More immigrants crossing the Channel

Thank you for your kind words, Iam64

I am heartened by the fact that there is quite a number of us on this thread who feel the same way.

We have no physical record of our settled status.

That is appalling, Greta.

Is that 'it' as far as the Home Office is concerned or are you supposed to also get an official document which proves your legal settled status?

It must be such a worry Greta to
You and others who have been here for many decades. Do get in touch with your MP who can put some pressure on the relevant government department. Good luck and am sure you will get through this Upsetting and annoying hoop.

Urmstongran

Ah well I suppose if we are exchanging talent between countries it must all even out to a degree.
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You're being deliberately obtuse, aren't you, Ug?

Thank you, Urmstongran. It was me. And yes, several posters reassured me that the settled status process was a mere formality and would take 10 minutes. It took me 2 days. I won't bore you with the details but in essence the procedure favours the young tech-savy generation who has the right kind of mobile, who can take selfies, who are used to navigate online and who has an email address.

A valid passport is essential. This became the big stumbling block for two of my friends, a Danish and a Swedish lady who both arrived in the UK in the 1950's. They have given up travelling and did not have a passport. Scandinavian passports cannot be sent by post. We have to travel to the embassies where our photos are taken and the passports are renewed. Not easy for frail people in their 90's.
Another problem was that these ladies did not have the document I had received years ago from the Home Office. Things were done differently in the 1950's.

I had actually made an appointment with my MP in April to make her aware of the difficulties some EU citizens are facing. The appointment was cancelled because of lockdown but I will get in touch with her.

Once I had completed my application I had an email from the Home Office to say that it had been successful. Hurrah! Then I read: ”...this notification is not proof of your status and cannot be used to prove your status to others.”

We have no physical record of our settled status.

Ah well I suppose if we are exchanging talent between countries it must all even out to a degree.
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I agree Iam64 no matter how many times on this thread posters give the true facts, some people have decided to completely ignore them and insist on repeatedly quoting (and believing) the right-wing newspapers' lies and sensationalist headlines.

I have been watching "Once upon a time in Iraq ", a brilliant documentary series.

I can recommend it to anyone who is wondering why people are so desperate to leave their country.

There are some good letters in the Times following the David Aaronovitch article.one reader writes " I have volunteered with young unaccompanied asylum seekers for the past five years and it has been a privilege. They learn English, go to college or university, get jobs, pay their way and are profoundly grateful for being given the right to live without fear. "
Look what happened in some of these countries . Those crossing the Channel are small in number, and do not deserve the war like vocabulary and stance from Ms Patel and co.

MaizeD, a quick word of thanks from me for your continued input to this thread. You are expressing things I want to say. I'm finding the lack of humanity towards other human beings hard to understand or accept. The only difference between the people on those rubber boats and the people posting on here - is luck.
It seems most posters here were born in Northern Europe, many of us born in the UK. We are the lucky generation who haven't lived through wars in our own land. Sadly, catastrophic decisions mean we have contributed to the wars in some other lands.
It's obvious that no matter how often the facts about numbers, the facts about the way asylum seekers are housed and supported for example, are set out here, there are posters who either don't read the facts, or dismiss them as untrue.

That doesn’t make me feel better MaizieD does it you? I feel guilty we are denuding other countries of their ‘brightest and best’.

It wasn't meant to make you feel good, Ug. I have no interest whatsoever in assuaging your guilt. It's extraordinarily twisted, IMO, that you should somehow read my post as being pleased that the loss of our own brightest and best is somehow compensated for by an influx of displaced professionals.

We should feel guilt, though. Not because we're denuding other countries (though it is the stated objective of our current govt. Immigration policy to attract 'the brightest and best') but because it is our interference in these countries that has made them difficult and dangerous to live in. And we should also feel guilt because of the churlish and xenophobic reactions their plight is engendering.

Another cause for guilt should be the fact that the UK has lost over a quarter of a million of its own 'brightest and best' because Brexit has meant a loss of job opportunities as non eu citizens are barred from applying for jobs in the eu and the loss of free movement makes it easier to work a European based business from an EU state than from the UK.

Oh, the irony of voting to drive out our own brightest and best and then 'feeling guilty' about attracting someone else's!

