An oath on British Values?

I hope you are wearing a long, floaty dress while you drift Elegran

So elegant and dreamy

So are these the 'immigrants' who really worry you? The ones who we have always had 'control' of?
No, I am concerned about all. We have far far too many in a small overcrowded country with a large existing population.

@dj All teaching assistants have to have a minimum level of English, wherever they were born. Problems can sometimes arise because there is no direct equivalency between different countries' exams. It is assumed that those born and brought up in an English-speaking country can speak English, but they still have to have the equivalent of GCSE. In NZ, for example, pupils take their GCSE equivalent exams a year earlier than in the UK, so their exams are considered inferior and they have to take a GCSE in the UK.

EU nurses do have to take an English language test.
Well, you live and learn!!

I see that is from January 2016, so relatively new.

I know Australians have a strange turn of phrase sometimes but I think most understand English without having to take an examination in it.

By the way, at the present rate of working, it will take 47 years for all the 3 million EU citizens living here now to get permanent residency.

No Bremoaner/Remainer ready to say where they stand on uncontrolled immigration then?
What a surprise.

"By the way, at the present rate of working, it will take 47 years for all the 3 million EU citizens living here now to get permanent residency."
Interesting snippet but are you actually making any point?

I've also just checked with a Facebook friend who is an Australian nurse who has been working in the UK for just over four years. She had an exemption from the English test, because she was born, lived and studied in an English-speaking country.

I know that when I was employing teachers from abroad, Australians, NZers and South Africans etc didn't have to do the IELTS test, whereas teachers from Russia and other countries outside the EU did. All teachers had to do the skills tests in English and Maths. It was a bit of a minefield. Even if a Russian (or some other EU countries) had a degree in English, he/she would still have to do GCSE English, Maths and Science, because it's a requirement for all teachers employed in England and Wales.

trisher said
And where on earth did this idea that Australians are only coming here as professionals like doctors. Visit any big city and London in particular and you will find Aussies in many jobs like bar work and catering.

Is that just a lie or another poster who doesnt read properly?
Of course I didnt say they are ALL professionals, but the trend is going that way:

"... today's newer, sparser breed of Australian arriving on British shores has quite different priorities to those who voyaged around the world a decade or two ago - no longer so inclined to pull pints to fund their customary trips to Munich's Oktoberfest and Anzac Day in Gallipoli.
"Those still here tend more towards the higher strata of the workplace, says Eaton: "White-collar professionals - lawyers and accountants - rather than backpackers and barmen."

Perhaps it depends on the area daphnedill because my DN's fiancee had to take an English exam.
Unless Queensland is not considered English-speaking!

Link
www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25401024

Mair, did you say that nobody is suggesting that those here now go home?
If they all have to have permanent residency to stay, that's how long it will take for them all to get it.
That seems quite a reasonable point to me. You are entitled to disagree if you want.

If there's any sort of limit to the time people can live here without having residency, it will be a problem.
I have noticed other groups suggest it will take nearly 150 years at 2015 rates.

It is more difficult for Australians to get visas to come here; perhaps that is why people seeking 'casual' work are less inclined to come.
www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/australiauk-bond-under-threat-from-britains-discriminatory-visa-and-migration-policies-dfat-report/news-story/d93f1ed2ca71ba961eb71c4bf5b2cf5c

And, of course, it resulted in a tit-for-tat situation as young British people had more difficulty in obtaining Australian visas.

mair my problem with your stance is that I see resistance to immigration as a fundamental principle of populism in Europe. This has undoubtedly been strengthened by economic recession, but it is also a permanent feature of the populist right worried about their national identity. It appears always ready to designate cultural or religious minorities as scapegoats. This concentration on a single subject is in my view unhealthy and misguided.

No idea, Jalima. My friend comes from Sydney. Maybe she just knew which hoops she needed to jump through. She's quite 'mature' and had worked as a nurse for years before she came to the UK, so maybe that counted in her favour. I honestly don't know.

Not just in Europe, whitewave. Resistance to immigration is one of the main reasons the pluto-populist is now in charge of the US.

Love that phrase dj it is sooooo good a description. Pluto -populist.

That's me tell't then, Mair I shall write out a hundred times "I must not drift off the subject or neglect to read 22 pages of repetitive previous comments"

It reminds me of why I don't post much on the political threads. It is clearly my own fault. I should have chosen an extreme position and been prepared to defend it in a "debate" there is no place for any shade other than snow-white or coal-black (and I am not talking skin colour here) or for any flicker of acknowledgment that life is annoyingly three-dimensional, that blame cannot be conveniently placed squarely on one or other group.

elegran I find your posts pertinent and moderate and always read them with interest. I bet others do to, so your critic is probably a minority of one.

Wrong again Mair blacklegs are people who break strikes. Nothing illegal about employing people on shifts on minimum wage.
London region is a huge successful mega-city that sucks in workers from around the world - bringing all kinds of skills and energy. It is also the major generator of wealth.
Anything you did to tighten up on immigration would damage London. It has complex problems and there are no easy solutions.
Immigrants are not the cause of housing problems, pressure on health service or schools. They are the fuel that enables the city to function so well.

I live in an area with little immigration, but I do frequently go to London and revel in the melting pot atmosphere.

I live in an area with little immigration, but I do frequently go to London and revel in the melting pot atmosphere.

Hmmm yes its all great fun when its not your patch isn't it, not so great for the millions of working class Londoners who were displaced!

To be fair ww you have not answered the question about 'do you want to see continued unlimited immigration' to the UK. As a Remainer, that is what you have backed by wanting to stay in the EU, but perhaps you voted Remain and hoped that immigration could be controlled ( not continue as an unlimited number) by negotiation within the EU?Of course, that would have been utterly unlikely to happen.
If you are dedicated to the idea of unlimited immigration, why not just say so?

Jess
I am afraid my clearly figurative use of the term 'blackleg' was lost on you.

"Nothing illegal about employing people on shifts on minimum wage."

No of course not but still bizarre that the current 'left' are encouraging conditions where there are more:

"people willing to do minimum wage work, work inconvenient hours and live in overcrowded conditions"

Why so in your opinion?