Amazing that
we have heated debates and government policy all around something about which we
know virtually nothing. This government has a declared policy of reducing
migration from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/7165000/conservative-manifesto.html
A policy
based on complete ignorance of exactly how many immigrants really live in the UK:
because we have never had accurate counting on our borders.
We can, of
course count the number of asylum applications, 21,785 in 2012 (excluding
dependents) according to the Refugee Council.
We also know that
the now defunct UK Border Agency had a tremendous back log in processing both
these and visa applications.
Numbers
however are not accurate. Much of the ‘information’ relied on for net migration
figures is collected by random sampling of visitors to the UK – some of whom
may have good reason not to give truthful answers to intrusive questioning
about the purpose of their visit.
http://www.migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/briefings/immigration-detention-uk
in particular the section ‘Evidence gaps and limitations’
Numbers of international
student visas granted are known., But numbers of overstaying students are not
counted accurately., Whilst every entry on such a visa is counted, exits are
not monitored. Hence an international student going home for Christmas or in
the Easter break will be counted on arrival back into the country, their departure
will not be logged. Now you can see how the figures don’t add up.
I have been
an immigrant myself. I lived in Austria for nearly 17 years. I encountered
racism very rarely. I wish the same was true for visitors to this country.
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