Wasn’t it you who had great difficulties getting on line to secure your status here Greta? I’m sure I recall you being very annoyed about it all. Several posters did try to reassure you at that time. If so, I'm glad you’re sorted.
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Greta, Please don’t worry, absolutely no one expects you to ‘up sticks‘ now.

But 3.8 million EU citizens have applied to stay in the UK.

I am one of those EU citizens. I arrived in the UK 49 years ago, married a Brit and I have lived and worked here ever since. There are many women like me; some of my friends have been here for 60 years. One could hardly expect them to up sticks now.

And a significant number of the desperate refugees/asylum seekers are the brightest and best from their own countries. Professionals; teachers, lawyers, scientists etc.

That doesn’t make me feel better MaizieD does it you? I feel guilty we are denuding other countries of their ‘brightest and best’.

But 3.8 million EU citizens have applied to stay in the UK.

Not sure how that is relevant. Those 3.8 million have come to the UK over the space of 40+ years. Roughly, that is 140,000 per Member state (27 of them) over 40 years (I said 'roughly', I know that it isn't correct). The UK is one state. that's 290,000+ over 4 years. A far greater exodus.

biba70

LONDON (AP) — The number of Britons moving to European Union countries soared after the Brexit vote in 2016, according to a U.K.-German study released Tuesday — an exodus comparable to those caused by major social or economic crises.

An analysis of official statistics by the Oxford in Berlin research partnership and the Berlin-based WZB Social Science Center found that migration from the United Kingdom to other EU countries rose by 30%, from about 57,000 a year in 2008-2015 to more than 73,000 a year in 2016-2018. Spain saw the largest number of U.K. arrivals, followed by France.

“These increases in numbers are of a magnitude that you would expect when a country is hit by a major economic or political crisis,” report co-author Daniel Auer said.

But 3.8 million EU citizens have applied to stay in the UK.

The UK has been hit by a major economic and political crisis - it is called brexit.

LONDON (AP) — The number of Britons moving to European Union countries soared after the Brexit vote in 2016, according to a U.K.-German study released Tuesday — an exodus comparable to those caused by major social or economic crises.

An analysis of official statistics by the Oxford in Berlin research partnership and the Berlin-based WZB Social Science Center found that migration from the United Kingdom to other EU countries rose by 30%, from about 57,000 a year in 2008-2015 to more than 73,000 a year in 2016-2018. Spain saw the largest number of U.K. arrivals, followed by France.

“These increases in numbers are of a magnitude that you would expect when a country is hit by a major economic or political crisis,” report co-author Daniel Auer said.

And a significant number of the desperate refugees/asylum seekers are the brightest and best from their own countries. Professionals; teachers, lawyers, scientists etc. Which is probably why they can afford the smuggler's fees.

It's interesting that we don't see or hear a lot about all the people who are now leaving the UK. As far as one understands many of them are the ”best and brightest” to use the description by Priti Patel. Mind you, these were not the people she was referring to.

It just occurred to me today that this last sea voyage across the Channel must be a last desperate journey for those who do it.
The first being the sea crossing to S. Italy or Greece which must have been the hardest. Most expensive. most started to give up then and that's why those countries felt the pressure more than any.
Then to struggle up through south to north Europe and to face yet another sea crossing to the UK - they must really want to live here to survive that.
In spite of all our other domestic problems (which are common worldwide now) we need to try to help them all fit in.
And as per my OP we shouldn't expect France to help out, it is our problem too.
ps Thanks to Biba for joining this thread.
I did ask GNHQ to combine the 2 but they said it would be too complicated and in any case 2 different questions were being asked. But as it happened the 2 are related,

No .....that would be you MaizieD, so either do it or don’t.

lemongrove

You either report or not.....you don’t threaten posters with it, as GNHQ have said many times to posters.

Oh, the forum police out in force today...

Ten years of tory 'austerity', which was completely unnecessary,

Why do people still say that??

People say that because it is true. Most economists (you know, people who study how national economies work) will tell you that austerity was unnecessary. Even the IMF said it was.

There was 'austerity' in Europe too because the eurozone is dominated by German economics and they subscribe to the 'austerity' belief, too. That doesn't make it right.

You either report or not.....you don’t threaten posters with it, as GNHQ have said many times to posters.