They must be doing something right!

Urmstongran

Rules have recently tightened though regarding using our NHS. A few years ago there definitely were health tourists sw.

This is not the point - the thread was about people wanting to come snd live here and immediately the untruths started from the right wing and spoiled what could have been a nice thread. Pathetic

By keeping on track you mean allowing completely wrong facts that fuel xenophobia to go unchallenged? Not a hope, not a hope.

I bet this thread would make interesting reading for some of those Windrush victims.

I'd have thought the language and possibly having family here already.

We don't take as many as people think either. Germany and Sweden get far more applicants along with other countries worldwide.

M0nica

Would you risk the overland journey from Afghanistan or Africa, entirely at the hands of gangs of criminals not knowing whether you will even live to see England, walking across the Sahara to be arrested by Libyan renegades, put in prison, starved, raped, beaten then months living in the open in France hoping to get on a lorry or a small boat and hoping you would survive the journey, just for free health care and very meagre benefits the other end,

The reason these refugees and economic migrants come here is the legacy of empire, that despite the woke and their elite supporters tearing their hair out about the iniquities of colonisation, for many people Britain is a Paradise of fairness, justice and safety, where children can get education. There is still a belief that our streets our streets are paved with gold and that anyone who is prepared to work hard can earn enough money to send home to support their families living in poverty, of trapped in war torn areas and possibly rescue them as well.

Lemsip I was so sad to read what you wrote, I had a lot of respect for you and used to think your contributions often shed a sensible and considered light on topics.

Sorry M0nica a long post and my befuddled brain got lost.

Are you saying that a misplaced perception about this country in the minds of immigrants is why they choose to come here?

If so I think the people described in your first paragraph are being patronised.
What makes you think they dont have the brains or the means to make an informed choice?

lets divide what people believe England is like from the reality......but having said that, I suspect for many people, even the reality is an order of magnitude better than what they could expect if they stayed home.

M0nica is right.
This really is the Legacy of Empire.
We are the motherland and are considered fair and just as a country. The myth that we are all equal here still pertains.

Many people have direct links with the UK. They have learned at least some English and believe they know us (which of course they don't).

I think the "benefits system" is way down the list. I think most migrants think they will be working, not desperate!

Who are we actually talking about?

This is 2016 but still interesting:
fullfact.org/immigration/why-do-migrants-and-asylum-seekers-want-come-uk/

suziewoozie

Oh yes I forgot the NHS - totally free from when you come through customs. Immediate new nose whilst giving birth to your quads.

Let’s put this straight, free NHS treatment is not given to migrants, you will be treated in an emergency otherwise you pay. I was in A&E last year and a migrant building worker with an injured hand waited a very long time before the employer paid up for the treatment.

Perhaps it is easy to get a job? My daughters came to the uk when they were in their early twenties and found it very easy to get well paid jobs, easier than it is here. They also said people don’t work as hard and have more breaks. Whoever heard of afternoon tea breaks and morning tea breaks ? Doesn’t happen. They thought the people were very welcoming,too.

Katie59

suziewoozie

Oh yes I forgot the NHS - totally free from when you come through customs. Immediate new nose whilst giving birth to your quads.

Let’s put this straight, free NHS treatment is not given to migrants, you will be treated in an emergency otherwise you pay. I was in A&E last year and a migrant building worker with an injured hand waited a very long time before the employer paid up for the treatment.

Yes and some of us remember migrant NHS workers during Covid still having to pay the NHS surcharge whilst caring for Covid patients - did Johnson ever pause that payment I wonder? Damn foreigners fleecing our NHS

Interesting that nanna8 asked why people want to move to the UK and we very quickly got a lot of posts criticising people considered freeloaders. I thought she meant why do people want to move here?

If you think there's no freedom of speech here timetogo2016, try discussing that with a refugee from Iraq.

But are are the ‘people’? Reasons for moving here will surely vary enormously and so it’s impossible to generalise ( apart of course from them all being free loaders). People move for love, career opportunities, adventure for few years, to send money home, escape persecution, poverty, prejudice, because they speak the language ( or want to speak it better), have family here. In other words mostly very specific reasons which in many cases weren’t about a straight choice between the U.K. and several other countries. I think we flatter ourselves if we think it’s otherwise in many cases.

Most of my daughter`s carers are from E.Europe, mainly Lithuania. They say they came for work, as there is very little available where they came from. And we`re glad they did, they are lovely people and very hard workers.

2 of my colleagues are from an Eastern European country and have lived and worked here for over a decade; returning to their home country for holidays to see family. Both of them have said that life in the UK is like heaven compared with their home country; healthcare whilst not 100% perfect, is accessible to all. We have a dental service and take dental health seriously. Homosexuality will not lead you to being arrested in the street and thrown into prison; you will not lose your job/home/family if you're LGBGT. You're free to criticise any politician without fear of a knock on your door late at night when the police want to take you in for questioning interrogation. We have nursing homes for the sick and elderly that is accessible to all and they're inspected regularly by CCQ, unlike their home country, where the old, sick and dying are left unattended for years with no checks from anyone. Our taxation levels, whilst having faults, is vastly better than having huge amounts of income deducted at source and with no evidence of what that money is being spent on and don't ask if you know what's good for you. People, in general, smile and speak to you in the UK; you're not looked upon as "suspicious" if you smile at the assistant in the shop or cafe. Both colleagues have said that the British have a wonderful sense of humour, it took them a while to understand irony or self deprecation because there country has a dour sense of humour that focuses on life's miseries. Neither of them ever wants to go back to their country of origin; they love the UK for its inadequacies, triumphs and people.

Chew thanks for that detailed post and the range of issues you mentioned. Of course they came here under the old rules re health care etc and didn’t need visas either. My Danish and Swedish friends had different reasons for coming and I don’t think any of what you mentioned is relevant to them - as I said, it all depends.

Chewbacca
I can attest to that. I lived in Bulgaria for 5 yrs.
Where we lived wasn’t far from the local hospital. All day, every day there would be quite a crown of people millling around outside. I asked a friend, what were they doing: selling their blood.
I have to say, though, I had a couple of procedures whilst living there and the service and outcome was excellent.
This was in a hospital with 4 floors and no lift.