If you are outside of the EU, my understanding is that it is harder now than it was say a year or two ago, as we have now adopted a points system.
Under our previous government, everyone was let in
as we needed workers to do jobs that some lard arse Brits did not want to do
Anywhere near London is incredibly expensive to live in
and if you are looking to improve your English, you would struggle to find a native speaker in some areas
Unless you are Scottish or Welsh, study fees have risen considerably
Your best bet would be to invent some story along the lines of that you were tortured in your Country and your grandparents were eaten by government forces
Under the European Wrongs Act, we would be unable to deport you
you could live a life of luxury on benefits
Another good idea would be to buy a cat when you get into the Country, so you could claim your right to a family life would be infringed if you were deported.
Saying this, unless you are living in Libya, I would stay where you are.
No one lives such a life on state benefits alone in Britain.
I think that the poster's enquiry is less about how easy or otherwise it might be to immigrate into Britain and more about how easy or otherwise it might be for an immigrant to get work in that country (although the suggestion was also made that the intent was to come to Britain to study).That's not true. There have always been rejections of aspiring immigrants to Britain, although I accept that more may be turned away nowadays than during the life of the previous British government; there are, of course, still illegal immigrants and no government can prevent that or has prevented it.And we don't any longer?...Indeed it is, although my curiosity as to the enquirer's present location is fired by the suggestion that "everything is cheaper" in Britain and I can only conclude that this present location might be Denmark.Nonsense! In any case, there are plenty of places offering lessons in Englsh to foreign students.This is indeed true - quite absurdly so in certain places, in fact - although something tells me that the enquirer is neither Scottish nor Welsh...Once again, you seem to be getting the wrong end of the stick (or maybe even the wrong stick); no possibility that the actual act of immigration might pose problems has yet been mentioned, so why assume that there would be such problems?The Act comcerned is the Human Rights Act but nothing therein prevents justifiable deportation; if an immigrant has broken certain British and/or EU laws while in Britain, he/she might risk deportation.No one lives such a life on state benefits alone in Britain.That's about the most absurd reason for feline acquisition that i've ever read.Only Libya? What about Syria? Sudan? Nigeria? Iraq? Afghanistan? Iran? North Korea? Rural China? Any number of other countries you could mention? In any case, the poster was not counselling your opinion (or indeed anyone else's) as to whether or not to immigrate into Britain but asking about work possibilities there and mentioning comparative costs of living and incomes.Best,Alistair
Perhaps not if you are referring to legally entitled state benefits.Saying that, barely a week passes when one does not hear of some immigrant living in a 3,000,000 house paid for by the tax payer.
are you seriously seeking to suggest that a government department actually wilfully houses an immigrant (as distinct from a non-immigrant) in receipt of state benefits in a properties valued at or around £3m in preference to allocating cheaper housing when it is available for that purpose?
there's no such thing as illegal state benefits, only certain claimants who make fraudulent claims
Congratulations for working out what I was referring to.Your deduction skills are "Holmesian" sometimes.
What I am suggesting is that it is absurd that a government department cannot house someone in another district where housing is considerably cheaper.
therefore it is of no relevance until and unless you provide such evidence for discussion and at the same time prove that there are sufficient cases thereof for it to be a matter of concern in principle.
If you are brilliant on the piano, and can play popular music, I think there is a serious chance you can make money £10+ an hour playing
How about Poland, Austria, Ukraine, Russia, China and in Germany: Berlin or Leipzig?
My advice would be to get a music related job, like working in a Piano factory, playing the piano. While you are young and single (my assumption) focus on the instrument.
One instance is enough to be of concern, or at least it is to me.Do I take it you are comfortable with a family of Ethiopians who have contributed nothing to this Country being housed by Tower Hamlets Council at a cost of £1500 per week??
If that local authority could easily have housed them decently at far less cost, I would indeed be less than happy with it.
Why in the name of all that is Holy
should we house them decently???
Have we not enough of our own people who are homeless who have made a "contribution" to this Country???
Could not the money be far better spent in sending this entourage back to the hole from whence they originated???
This Ethiopian gentleman is unlikely to make a contribution to this Country, especially as he would have to find a job paying approximately £230,000 per year so he, his wife and 11 children could maintain their standard of living.No doubt the Council were following guidelines, but this event is still a smack in the face to every hard working person in the Country, that could not even dream of living in such a house.
That said, please remember that no small number of those "holes" that you mention were once colonised by the British, so what do you expect?
I expect that this Country will continue to pay a heavy price for the actions of our ancestors.
As to how many similar instances I have read about, I would say about 30.
Countrymath, why not Portugal? Get your papers in order (with instructions in a language you can understand) for the EU and then venture out. Don't try anything cold without the right stamps!
