UK Immigration: Such A Controversial Topic

What is the controversy all about?

The current controversy in the United Kingdom today is the rule that allows illegal immigrants to earn British citizenship and the subsequent benefits if they manage to stay as long as fourteen years. This triggered a huge number of outbursts from the British people. They do not like the fact that the crime doers will be rewarded,  provided that they are able to get away with their crime long enough, in this case, fourteen years.

Many are even quite surprised that this particular rule still even exists to date. It is a huge anomaly as compared to the rest of the policies established by the British Government, as majority of the British policies are obviously and very strongly opposed with illegal or irregular immigration into the country. 

About the rules

The rules that have been getting a lot of negative outcries are the ones responsible for permitting illegal immigrants who wrongly claim residence after their fourteen years of living in the UK, in this sense, hiding in the UK. These rules have been formalized in the Home Office, particularly in 2003, despite being such a loose concession before that year.

Same as adverse possession

The aforementioned arrangements are very similar to the legal status obtained by those who have squatter’s rights. Under the Welsh and English law, something like this would be considered as adverse possession. This particular arrangement allows illegal occupiers of English and Welsh to apply for land owner registration to the land they stayed in, as long as they survive living illegally for twelve years. According to the authorities of Home Office, not all of the application forms they receive are actually granted, despite how long their residence has reached.

Before they are granted, their cases are reviewed individually, taking in to account exactly how strong their connection is to the people and the country of United Kingdom. Of course, their criminal records will also be checked, together with their compassionate circumstances. Moreover, he added that those who submitted their applications and fell under asylum claims were more quickly dealt with as compared to the others.

“Yes!” to the system

Keith Best, a known expert on immigration cases, and also a former Chairman of the Immigration Advisory Service stated that the system they are working with is very sensible and highly flexible. The system considers the person’s individual circumstances, especially when they could have stayed in the UK beyond the expiry date stated on their Visa, and also if they have not continuously been evading the authorities deliberately.

The 14-year wait

Illegal immigrants need to wait for as long as a decade and four additional years is only four years longer than the time needed for lawful immigrants to accomplish. The people who get to stay in UK on their Visa, or who are given refugee status only need to wait ten years before they start applying for the very same concession, particularly if they have stayed long as residents of Britain.
