Why are there Chinese people doing low-end jobs in the UK?

There are so many topics that I want to cover now that I am back in London but let's start with something quite simple. I do follow my friend Alvin Tan on Facebook and he does have a lot of interactions with many Malaysians on his Facebook page. This was a question raised by a Malaysian who has recently visited the UK: in his visit to London, he saw some Chinese people working in low-end jobs like cleaners and security (notably, bouncers at a nightclub). He knew that these jobs were poorly paid work for unskilled labourers, so he came away with the impression that it was extremely easy for any Malaysian to get a work permit in the UK to do jobs at the very bottom of the food chain.

Our Malaysian tourist saw a Chinese nightclub bouncer.

This is clearly not the case as it is actually very difficult to get a work permit to work in the UK - work permits are issued for professionals who possess certain skills that are in short demand in the UK, such as nursing or teaching. Otherwise, you would have to be very highly skilled in your field to quality as a 'highly skilled migrant' - that means that anyone looking to come here to work as a cleaner or security guard would never ever be issued a work permit. Are there Asians/Chinese people in the UK doing such poorly paid jobs? Yes there are. So how do we explain these Asian/Chinese people working in these jobs at the bottom of the food chain then? Here are some explanations.

1. They were born here in the UK (or in the EU) 

The UK has had a small East Asian community for a long time - a Chinese community was first established in Liverpool back in the early 19th century. Those born here are British citizens and there are Chinese people here who are third, fourth, fifth or even sixth generation British born Chinese. Not all Chinese people born here in the UK are naturally gifted, bright and intelligent - there are those who do not perform well in school, do not go on to get good jobs and end up working for jobs that barely pay the minimum wage: such as cleaners and security guards. Do not assume that all the Chinese people you encounter in the UK were born outside the UK - many were born in the UK or within the EU.

Chinatown London in the winter

2. They married a UK or EU national.

Now this is the easiest way to get a visa to come and work here: simply marry a UK or EU national. So if you're from China and your spouse is Czech, Dutch or Greek, then you have no problems working in the UK as you are automatically entitled to work in the UK as the spouse of an EU national. Your right to work is dependent on the marriage, not your education or skills. So a Chinese person could have a spouse with an EU passport - this gives them the right to work here, but doesn't guarantee them a good job and they could end up scraping by with a job at the bottom of the food chain. Not everyone has the kind of education or training necessary to get them a well paid job! 

3. They are international students. 

Did you know that international students in the UK are permitted to work up to 20 hours a week? It is very common for students to take on some kind of part time employment whilst at university as it would allow them to earn some extra money whilst gaining valuable work experience at the same time. Unless you have some other special skills up your sleeves, it is actually rather hard for students to find well paid part time work - so many of them actually end up in very low paid jobs like stacking shelves in a supermarket, working as waiters, baby sitting, cleaners or security guards.

International students can work up to 20 hours a week whilst at university.

4. They are the spouse of an international student. 

Do you know that if you come to the UK as an international student enrolled at a British university, you can bring your spouse with you to the UK and your spouse will be given the right to work here if your course is for more than 12 months. This special concession will only last as long as the university course, so if you are granted a 3 year student visa to pursue a degree programme, your spouse will be given a 3 year work visa. Of course, this puts the spouse looking for work in a difficult situation - any potential employer will know that the visa will expire the moment your spouse graduates from university and that you cannot remain in the country beyond that. This really limits their prospects, so many spouses of international students are reduced to doing low-paid work such as cleaners and security guards (despite being vastly overqualified for those jobs).

5. They are asylum seekers.

Oh yes, the famous Alvin Tan route. Well yes, we do get asylum seekers from places like China and Myanmar (and maybe we could expect more from Malaysia in the future?) where the human rights are appalling. So imagine if a Chinese citizen has to flee China because he has been criticizing the government (say he exposed some corrupt local official taking bribes and has incurred the wrath of the authorities or if he speaks up about the democracy movement in Hong Kong), he makes it to the UK and is granted asylum. What next? He is given the right to work and is expected to find employment to sustain himself - if you are plucked out of your country and thrown in a completely foreign culture, you could find it hard to find a good job especially if English is not your first language. So such people end up working in jobs like cleaning and security where they are mostly using their muscles rather than their brains to earn a living.

6. They are illegal immigrants.

OK I hesitate to add this last category but yes they do exist - but in very small numbers. Illegal immigrants cannot get work legally in this country, they simply do not have the right paperwork and any employer who willfully employs an illegal immigrant can get into a lot of trouble with the law. So illegal immigrants are usually hidden away from the public gaze and are unlikely to be seen by our Malaysian tourist friend. A bouncer in a nightclub for example, would require an SIA (Security Industry Authority) license and all applicants are subject to a full background check before these are issued. Nonetheless, those Chinese illegal immigrants who are here are working in far worse conditions than your average nightclub bouncer and are paid a lot less.

So there you go. That's six possible reasons to explain why our Malaysian tourist saw a Chinese person working as a nightclub bouncer in the UK. Being Chinese doesn't automatically make you super intelligent and no, not all Chinese people are brain surgeons, engineers, IT gurus and university professors - there are plenty of Chinese people who are kinda stupid but somehow, they end up in the UK and maybe being a nightclub bouncer is the best job that they can find. There's always a plausible explanation - just don't jump to the conclusion that any Malaysian or PRC can get a work permit in the UK to work as a nightclub bouncer. Duh. I just hate the way he took one piece of evidence and jumped to the wrong conclusion. As usual, please feel free to leave a comment, many thanks for reading.