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| Subject: What a wonderful world we live in... | |
Author: Ed Harris (Venezia) | [ Next Thread |
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] Date Posted: 14:27:08 12/05/04 Sun I read in my Telegraph Online that the Home Office is refusing to grant leave to remain in the UK to a Canadian who fought in WWII, who is married to a British lady, and who worked here from 1944 till his retirement in 1983. He has been living here perfectly happily, until his Canadian passport expired. When he applied for a new one, all sorts of documents whizzed between departments and he ended up being told he could stay in Britain for two more months, after which point he'd have to go to Canada and apply for leave to remain again. Since he's 84, that's not very nice for the old chap. There seems to be a concerted campaign against Canadian people in this country. It's quite bizarre. I remember a few years ago that the Immigration Dept. attempted to expel a Canadian who had lived here since the war and was actually serving as Mayor of Shrewsbury! If 50 years' residence and election to public office doesn't prevent the Home Office from trying to expel Canadians, then something is seriously amiss... Contrast this with the policy for Australian visitors: it's a revenue-raising system to take advantage of the fact that most Australians who leave Australia go straight to London first. No worries, just pay your fee, get your stamp, and she'll be right. I have never read about a case of an elderly Australian being given diffiulties by the government (although this is perhaps because only a lunatic would actually settle permanently in a country as cold and grey as Britain when there's a bit of sunshine at home). So why do Canadians have all these difficulties? [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
| [> Subject: Addendum | |
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Author: Ed Harris (Venezia) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 14:33:01 12/05/04 Sun And I think that the Canadian Mayor of Shrewsbury was also a Knight Commander of the British Empire... [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> Subject: There are still many Canadians working in Britain with no problems | |
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Author: Jim (Canada) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 14:45:45 12/05/04 Sun There are still quite a few Canadians living in Britain with no problem. My cousin now lives in Dorset and has married an English woman and they have a young daughter - no problems there. He is still a Canadian citizen and is working in Britain. It really disgusts me that Germans, French, Italians, etc. can just arrive in Britain and live and work as much as they like and yet overseas fellow subjects of the Queen have to get permission and work permits and then they are subject to the possibility of termination. I think this situation is getting worse under Labour. Perhaps the Labour government is discriminating against Canadians because we refused to support America and Britain in Iraq, while Australia did? [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> Subject: Hm. | |
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Author: Ed Harris (Venezia) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 15:03:17 12/05/04 Sun "Perhaps the Labour government is discriminating against Canadians because we refused to support America and Britain in Iraq, while Australia did?" I really don't think so. Quite a few Americans have been having the same problems; and NZ didn't support the war and they have no problems. Perhaps it has something to do with perceptions, though. Try as we might (and try as the EU might), we just can not really think of Australians and New Zealanders as foreigners, whereas South Africans and Canadians can sometimes seem very alien to us these days, especially the younger generation. You're dead right about the injustice of making people who were until recently co-nationals queue up for hours to get visas while foreigners from Europe can mooch over the Channel in a passenger hovercraft and reside here for as long as they want. On the other hand, it's still easier for antipodeans to come to Britian than for Brits to go Down Under... [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> Subject: That reminds me of a story | |
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Author: Ian (Australia) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 15:17:28 12/05/04 Sun An illegal immigrant (forget where from - let's say the former Yugoslavia) was appearing in court in Sydney and likely to be deported. As he was waiting, he was looking carefully around the recently completed court building, taking note of certain details. The judge noted this and asked him why he was so intrigued by the building, to which the man replied, "I think we did a good job with this one, but there's some things we should come back and fix up." "You mean to say," said the judge, "that you built this courthouse?" "My company did, yes," said the man. "Well," said the judge, "You can stay then. If you have been here hard at work all this time, I would be a fool to send you away now." [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> Subject: Immigration Departments Hidden Agenda? | |
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Author: Chris (BARBADOS) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 20:04:15 12/07/04 Tue It may be that there are persons in the Immigration department who realise the absurdity of the present system. They recognise that by applying the letter of the law as required by European Treaty, they can help wake people up to the reality of the law. If they didn't, the legal absurdities would slip from under the radar. Ignoring the implications of European immigration law and not strictly enforcing it isn't going to change it. Indeed, it would further lull the British into complacency. We should welcome it when the law is strictly enforced and it reaches the papers. Of course, we wish it were otherwise, but the only way to change the current reality is for people to be reminded of it. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> Subject: Quite possibly | |
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Author: Ed Harris (Venezia) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 20:25:04 12/07/04 Tue That's certainly what they did in Bulgaria last year. I don't know if you remember the reports, but the poor blighters in the immigration department of our Embassy at Sofia were told to rush through as many applications for visas as they could before eastern Europe joined the EC, so that it wouldn't look like there was a sudden glut of arrivals in May last year. They were incensed, but thought that the best way to bring the scandal to the public attention was by completely saturating Britain with Bulgarians; and, as the newspaper reports prove, they got their point across. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |