? Or should we instead focus on making the UK an appealing destination for the truly skilled people we need?
Wouldn’t it make more sense to tighten the rules around the Skilled Worker visa to prevent abuse, while continuing to position the UK as an attractive and welcoming country for the right talent?
The swing for Reform really put a stick up their arse in trying to appease any potential voters.
> *Migrants who commit crimes will not automatically be barred from settlement*
..and now you’ve lost that potential voter.
>Foreign nationals will need to work, pay tax, volunteer and speak fluent English to qualify for settlement under Labour’s tougher rules
“We’ll do Universal Credit, child benefit fraud, mosque indoctrination, and speaking Sylhet?”
“Done! Do you have a million friends you can bring?”
More policies to appeal to people who’ll never vote for them.
They need a productive citizen test too
Why don’t some of the people already living here not start volunteering?
You know, like the people who riot on the streets and stick flags everywhere.
If reform made this, Starmer would say its racist
Can they come run our Labor party please?
Honestly, if we just scrapped benefits for non citizens so the working class aren’t paying for them then the threat of reform would go away. British tax payers have paid for the social security net and if not us our parents and grandparents, it’s ours, our money.
the rich and their tax avoidance is the problem, but the government won’t tackle that because most of them are involved or friends with these people
I’d volunteer to vote labour, they really need any voter they could get xD
Democracy is when two foxes and a rabbit vote what’s for dinner. Although in this case the rabbit can’t vote.
“have a “spotless” criminal record”
i mean you won’t get ILR *now* unless you have a spotless criminal record. the rules were changed years ago so you already have to include penalties and fines on your ILR application, not “just” criminal incidents.
“speak fluent english”
there are up to 3 IELTS / equivalent language tests depending on the route you’re on, and only people from english speaking nations from a very small exemption list don’t have to take the tests. again: been in place for years.
“work and pay tax”
work is not a requirement of entry if you come here on a spouse visa married to a british citizen, because the primary reason for coming here is not work and the entry visa eligibility is determined by the british citizen’s income. on a similar note, international students come here to study. and even if you don’t work, it’s pretty much impossible not to contribute something for duration of stay when you have no recourse to public funds.
“you need to volunteer”
sorry, this is just stupid. you pay upwards of fourteen grand for a spouse visa, with up to 3 visa applications over 5 years minimum (even more on the ten year route), or likely 8 years minimum if you start as a student and a huge pile of tuition fees, or you’re on an actual work visa, and you now need to also find the time to what….paint some walls? fill in some potholes? where is the time coming from to do this, and what counts as “contributing”? who decides? what happens if there’s no local volunteer thing close to where you live? who pays for travel? child care? anything? i guarantee the government hasn’t thought of any of this, and i bet they won’t be paying for any of it either.
someone applying for ILR has almost certainly already jumped through hoops and paid a ton of money to get it if they came here on a visa, this is fucking stupid.
They will do anything but the easiest solution…..physically stop them
Arriving onto our shores.
As one of the immmigrants who may be affected, I agree with all but one of the requirements, volunteering. Is volunteering voluntary if it is required? What if I am busy enough at work (work 10 hours a day 6 days a week) and pay my tax, do I still need to squeeze time to pick the litter?
And we all know the test will be to say “Hello” and exceptions not to work with a sick note.
Every week they announce some more crap and nothing happens. It’s actually got to beyond pathetic.
Requiring volunteering is a bit nuts. People who are working and raising kids will struggle with this kind of thing.
Other requirements are fine.
I don’t need people to volunteer as long as they are law abiding, work, pay taxes, and do their best to learn the local language. (Signed: permanent immigrant in another country, who has done all of these things)
As someone who came here as a student and legally became a citizen through the work visa and ILR route- one thing that is missing when granting visas, citizenship etc is in person interviews. I understand that is a big resource issue but it’s one way to weed out those that will abuse the system.
1. Prior to coming here as a student and applying for a visa. The British embassy did not interview me. It was simply just submit documents and then based on verification you get the student visa. There should be a face to face interview like the US system. When I applied for a US tourist visa I had a formal interview with my family to verify my trip and when i will return. The amount of students coming here to study simply lack the ability to speak appropriate English. An interview will again weed out those that don’t have the language skills.
2. The ILR route at the moment is fine but again lacks appropriate interview process. The life in the UK test although seems silly to some, it’s way of assessing commitment to learn about something in the UK. The test can be better to include more updated and relevant material to demonstrate clear integration into society.
3. Interview process for ILR, Citizenship and students will weed out those abusing the system from those who are genuine.
Mandatory volunteering defeats the purpose of volunteering.
who else thinks labour just gonna use the so called test as a disguise to give out permanet settlement and citizenship to illegal migrants
I, as a migrant here am begging this government to scrap benefits for ILR holders. Please we are begging you guys to get a grip and take away benefits from ILR holders. The talk of benefits strips ILR status of its true ‘benefits’ i.e., job security, stability, peace of mind, freedom to choose between different careers etc.
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