Citizenship changes, again.

[Psycow]

Time Based British Citizenship - A Thing of the Past
August 5, 2009 01:29

In an attempt to reduce the economic pitfalls experienced in the UK, brought upon by the recession, the UK Home Office have yet again announced another regime aimed at tightening British Citizenship law. It has been stated that foreigners residing in the UK will no longer be entitled to gain British passports as a consequence of staying in the UK for up to 5 years, but will now be subject to a new points based system.

In an attempt to push the boundaries in regulating and controlling UK Immigration law, the Home Office are of the belief that foreigners need to earn the right to attain British passports. This can be achieved through their performance against predetermined criteria or points rather than automatically being granted British citizenship for remaining in the UK for a period of time together with keeping their criminal records clear.

In a recently published article featured in the Guardian, a senior Home Office representative was quoted "We are going to be tougher about people becoming citizens. There won't be an automatic right any longer, and the link between work and citizenship is effectively broken".

Another home office spokes person said "The points-based system has already proved to be a powerful tool for controlling migration for the benefit of both British people and the economy."

According to research compiled by the Home Office last year, there has been an 8% rise in applications for British citizenship with more than 160,000 applications received in 2007 alone. The most common nationalities applying for permanent residency in the UK include: Indians, Filipinos, Afghans and South Africans.

[ashfall]

So basically, this says if you aren't from the EU, it doesn't matter how long you've been in the UK or how hard you may (or  may not) have worked, if you don't have the right combo of language, skills, and good old money to add up to the correct amount of points, you're toast as far as UK Citizenship is concerned.

[Sididis]

So basically, this says if you aren't from the EU, it doesn't matter how long you've been in the UK or how hard you may (or  may not) have worked, if you don't have the right combo of language, skills, and good old money to add up to the correct amount of points, you're toast as far as UK Citizenship is concerned.

And yet the Nigerians; Moroccans and Bangladeshis will stay.

But it is a big heads up for any Saffas harbouring dreams of a better life in the UK. The boom, she's about to come down!!!!

[ashfall]

As well, it looks like people returning from the colonies aren't very welcome anymore, either. Perhaps the locals got tired of having those well trained and ambitious colonials moving into all the better jobs.

[Souledge]

Yeah, one has to ask though: Without the former colonies supplying quality citizens, who is actually going to do any of the work? It sure as hell isn't the English?

Like my great grandmother used to say (granted she was a bitter einde): *loosely translated* There are no good english anymore, they all left or were chased out years ago. The only people left on the island are pigs and savages.

There was some animosity there: Married to a Scotsman and lived in Ermelo (which was flattened to the ground during the 'scorched earth' policy of the pommies during the South African War etc etc.)

[ashfall]

Yeah, one has to ask though: Without the former colonies supplying quality citizens, who is actually going to do any of the work? It sure as hell isn't the English?

Like my great grandmother used to say (granted she was a bitter einde): *loosely translated* There are no good english anymore, they all left or were chased out years ago. The only people left on the island are pigs and savages.

There was some animosity there: Married to a Scotsman and lived in Ermelo (which was flattened to the ground during the 'scorched earth' policy of the pommies during the South African War etc etc.)

That's not limited to South Africa. I went to the UK partially out of curiosity, to try to understand why my grandfather and all  his brothers up and left Lincolnshire in the early 1900s, and never went back. Well, mostly never went--they pooled their money and sent one brother back once to fetch their mother and all her household goods. My grandfather used to say very little about England, but he had a lot to say about the caliber of person found in the Home Counties. He especially considered London to be full of nothing but drunkards, layabouts and cheats, which certainly explains why he didn't migrate there.

On the other side of the family, my great-grandmother still spoke Gaelic and whenever she was required to speak about the English as a group or a concept, she would spit first, and then say, "Of course, I'm not talking about Canadians. Canadians are what the English wish they could become!" 

