UK 'misguided' on EU immigration policy says EU commissioner

Laszlo Andor, the EU's commissioner for social affairs and social inclusion, says that the debate on migration within the EU has become 'emotional and misguided'. He said that the press, particularly in Germany and the UK, had been printing 'myths' about immigration.


Mr Andor was speaking at the launch of new rules on the eligibility for social security benefits of EU citizens who have moved to other EU states. The European Commission hopes that these guidelines will clarify the law for member states.


Mr Andor was speaking to journalists in Brussels on 13th January 2014. He said that politicians in some EU countries, he was referring primarily to the UK and Germany, have been stirring up unease about immigration.

 

 

EU citizens will learn to ignore politicians

He said that he expected that the people of the EU would learn to disregard their politicians in future, now that a forecast 'flood' of Romanians and Bulgarians has failed to materialise.


Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007. When they joined, most western EU countries imposed 'transitional controls' on the free movement of Romanians and Bulgarians to work within their borders. This is permissible under EU law. The transitional controls are only permitted to last for seven years and so they were removed at midnight on 31st December 2013.


Many right-wing politicians and newspapers in the UK predicted that 50,000 Bulgarians and Romanians would arrive each year for the next five years. Newspapers sent journalists to meet all flights from the two countries on 1st January 2014.

 

 

25 migrants from Romania and Bulgaria

In fact, since 1st January, very few migrants seem to have arrived from the two countries in the UK. The Daily Express newspaper, which had been predicting that thousands of migrants would arrive in January, reported on Tuesday 14th January that only 25 Bulgarians and Romanians have arrived since 1st January.


Mr Andor said that the failure of the predicted flood to arrive will lead UK citizens now to 'pay more attention to the facts' about immigration and listen less to the dire predictions of the press.


Mr Andor said 'I think when people in the United Kingdom see that on 1 January there was no influx of Romanians and Bulgarians and the evidence that will help to alleviate the existing concerns. People will pay more attention to the facts'.

 

 

Domestic political agenda

He said that some of the warnings of immigration from national politicians had been made to suit the interests of politicians and their 'domestic political agenda'. This seems to be a reference to the difficulty that David Cameron, the UK's prime minister, is having as his right-wing Conservative Party loses support to the anti-EU and anti-immigration UK Independence Party (UKIP).


Mr Andor told journalists that a proposal by Mr Cameron to prevent EU citizens, such as Poles, who work in the UK from sending child benefit back to their children in Poland would be 'discriminatory in terms of the nationality of workers who work and pay taxes in the UK'.


Mr Andor said that the UK risked looking 'nasty' by clamping down on migrants benefits.

 

 

No comment

He was also asked by journalists to comment on a proposal from the UK Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith to prevent EU migrants from claiming benefits for two years after arriving in the UK. He said that he was not prepared to comment on this proposal because, as yet, this was not official UK government policy.


'We have seen so many different ideas in the last two months, so it is very difficult to respond to all of them individually. If we see any concrete proposals in an official document that makes any clarification on restrictions then we will look into them' he said.


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US Secretary of Commerce says immigration reform 'doable' in 2014

Penny Pritzker, the US's Secretary of Commerce, has told journalists that she believes that there is a good chance that the US's immigration system could be reformed in 2014.


Ms Pritzker told a press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Wednesday January 8th 2014 that she was hopeful that the House of Representatives would pass an immigration reform bill already passed by the Senate in 2013.


She told her audience 'There's an enormous window in the first half of this year to actually get immigration reform done. I think the momentum is building'.

 

 

'A moral as well as an economic issue'

Speaking on Thursday 9th January 2014 in Los Angeles, Ms Pritzker raised the issue of immigration again. She told journalists that immigration reform 'must be at the top of our to-do list'. She said it is 'a moral as well as an economic issue that will create a huge 'economic opportunity' for the US.


Ms Pritzker said that it was 'crazy' that the US educates many of the world's brightest students at US universities but then does not allow these students to stay and work in the US. At present, talented students have to 'wait in line' for permanent residence visas (known as 'green cards').


Many applicants from India and China end up having to wait eight years or more for their applications to be decided.

 

 

Boehner's call

Ms Pritzker did not state which immigration bill she expects to be passed by the House of Representatives but she said that she was hopeful that the speaker of the House, Republican John Boehner, would allow a vote on one of two bills that have already been passed by the Senate.