Listen, Countrymath, you may think that 18 is 'not young' but some of us look back on that as early childhood £6 per hour is minimum wage here. If you accepted as a student and have a student visa you will be allowed to work here but I think there is a maximum number of hours you can legally work. You don't have to pay tax if your annual income is below about £6000 BUT employers will normally take the tax off anyway and you have to claim it back at the end of the tax year, which is all tedious.I have to say I agree that there are more attractive places, from many points of view, than Britain. Fees are very high here and it's hard to make a living. It's also hard to make a mark as a musician. It partly depends how adventurous you are linguistically. For instance, my wife is from Georgia (ex-USSR) so I know because I've visited that country that it has a very good conservatoire in the capital, Tbilisi. But you would have to learn Georgian, which is an obscure and quite difficult language. Then again, they would make you feel very welcome - very hospitable place!
but even 30 surely represents a very small proportion even of that sector of the British population that is entitled to receive state benefits, wouldn't you say?
That is just 30 that I have heard of. Gawd knows how many other instances there are and the costs are huge.
Now that there appear to be about 1,000 Libyan refugees in various parts of Italy and France (who sensibly want nothing to do with them), I expect the costs to the British taxpayer to climb even higher, as it appears that they want to come to England (I wonder why).
Since you seem to be relaxed about this, I have given your address to various Councils, so they can all stay at your place.
If something similar had occured and was continuing to occur in England as has occurred and continues to occur in Libya, how would you feel about being obliged to escape to another country only to live there as an unwelcome refugee?
If something similar was happening in England, I would be fighting for my cause, not deserting like a rat from a sinking ship and dumping myself on a Country that is "attempting" to assist.
If something similar was happening in England, you might well be dead. When a country in trouble displaces part of its populace in ways not technically dissimilar to deportation, what do you expect those expelled citizens to do?
No citizens of Libya have been forcibly displaced as far as I am aware, the situation is a civil war with supporters for both sides. Nobody has told anyone to leave or die and many ordinary citizens have taken up arms and fought bravely.I would have more support for the people that have deposited themselves in France & Italy if they were young children, women, or older men, but as with the wars in Iraq, Afganistan and Kosovo, the majority of immigrants seem to be young men who's place should be with their families in times of crises & by the side of others who are fighting for freedom.If Gravesend were under attack, I would not flee to another Country and leave behind my elderly mother and aunts.
Yeah...Portugal rulez too. My grandpa is Portuguese .I asked about england because its very well know here in Brazil. I know some people that meet other people that moved there. Also, most forum members are from Europe.My main goal is not piano (this is my second goal), but music theory. My dream is to work as orchestrator. I think I need to study composition, then... Thank you for your reply. I think I will have to talk with a lot more people
I take your points here but note that you have avoided reference to my examples of the Jews in Germany and Asians in Uganda who indeed had the Hobson's-type choice of being displced/escaping or being terminated instead of any hope of resisting the demands of the respective régimes concerned.
It seems to me that you harbour a fundamental - if not quite all-embracing - disdain for the very notion of people living in other people's countries for all manner of different reasons, such obsessive isolationism in practice ends up doing almost no one any good and a lot of people a great deal of harm.
There is no comparison between what is happening to the Libyan people and what happened to the Jews in Germany. Unless it has not made the news, the Libyan people are not being thrown out of their houses, stripped of their wealth, packed into trains, worked to death and terminated in their millions. It is a civil war between reasonably well matched sides.To attempt a comparison and use it as justification for young men to abandon their Country to find a better life is beyond absurd.
I do not have a problem with people that want to legally come to England, obey our Laws, attempt to speak our language, live a peaceful life and work hard to provide a better future for themselves.
Many immigrants do and their contributions to our Society are immense. However, it is important to have an open mind and speak freely about the ones that do not.
The 1,000 or so young men who have abandoned their Country, entered Italy illegally and are now in France awaiting their chance to get into England illegally, have no right to be in this Country and all efforts should be made to ensure that they do not make it.
In an ideal World, we would have the money, the infastructure and the space to help people who are suffering in other Countries and want to come here, but we do not and in the present economic climate, our money is better spent on the people that are already here.I do not blame people for wanting to come here, but as a Country, we should not be criticised for trying to keep them out.
Many of those (not just "young men", thank you) who feel inclined to leave their country under such circumstances which are in large part predicated upon the existence of an oppressive dictatorship over many years have motives which are perfectly understandable.
OK - but do you really have no sympathy whatsoever for such people who are simply trying to maintain their existences in a situation that makes it likely that remaining in their own country and trying to achieve decent redress may mean torture or death?
Topic: Living in England: Work and study 