Monday 17 November 2014

Why are there so many illegal immigrants in the UK?

Hello again everyone. In the follow up to my last piece where I tackled a question left by a Malaysian reader on Alvin Tan's Facebook page, I will follow up with another quick piece to deal with another question. This Malaysian reader wanted to know how illegal immigrants can reach the UK, given that the land passage would mean them having to pass through a number of other European countries if they approach from Africa or Asia and then there is the English Channel itself to cross - the geography of Britain would render it quite a big challenge for anyone looking to slip in under the radar. Furthermore, it is not like the UK borders are porous and unguarded, there are strict checks at all entry points like airports or the Eurostar terminal - so how do some many of these illegal migrants get in then?
How do illegal immigrants slip through the net?

There are stories in the news about Africans trying to cross the Mediterranean sea in small boats, trying to reach Spain or Italy - when such a boat sinks, it can result in many deaths and these are the stories that make the headlines. There was also the horrific story about the 58 migrants who suffocated to death when trying to make it to the UK when they ran out of air in the container they were being hidden in. Whilst these stories make the headlines with their attention grabbing detail, many more illegal migrants actually slip into the UK in a far more low-key manner that does not attract any attention at all. 

The easiest way for them to slip in is to get a tourist visa: it is relatively easy for anybody to get a tourist visa to visit the UK, even those from third world countries can obtain such a visa as the UK is increasingly desperate to compete with other European countries for a share of that lucrative tourism market. The biggest growth in this sector comes from Russian and Chinese tourists - both of whom require visas to visit the UK. There was a time maybe 20 years ago, when officials sitting in a British embassy in somewhere like Moscow, Beijing, Lima or Vientiane would gladly say, "nope you're not getting your visa because I don't think you're rich enough to want to go shopping at Harrods and have tea at the Ritz, visa denied, oh and by the way I'm not refunding your application and processing fee just because I have denied your visa." But the whole tourism sector has moved on so far in the last 20 years or so, The UK cannot solely rely on traditional sources of tourists like North America and Western Europe in this day and age. 
Tourism is very important in most European countries.

There are plenty of rich tourists from places like China and Russia today - heck, I was surprised to see signs at the Carousel du Louvre (the super luxury Louvre shopping mall in Paris) in French, English and Chinese. But at the same time, there are also plenty of desperately poor Chinese and Russian people looking to get into a country like the UK as an illegal immigrant. So this situation creates an opportunity for the illegal immigrants to obtain a tourist visa, posing as a rich tourist that the British so desperately want to attract. Let's take a closer look at this process. 

If you are applying for a tourist visa to visit the UK, apart from a valid passport and two photos, you will need to provide the following to support the application of your visa to the embassy: 
  • Evidence that you can support yourself during your trip, eg bank statements or payslips for the last 6 months
  •  Details of where you intend to stay and your travel plans - you shouldn’t pay for accommodation or travel until you get your visa
Now bank statements and payslips - those can be forged easily. A sophisticated criminal network of human smugglers is always two steps ahead of the busy embassy official who has no time to investigate every single application given that most of the applicants are actually bona fide tourists who have no intention of overstaying their tourist visas. It is a very hard job, trying to find a needle in a haystack. Take the bank statement for example - they only require you to show your bank statements for the last 6 months: so a human smuggler can arrange for ample funds to be deposited in the illegal immigrant's bank account for at least 6 months to give the impression that he is rich, the moment he gets his tourist visa granted, the funds would be withdrawn. As for payslips, these can easily be forged as well - it is possible to produce fake documents and then simply bribe the person in the payroll department to say "yes that's right, he works here" if the embassy does call to verify. Remember how the two Iranians managed to get onto the ill-fated MH370 with fake passports?

The second part is just a joke, "details of where you intend to stay and your travel plans" - but wait, you don't even need to have paid for anything. That's the silly part IMHO. At least get them to commit to paying for the hotels and a return air-fare to prove they are genuine. Heck, the human smuggler would simply give them a list of top UK tourist attractions: Tower of London, British Museum, London Eye, Buckingham Palace, Harrods, Hyde Park, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Westminster Cathedral,  Leeds Castle, the Lake District, Tate Modern, Edinburgh Castle, National Gallery, Camden Market, Stonehenge, Stratford-Upon-Avon, oh and let's throw in Bicester Village so they know that this is a Chinese tourist who will go shopping and spend loads of the Burberry boutique. Duh. As for your travel plan, just cut and paste the travel plans from any travel agency offering a  nice guided trip around the UK. 
So even if your potential illegal immigrant has no idea who to obtain his tourist visa, there are plenty of human smugglers who will help them through the process (for a fee, of course) and in the eyes of the British embassy official, this illegal immigrant would have been an applicant who does seem genuine and has submitted proper documents to obtain his tourist visa - there would be no reason to deny this person his tourist visa. Hence compared to other alternatives, using a tourist visa to enter the UK is the easiest, fastest and most efficient route for illegal immigrants. 

Thus in practice, what would happen is this: the illegal immigrant would obtain his tourist visa through the means as described above, he would get on a plane, land in Heathrow airport and simply walk straight in the moment he flashes his tourist visa. The immigration official would probably say, "enjoy your stay in the UK, have a nice holiday". Well, actually probably not, have you seen the queues at Heathrow? The immigration official would probably just check that he has all the right paperwork and documents in place and wave the tourist through the moment he sees that he has the right visa. Once he is through immigration control, that's it - he is in the UK. That is a far less painless and efficient way for an illegal immigrant to get into the UK without all these hassle of trying to sail across the sea in the little wooden boat or to be smuggled as a stowaway - with this tourist visa route, the worst case scenario is that you get turned away at Heathrow airport, but at least you won't drown if the wooden boat you are on capsizes in a storm! 
Of course, it is only the high profile cases that make the headlines - the illegal immigrants who use the tourist visa route are almost invisible, they slip through the net quietly the moment they arrive here and I wonder if anyone notices that they don't leave the UK once they are here? The fact is the vast majority of the tourists from countries like Russia and China are genuine and they do come here to spend a lot of money, boosting the British economy, creating a lot of jobs in the tourism sector. To try slowing down the flow of tourists from Russia and China just because a small number of illegal immigrants slip through the net with this route will end up causing a lot more harm to the British people who are dependent on the tourism sector for jobs. 

Time for an analogy - imagine if there is a local farm which supplies a town with cheap fruits: the fruits are mostly of very good quality but once in a while, you may find a rotten apple or a pear with a worm in it. What do you do then? Do you stop using that local farm just because there may be a very small number of rotten fruits? Or do you recognize that the vast majority of the fruits (say 98%)  are of a very good quality and just accept the small number of bad fruits (at about 2%) that is bound to come with each consignment of fruits? Such is the nature of the tourism industry, you don't chuck the baby out with the bath water - you simply accept the very small number of illegal immigrants who will exploit this route if you want to reap all the benefits of a booming tourism industry: such are the pros and the cons. 
What if there was just one or two rotten apples in this cart...?

So there you go, that is why there are so many illegal immigrants in the UK. The government doesn't really want to talk about this route as tourism is such an important sector to the UK economy, creating so many jobs, it is a loophole that they cannot easily close off so they simply leave it as it is and hope that not too many people talk about it. When you have a problem you can't solve, well, some people simply choose to ignore it and hopes that nobody else notices it. That's this question dealt with for today. If you have any other questions, please feel free to leave me a comment.


2 comments:

  1. Hi there Alex,

    Long time and I hope you are well.

    Another well written article though I'm not sure how many readers have the depth to understand the crux of the issues and its relevance to Singapore/Malaysia.

    While your topic suggest an explanation of why there are so many illegal immigrants in UK, I think your article focused on the easy of fraud which is true, but missed the point about motivation. Why UK? Why not France? Why not other European countries that are nearer to them if they are fleeing persecution? Perhaps you could consider also speaking about 'benefits tourism' and the difficulties of deporting illegals - topics that are dominating UK headlines these days. Also the impact they have on services, taxation and the economy. Additionally, I hope to also hear your opinions on them and share some thoughts about resolution (if you think it is a problem at all).

    I agree with your point that these illegals are the minorities of the immigrants coming to UK. Most of them are highly skilled and capable who enter with proper documents/visa - vital to the vibrancy of the society and economy. So stopping immigration totally is both self defeating and damaging. What would be a good medium?

    Additionally, I think if you linked the discussion with our model in Singapore, perhaps it will be more relevant to the readers?

    Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well Colin, I merely tackled this issue as it was something raised on my friend's FB page - someone asked a question and I answered it. That's all. I didn't think about its relevance to Singapore or Malaysia, it was just answering a question I was asked.

      As for why the UK and not France, I think the UK is paying the price for the fact that English is the world's 2nd language and lingua franca. So if you went to France, you have to learn French. If you went to Sweden, you have to learn Swedish. But if you come to the UK, hey, most people do already speak (some) English so it is convenient and given how easy it is to get here (via the tourist visa route), many people do just come here under the impression that the streets of England are paved with gold (yeah right).

      As for the topic of immigrants - it is a tough one for I am an immigrant myself and like the vast majority of immigrants, I come here to work and I pay my taxes. It is only the very small number who abuse the system who give migrants a bad name: during a recession, the far right tend to blame migrants for everything though the vast majority of migrants are like me: hardworking and honest folk who have contributed greatly to the British economy. I don't like the way migrants are treated like the scapegoat for all these problems in the UK and getting rid of them would somehow solve all our problems, yeah right. Like if you kicked out all foreigners working in the UK, our health service would collapse overnight ,our hospitals would cease to function, how would you like that outcome?

      A happy medium is to only allow those who can find work to stay here and deny them any access to public funds: so if a Polish national wants to come here to find work, then he should be allowed to but if he cannot find work, he should not be given any kind of welfare benefits. He should be offered a chance to be repatriated to Poland but not be allowed to access any kind of public funds.

      As for Singapore, don't get me started. The PAP has screwed up so badly the situation is beyond rescue. 无可救药.!

      Delete