In June 2013, the Senate passed the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act which would

• Increase the annual number of H-1B temporary skilled work visas' from 85,000 to over 150,000. This figure could rise above 200,000 in periods of high demand
• Allow graduates from US universities with higher degrees to apply for green cards
• Increase spending on border security by $4.5bn over the next four years
• Abolish country quotas for US employment based green cards
• Create a 'pathway to citizenship' for the estimated 11.5m illegal residents currently living in the US.

 

 

Boehner decides

Mr Boehner holds a powerful position because he decides which bills will be voted on by the House of Representatives. There are two chambers in the US Congress, the upper house, the Senate, is controlled by President Obama's Democrats, whereas the lower house, the House of Representatives, is controlled by the right-wing Republicans.


So far, Mr Boehner has refused to allow a vote on any immigration reform bill.

 

 

Boehner opposes comprehensive reform bill

But he has recently hinted that he may allow a vote on immigration reform in 2014. However, aides to Mr Boehner have told journalists that he remains opposed to the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act.


'The American people are skeptical of big, comprehensive bills, and, frankly, they should be,' Mr Boehner told journalists recently. However, some US commentators believe that Mr Boehner may allow a vote on the Act to boost the Republicans' chances at the next election.


The Republicans took only 27% of the Hispanic vote at the 2012 Presidential election and many US pollsters believe that this is because of their stance on immigration. President Obama received over 70% of the Hispanic vote.

 

 

Obama promised immigration reform

At that election, Mr Obama promised to reform the immigration system to deal with the issue of the 11.5m illegal residents in the country, 80% of whom are of Hispanic descent.


At the same election, the Republican challenger Mitt Romney promised that, if he became president, he would introduce legislation to encourage illegal immigrants to leave the country by making their lives as difficult as possible.


Pollsters believe that many, perhaps most, US citizens of Hispanic descent have friends or family who are living in the US illegally. Therefore, most support the idea of an amnesty allowing illegal residents to apply for citizenship.

 

 

Republicans increasingly a party of white America

Republicans, on the other hand, are increasingly seen as the party of white America who oppose allowing illegal residents to apply for citizenship.
 

Since 2008 when the radical Tea Party movement began, the Republican Party has been moved to the right as Tea Party activists select candidates for Congress who support Tea Party principles.

The Tea Party is an informal grass roots movement but its goals are, broadly, to introduce cuts to the federal government, reduce taxes and to oppose immigration reform, particularly if that reform allowed illegal immigrants to stay in the US.

 

 

Pritzkers were immigrants

Ms Pritzker is a member of the wealthy Pritzker family which is based in Chicago. Her grandfather, Nicholas Pritzker, was a Jewish émigré from the Ukraine who arrived in the US in the late 19th century.


The family is now one of the wealthiest in the US. Her father Donald co-founded the Hyatt Hotel group. Ms Pritzker is worth an estimated $2.1bn and ten other members of the family also have billion dollar fortunes.


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UK's top immigration expert says migrants better educated than UK youth

The UK's top immigration expert Sir David Metcalf has told the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee that UK employers are deliberately employing foreign-born workers in preference to UK workers to do low-skilled work such as vegetable picking or food retail because foreign-born candidates are likely to work harder, learn faster and be more highly motivated than their English counterparts.


He suggested that the British education system might be partly responsible for the fact that employers prefer foreign-educated workers because foreign workers seem to be better prepared for the workplace than UK-educated workers.


He said he thought that this might be because of a failure of English schools to properly motivate, challenge and educate their pupils.

 

 

British workers 'outcompeted'

Sir David is the chairman of the Migration Advisory Committee, a committee which advises the British government about migration related issues. The Committee is currently working on a review of the employment of low-skilled labour in the UK. It will be published next year. One of the issues the report will address is why British workers are being 'outcompeted' by migrants.


On Tuesday 10th December 2013, Sir David appeared before the Home Affairs Committee. One of the people asking questions was Lorraine Fullbrook MP, the Conservative MP for South Ribble, an agricultural constituency in Lancashire.


Ms Fullbrook asked Sir David 'are you saying that employers for low-skilled jobs are actively employing migrant workers who are better educated?'

 

 

Migrants 'more highly qualified'

Sir David said that, in some cases they did. He continued 'Oftentimes they [the migrants] are more highly qualified than the job but they will be in this job while they are feeling their way, particularly if their English is not very good. In some senses, from an employer's point of view, it is quite understandable'.


Sir David said that there were other factors too. He said that British workers often did not apply for low-paid jobs. He said that this was 'partly because of the benefits system because if you come off benefits it is tricky then to get back on'. This meant that British workers would not take seasonal or part-time work.