That is probably because, although Canada was one of the colonies and was ruled from the top down by autocratic self-important younger sons of boring 'important' families, it is not particularly English in culture in most places, although it is British in that it is very Celtic. Many settlers tended to be from the "north" of England  (Doncaster and up toward Scotland), Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. And of course, once here on a level playing field, they tended to kick the average limey's ass, because they would work, whereas the Brit tended to want to play lord of the manor if he possibly could, and hire labor.  And of course in Quebec, the English were hated for their policies. It's still difficult to find anyone around there with a good word to say about the colonial era. Actually, although Canada is full of people from the UK, they still tend to not be from the South or Southeast, but rather the North, Northwest, Northeast, Wales, Ireland and Scotland.

[Souledge]

The ethnic cleansing known as the 'highland/lowland clearances' was ironically hugely beneficial to many of the 'colonies'. Strong, hardworking, educated populace established a footprint all over the world. Nova Scotia as an example in Canada, but everywhere from United States to New Zealand still has a large 'Scottish/Northern  Decent' population and they all tended/still tend to dislike the English as much as the locals did.

So that policy worked well!

[ashfall]

The ethnic cleansing known as the 'highland/lowland clearances' was ironically hugely beneficial to many of the 'colonies'. Strong, hardworking, educated populace established a footprint all over the world. Nova Scotia as an example in Canada, but everywhere from United States to New Zealand still has a large 'Scottish/Northern  Decent' population and they all tended/still tend to dislike the English as much as the locals did.

So that policy worked well!

Completely. As a small child, I thought Auld Lang Syne was also our national anthem, along with O Canada, because I heard it about as often.

[Psycow]

Uhuh, when I do a search on my Surname on Google or Facebook most of the people that show up is in Canada, Australia, USA or SA.  Only once saw it in England, in a newspaper article.

[ashfall]

Uhuh, when I do a search on my Surname on Google or Facebook most of the people that show up is in Canada, Australia, USA or SA.  Only once saw it in England, in a newspaper article.

And that alone tells you a *whole bunch* about why they were so keen on the Ancestry Visa program--to try to repatriate some of those kinds of people.

[Souledge]

Since this has turned into a pommie bashing thread I'll relate a little story:

Many years ago when I was a student I spent a couple of weeks with friends in Belfast between Semester's. We stayed with the family of one of the guys who was doing the same qualification.
Very pleasant and pretty city in it's own way. We realised very quickly that the pub downstairs was a IRA/Republican pub with newspaper cuttings of the Easter Uprising on the walls and the strange conversations we had about the 'bastards' and concentration camps during the South Africa War etc etc but I digress.

There was a band of old ballies that used to play in the pub every night, and being young and students we frequented said pub pretty much daily and nightly. They were actually fcking good and had Uilleann pipes, Bodhrán, flutes/whistles etc. Anyway, they played a lot of old traditional songs and such like Wild Rover, Fields of Athenry etc etc. The most popular song they used to play late at night when 'al te bstards wer pissed', well I can't remember what it was called, but the verse everyone used to sing at the top of their lungs went like this *try and imagine the thick Irish accents etc*:

When I grow up and marry and have a little son
I'll tell him of the English and the terrible things they've done
And when that he grows older and becomes a man like me
He'll join the fcking IRA and set old Ireland free

There was another verse about shooting the bastards dead, but I can't remember it. lol

Fond memories. :-)

[ashfall]

Although there are some plasters over the wounds at present, I think the Irish still hate the English, as do the Welsh. I found it really interesting that the Welsh would speak Welsh in front of me, but not my English colleagues. As well, the Scots are more than happy to let you in on their true opinion of the English. If you're in a pub, they'll force it on you! 

[ashfall]

Since this has turned into a pommie bashing thread I'll relate a little story...

I know some songs like this! But there are a lot more that are related to the Irish Diaspora, when so many people were forced to leave and knew they would never see Ireland again. They are not what you'd call really "up" tunes.