This was posted by immigration expert when he compared the UK immigration laws for EU and NON EUROPEAN. Read it first
Reflecting on the past few posts, I came to the realisation that many EEA migrants do not appreciate just how biased the system is in their favour, just how extraordinarily privileged they are, simply because they don't go through the same immigration rigmarole that non-EEA migrants do. So, I have summarised the salient points for them. Others please feel free to chip in if I have missed anything out.
Given the fact that the Leave campaign is harping on about an Australian points-based system and how it will help reduce migration, most people (likely including EEA migrants) probably don't realise that the UK already has a Points Based System, comprising of five Tiers. It was introduced in the dying days of the last Labour government, when concerns about immigration started growing. But of course, it does not apply to EEA migrants.
Points Based System
Since the 2010 elections, the rules on almost all the Tiers have been tightened up so considerably as to reduce migration through the PBS. Let's look at the Tiers by turn.
Tier 1 - This tier had many subcategories, but it was broadly meant for highly skilled migrant workers. The number of points (based on salary, age and education) required to qualify for the general category of this Tier (Tier 1 General) was increased in 2010. Entry to that category itself from outside the UK was shut in 2011 and the category was shut completely in 2015. Existing T1G visa holders have until 2018 to acquire ILR.
Sub-categories of this Tier aimed at entrepreneurs and investors require initial capital investment of £50,000 for the former and £2 million for the latter. Not exactly chump change.
Tier 2 - Again with many sub-categories, this category is aimed at sponsored workers. The terms of the general category of this visa has also been tightened up and now requires annual income in excess of £35,000 to qualify for ILR. Furthermore, the company sponsoring the worker itself must be licensed to sponsor the worker and have to submit proof that the position was advertised in the whole EU and that no suitable person was found (The Resident Labour Market Test).
Sub-categories of this Tier include people who are subject of Intra Company Transfer, who are not eligible for ILR at all.
As these are sponsored visas, the company employing them control their future by either terminating or transferring them to another country. If terminated, there is a 60 days window to find another sponsor, another visa category or leave the UK with family.
Tier 3 - Aimed at low-skilled workers, it was never activated because of the inflow of such workers from the A8 countries.
Tier 4 - Aimed at students coming to the UK, it initially used to come with the opinion of continuing onto a Post Study Work visa after the studies. But now, that option is gone and the only way to work in the UK after your studies is to find a Tier 2 sponsor.
Tier 5 - This tier covers a swath of temporary visas that allow work, such as the Youth Mobility visa (the former Working Holidaymaker visa) for people under a certain age or temporary Ministers of Religion, etc. Even here, there has been a tightening of the criteria, though it has been relatively minor. The number of YM visas for some countries have been cut or eliminated altogether.
At no point before ILR are any of the above eligible for benefits.
Family members
The above was an overview of the situations as regards what are generally called the main applicants. But the situation as regards family members is much stricter.
Non-EEA dependents of the main applicants of the Tier system above have their own requirements.
Spouses of British citizens are people settled in the UK
But non-EEA dependents of people on ILR and even British citizens are still subject to significant requirements, such as the requirement of the British citizen/person on ILR to be earning at least £18,600 per annum or have savings of £62,500 in readily accessible bank accounts. 43% of the British population do not meet this earnings requirement and hence it is no surprise this requirement is currently being adjudicated on by the UK Supreme Court. Many moderators on these forums are here because they have been a subject of this requirement and have spent months if not years battling the Home Office for a right so basic as having your spouse in your house.
The spouse is also required to demonstrate a minimal knowledge of English (A1 on the CEFR scale, rising to A2 in October this year) to qualify as a dependent and B1 on the same scale to qualify for ILR.
And the spouses are not eligible for benefits either.
Parents
And that is just the spouse. It is practically impossible to get your parents to come and live with you in the UK. The standards for getting your parents to come and live in the UK are that they require assistance with basic actions like bathing, washing, etc AND that such care is not affordable in their home country. Given that you must also prove that you can pay for such care in the UK, it means that only parents from countries with high social care costs (such as the US) are eligible. Is it any wonder that there are only 34 known cases of an Adult Dependent Relative visa being issued SINCE 2012?
Fees
The starkest differences between the EEA route and the non-EEA route are in the fees that are charged for non-EEA applications. As leave to remain is granted and not an automatic right, it is possible to pay thousands and have the application fail. Most fees for individual applications run in the thousands of pounds sterling. My personal journey through the system cost me about £5000 and that was a few years ago, when it was cheaper. And I was on a 5 year route. Some people going through the 10 year route pay more.
Also, all non-EEA migrants (no exemption for children) must now pay an Immigration Health Surcharge of £200 per year or part thereof per person per application.
Now imagine a family of four applying to stay in the UK. The fees for the application of the four together would easily be £5000+. And that is not even for five years, but only 2.5 years or less.
These fees go up at the rate of 25%-50% some times. For instance, the fees for ILR jumped from £1093 to £1500 (per person) overnight last year.
None of the fees above include citizenship fees, which are the same for both EEA and non-EEA migrants. And obviously, these are just the application fees. If you want to pay for a solicitor to do the filing for you or because it is a complex case, put aside a few more thousand pounds.
EEA Migrants
Waltz in with a maroon passport. It is your right.
Don't just get your non-EEA spouse, get the whole family, parents, siblings, half-brothers and nephews et al (Rahman judgment of the ECJ/CJEU). You need only prove that they were your dependents at some point in the past. You need not even prove financial dependency, emotional dependency is sufficient.
Salary requirements? You must be having a laugh. It is your right to live in the UK.
Come straight in, but broke? Your entire family (EEA & non-EEA) can qualify for benefits on arrival by signing up as job-seekers.
Fees? Pay a princely sum of £65 for any application? What an outrage? (I am not making the last one up. There are threads on these forums where the applicants are genuinely outraged at having to pay £65 for a PR card application. As mentioned above, an ILR application costs £1500 and there is no guarantee of succeeding.)
Why fees matter
The current government has stated that it intends to make the immigration system effectively self-funding. If EEA citizens can not be charged more than £65 an application (which the EEA citizens themselves don't need), the cost (and any future increase) must fall disproportionately on non-EEA migrants.
The last time there was so much gap between two classes of people, the French had a revolution (just kidding, in a serious way). But I hope that it throws in sharp relief just why non-EEA migrants would be jealous and envious of EEA migrants and why they would use their vote to have the revolution of a Brexit.
I am aware that some people reading this post will consider it polemic, but I invite them to dispute the facts that I have laid out above. That is what discussion and forums are for.
They send all rubbish to UK. I mean actually educated and talented polish and Romanian stay in their country but its just uneducated unemployed labour class which rush toward UK, Germany etc
numbers dont lie
BRITAIN’S booming benefits bill is being fuelled by a huge number of eastern Europeans claiming handouts which has DOUBLED in the last five years.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/67...n-migrants-benefits-UK-Britain-Brexit-Cameron