When asked by Ms Fullbrook 'is the benefits system the reason why British-born people do not go for these types of jobs?' Sir David replied that this was only one reason amongst many. He said that 'the whole system of education, training, motivation and so on' that was to blame.

 

 

English schools failing to challenge students

Sir David suggested that English schools were failing to challenge students and therefore were not producing motivated, driven young adults. He said 'you don't challenge the people at the top and you don't give the resources to the people at the bottom'.


Sir David added that UK workers also did not seem to relish the prospect of hard physical labour such as fruit picking on British farms. He said 'For quite understandable reasons, they do not necessarily like living on the farms and the rural transport won't be quite what they wish it to be'.


Sir David said that planned changes to the UK benefit system are unlikely to make it more likely that UK workers will apply for low-paid jobs. The UK's Coalition government has announced plans to introduce a 'universal credit' in 2015. The intention is to ensure that people are always better off in work than on benefits.

 

 

Universal credit system 'is not going to be a panacea'

'I am afraid that the universal credit is not going to be a panacea for that. One was hoping that it would be but it is not going to be' the Professor said.


Recent research from the National Institute for Economic and Social Research, the UK's oldest independent policy research institute, suggests that companies which employ foreign workers do better because foreign workers are, on the whole, better-educated and work harder than their British counterparts.


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Canadian immigration minister promises better service in 2014

Canada's immigration minister Chris Alexander has promised to improve the service that his department, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) provides for those seeking to migrate to Canada.


Mr Alexander became immigration minister in August 2013, replacing Jason Kenney who had been in the post since 2008. Mr Kenney introduced a series of major changes to the Canadian immigration system, re-focusing the system to favour skilled based and employment based immigrants over family stream applicants


Mr Kenney was immigration minister during a period of great change to the Canadian immigration system. There were major changes to the permanent residence visa programme for skilled migrants; the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP).

 

 

Federal Skilled Trades Program

To make immigration for tradespeople easier the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) for tradespeople was introduced. He also introduced the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) visa; a visa stream which allows skilled workers who have worked in Canada for a year to apply for permanent residence visas.


Mr Alexander paid tribute to his energetic predecessor in an interview with Postmedia News, a Canadian news agency. 'It's a pleasure to step into [Kenney's] shoes because there's a record of achievement here' he said.


Mr Alexander has made it clear that, in 2014 at least, he intends to focus on ensuring that the changes introduced by his predecessor work and on improving the service given to potential immigrants to Canada. His chief focus will be on decreasing waiting times.

 

 

Parents and grandparents

He has announced that he will reopen a visa stream for parents and grandparents of Canadian permanent residents and citizens, allowing 5,000 people to apply for visas to visit their children in Canada.


He will also concentrate on preparing CIC for the introduction of an 'Expression of Interest' (EOI) system for skilled workers which is due to take place on 1st January 2015.
Mr Alexander gave a series of interviews at the end of December 2013 outlining his ambitions for 2014. He told Postmedia that he wants the waiting time for an applicant for a Canadian permanent resident visa under the FSWP to be reduced to about six months.

 

 

55,000 FSWP visas per year

The FSWP is Canada's main skilled immigration visa programme. Around 55,000 people are issued with permanent resident visas under the FSWP each year. The current waiting time for an FSWP application to be resolved is approximately 12 months.


This is a considerable improvement on the situation before mid-2012 when some people had waited over eight years for their FSWP applications to be determined.


In 2012, Mr Kenney took drastic action and terminated all FSWP applications made before February 28th 2008. This was a controversial move. Nearly 250,000 applications were terminated and some of those affected launched a legal challenge in Canada's Federal Court. It was defeated.

 

 

EOI system in January 2015

Since then, good progress has been made in cutting the remaining backlog and Mr Alexander has said that CIC is on course to introduce the EOI system on time on 1st January 2015.


Australia already operates an EOI system known as SkillSelect. Under this system, those hoping to emigrate to Australia as a skilled worker first submit an EOI to Australian immigration. This EOI contains information about the candidate; You do not need to send documentation with this application.


Australian employers can then browse through a list of Expressions of Interest and select candidates that they would like to employ. Australian immigration will then invite the candidate to make a formal application for a permanent resident visa. This application must be accompanied by evidence that all the claims made in the EOI about the candidate's education, health, training etc are correct.

 

 

Similar to Australia's SkillSelect

The Canadian system is expected to be similar to SkillSelect except that employers will not be able to browse through the applications of appropriately qualified candidates. Instead, Canadian employers will approach CIC and CIC who will then send the details of candidates that it selects as being suitable.


The Ontario Chamber of Commerce has criticised this proposal and have called on CIC to introduce a system similar to that in Australia which would allow Canadian firms to browse a list of suitable candidates.


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UK Cabinet split on EU immigration

A senior Conservative cabinet minister has been 'rebuked' by the UK's Prime Minister David Cameron for saying that he did not accept 'that the European Union is responsible for unacceptable waves of migration' and adding that immigration had made the UK 'far more exciting and healthier'.


Kenneth Clarke, a veteran Conservative politician who served in Mrs Thatcher's cabinet in the 1980s, told The Financial Times that immigrants from the EU had made 'a positive contribution to our economy'.


Mr Clarke is a noted 'europhile'. This is increasingly rare in a Conservative politician as the party has, in recent years, become increasingly 'eurosceptic'.

 

 

Major parties vie to be tough on immigration

Also, over the last five years in particular, encouraged by anti-immigration views in the polls, politicians of all three major parties; The Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats, have tried to outdo each other to be seen to be 'tougher' on immigration.


This has caused considerable disquiet among some rank and file party members, particularly in the Liberal Democratic Party which has traditionally been more 'pro-immigration'.


Mr Clarke told the Financial Times that it would be impossible for the single European market to work unless workers were allowed to move freely throughout the EU. He attacked those who are calling on the government to do more to stop EU migrants from coming to the UK as 'escapists'.

 

 

'Right wing nationalist escapism' – Clarke

'The idea that you can have some fundamental debate that somehow stops all these foreigners coming here is rather typical right wing, nationalist escapism, I think', he said.


But the Prime Minister's official spokesman told journalists 'Immigration in the decade up to 2010 was allowed to be out of control. The Prime Minister has been very clear about that. It was too high'.


The spokesman said that much of this immigration had come from within the EU after the former Labour government failed to introduce controls on the free movement of Poles and other eastern Europeans when eight eastern European countries joined the EU in 2004.


The Labour government at the time predicted that 13,000 people would come each year from the new member states to the UK. In fact, more than 1.5m are thought to have come in the first year and a half.

 

 

Conservatives increasingly Eurosceptic

Mr Clarke's pro-EU stance has become increasingly unusual in a Conservative MP in recent years as younger Conservative MPs are increasingly anti-European. Many would be in favour of the UK leaving the EU if it cannot renegotiate the terms of its membership.


Mr Cameron faces pressure to oppose EU immigration not only from within his own party but also from the UK Independence Party (UKIP); a right-wing party that opposes immigration and the UK's membership of the EU.


Polls show that UKIP may come second behind Labour in the European elections to be held later this year. The government is therefore introducing policies that will 'crack down' on abuse of the benefits system by EU migrants (although the evidence suggests that EU migrants pay more tax and receive less in benefits than UK citizens).

 

 

Europhilia cost Clarke Tory leadership

Mr Clarke is one of very few notable Conservative politicians of the last thirty years who has been publicly supportive of the UK's involvement in the EU. Indeed, his 'europhile' tendencies are said to have cost him the chance to lead the Conservatives.


He stood for leadership on three occasions; in 1997, 2001 and 2005 and on each occasion right-wing, Eurosceptic MPs voted tactically to defeat him.


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Australian senator calls for 35m population through immigration

Sam Dastyari, an Australian Labor Party senator from New South Wales, has written an article in Australian newspaper The Australian calling for a 'big Australia'. Mr Dastyari says 'I believe in a big Australia. We need the best and the brightest to come to Australia.


Mr Dastyari was born in 1983 in Iran to an Iranian mother and a father who was from Azerbaijan. His parents took him to Australia when he was five. He joined the Labor Party at 16. He was appointed to the Senate, the upper house of the Australian parliament, in August 2013.


At 30 years of age, he is one of the youngest members of the senate. He said 'A population of 35m by 2050 should not be feared, it should be embraced. This is not an easy issue for Labor or for the (ruling) Coaliition, but we must embrace immigration as a big idea for Australia's future'.

 

 

Population up by 6m in 20 years

Australia's population currently stands at about 23m. It has grown by over 6m in the 20 years since 1993. Immigration became an election issue at the general election in September 2013 with both parties promising to prevent abuse of the immigration system.


There were two Labor prime ministers in 2013; Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd. Mr Rudd ousted Ms Gillard just over a month before the election hoping that he would turn round Labor's poor polling figures. Both Gillard and Rudd promised to crack down on abuse of the 457 temporary work visa promising 'Aussie jobs for Aussie workers'.


Their challenger, the leader of the opposition Coalition, Tony Abbott, backed 457 visas but promised to prevent migrants from all over Asia travelling from Indonesia by boat to Australian territory where they would then claim asylum.

 

 

Australian Labor reforming in opposition

The Coalition won the election and Mr Abbott is now the Australian premier. The Australian Labor Party has begun a period of reform, hoping to recover power at the next election in 2016.


But Senator Dastyari said that there must be a 'transformative shift' in the nation's approach to immigration. He said '"Increasing our population through immigration is a sensible economic decision that allows us to maintain our standard of living and care for our ageing population'.


Some Australian politicians have claimed that Australia is 'full' but Senator Dastyari said that such claims were 'patently ridiculous'. He said 'Only Namibia and Mongolia have a lower population density than Australia'.

 

 

We should be pro-immigration – Bill Shorten

Senator Dastyari's article echoes a call from the new party leader Bill Shorten for increased immigration. In October 2013, Mr Shorten said 'we should certainly, as a party, be pro-immigration and pro increasing it making sure that people go to wherever it is sustainable for infrastructure and support'.


Mr Dastyari said 'The path to a big Australia involves a considerable political shift. It means confidently embracing immigration and moving away from the currently accepted notion that the Australian public won't support or accept an increase in migration levels. As we head into a non-election year, we have a window of opportunity to have a real debate about our immigration numbers'.


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Canada needs speedy EOI skilled immigration system says report

A report from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce warns that Canada risks losing out on the brightest immigrants if it does not increase the speed of its 'Expression of Interest' (EOI) immigration system which is due to be introduced in 2015.


Former Canadian immigration minister Jason Kenney announced in 2012 that Canada would work towards the introduction of an EOI system once a backlog of applications for permanent residence by skilled immigrants had been eliminated.


Mr Kenney said that the new system would be more responsive and eliminate lengthy backlogs in future. Mr Kenney's successor Chris Alexander has said that he believes that the new EOI system will enable Canada to process applications from suitably skilled migrants in about six months but the Chamber of Commerce report says that this is still too long.

 

 

Australia processes EOIs in 58 days

The report states that Australia can process its EOIs and issue visas in 58 days (under two months).

The report states that 'the speed of the system is the single most important factor in determining whether employers will participate in the EOI system'.


It continues 'The government has signalled that the EOI system will process applications within approximately six months from Invitation to Apply to Arrival in Canada. That is too long'.


The Canadian EOI system is expected to be a kind of 'dating service' that puts suitable candidates in touch with businesses that might want to employ them. Those wanting to emigrate to Canada will submit an EOI giving their basic details. They will be assessed against a points grid. Government will choose candidatesCanadian businesses will then tell the Canadian federal government if they need a worker skilled in a certain occupation. The government will then present the business with the details of suitable candidates. If a business selects a certain candidate, that candidate will then be invited to apply for a permanent resident visa.

Providing he or she can prove that all the information originally provided is correct and meets all other Canadian immigration criteria (clean criminal record, in good health), a permanent resident visa will be issued.


Mr Kenney decided to move towards an EOI system because of a crisis in Canada's skilled immigration system. By 2012, Canada's primary skilled immigration programme, the Federal Skilled Worker Program, had developed a massive backlog. People were waiting for as much as eight years to have their applications processed.

 

 

Backlog should be cleared by 2015

Mr Kenney, as immigration minister, took drastic action and terminated all applications made before March 2008. Since then, the backlog has been reduced steadily and should be eradicated by the end of 2014.


But Mr Hjartarson warns that the Canadian EOI system will still be too slow. He says that Australia allows potential employers of workers who have submitted an EOI to browse lists of suitable candidates. This, he says, makes the Australian system quicker and more responsive.


The Toronto Star reports that Mr Hjartarson also believes that this will make the Canadian system less useful for employers. Mr Hjartarson says it would be better for employers if they could browse a list of possible candidate. They could then pay attention to personal attributes of candidates besides their qualifications for the job.

 

 

Businesses need to assess all candidates' qualities

Mr Hjartarson says that employers would be able to consider non-academic qualities such as 'critical thinking, teamwork and analytical skills' when selecting their preferred candidate.


The Star reports that 30% of Ontario businesses had difficulty in filling a job vacancy in the last 18 months because no one suitably qualified was available.


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