Fact check: bad advice and fake news on immigration

Hi guys, I have always warned my readers about trying to find information from online forums because anyone can post anything and you are left wondering if the information is correct or fake news. In this case, a Singaporean online forum's discussion about immigration has been driving quite a bit of traffic to my blog of late and I had a quick read of it, good grief - it is full of half-truths, misinformation, fake news and some completely misleading bullshit. Yet mixed in there are some quite useful pieces of information but it was hardly presented in a coherent manner - this reminded me of a big dustbin outside a supermarket I saw recently. It was late at night, the supermarket has just closed and the staff had just thrown out a lot of food that can no longer be sold: some of the food were perfectly good whilst some of the other items were in a bad state and clearly belonged in the dustbin. But because none of the waste was not sorted, it all just mixed up in the big dustbin, so you wouldn't want to try to pick out the good food from the rubbish because there's some pretty disgusting stuff in there. Even if say you find some bread or a bunch of carrots in there were in pretty decent condition, it is hidden in the trash between a lot of stinking, rotten food. Yeah, I felt the same way about that forum - sure there may be some very useful pieces of information hidden in there somewhere, but the amount of garbage you had to wade through just to get to it makes it mission impossible. So in today's post, I shall tackle some of the points that were made in that forum and fact check them - there is so much stupid crap in there, so I shall only pick just ten points to deal with.

Can you trust what you read online?

1. "Canada might be too cold in the winter for people from the tropics;"
"Weather. Can you take it? Winters are really bad in the UK and Canada. In Australia or US you can live in a temperate or tropical area – but you need the money."

Verdict: False. Even Canadians do not lie in the snow naked when it is -20 outside, no they know exactly how to keep warm and comfortable during the cold winter months. After all, loads of people live in countries that experience cold winters and they know exactly how to cope with the winter weather by dressing appropriately in such wintry conditions. No, you're not going to freeze to death in Canada during winter. You can heat your home and office to the appropriate temperature and when it is that cold, you're going to either rely on public transport or drive - you're not going to walk an hour in the cold to get home. In short, nobody actually just sits around and shivers when they are cold - no they take the appropriate action to make sure they are warm enough. I actually love winter and I suppose it is the novelty of seeing something I never got as a child in Singapore.  Last year, I went up to the Arctic Circle in Finland where it was -40 degrees and was perfectly fine in that weather because I knew how to cope with that weather and I even regularly share my tips on how to dress appropriately in such conditions. As for the winters being "really bad" in the UK - are you kidding me? Our winters are relatively mild compared to cities like Helsinki, Moscow, Toronto and Chicago. I've been living in London since 1997 and there are some winters where we don't even get a single speck of snow. Hence I shall dismiss this as bullshit by suaku idiots who have never ever seen snow and thus make crazy assumptions about winter weather.

2. "Migrant’s past work experience not counted & are irrelevant to employers. You gotta start from the ground up."

Verdict: False. It depends on your industry and your employer - it also depends on whether or not you are highly qualified/skilled or not. Singapore is a pretty good place for further education, skill training and gaining useful work experience. If you do meet a dumb white person who has no idea where the hell Singapore is, then do you really want to work for someone that stupid? Hell no. If your work experience in Singapore is very specific to the local market - say you were marketing local food products like sambal belachan and ang ku kueh, then there could be still some transferable skills associated with sales and marketing that you could use in the West even if we give you a different product. At the end of the day, if you are indeed an impressive candidate and have accomplished great things in your career, then sure you can easily find a job in the West. But if you're a lazy bum who has done little, then don't blame employers in the West for not recognizing your work experience, it is then because you've not achieved much in Singapore and you're useless.

3. "No need to go too far lah. Johor Bahru ok already. Have a nice house in JB, with 2 car garage. Rent out the HDB rental unit in S$ and pay for the JB house in MR. Balance more than enough for a decent life in JB without need to work. Once in a while, come back to Spore to do the essentials, such as banking or renewing of passport."

Verdict: Mostly false. Malaysia doesn't allow Singaporeans to live or retire in Malaysia just like that. You need to get a legitimate visa to live in Malaysia - this may come in the form of a work permit or you can have a look at the MM2H scheme which allows you to get a 10-year social visit visa with no limit on how long you can stay in Malaysia but you must meet their criteria. For example, they want to be able to see 500,000 RM (equivalent of about S$165,000) in liquid assets and a HDB flat doesn't count because that's not considered liquid assets. So that totally destroys your plan of renting out your HDB flat and living off the rent in Johor Bahru, the rules don't allow you to do that - not unless you can find a spare S$165,000 through other means to fulfill that criteria. Oh and that's just the start - basically they don't want poor people, they will only give you the visa if you're rich enough. If you do have that kind of money sitting around, then you probably can afford a rather comfortable life in Singapore. In short, Malaysia is more than happy to welcome rich Singaporeans there but not the poor ones. Malaysia is selective when it comes to their visa policy and of course they have their own criteria about what kind of migrants they want. And they don't want poor people from Singapore - it is that simple. By that token, that's exactly the same as any other country - if you're rich, highly skilled and talented, they'll gladly roll out the red carpet for you. But if you're poor, you can fuck off. This is what pisses me off - yes this idiot knows that real estate is cheap in Johor Bahru, that much is true, but did he even for a moment consider whether or not Singaporeans are allowed to reside in Malaysia and what the laws in Malaysia have to say about that? No, he didn't even bother to research it, he just assumed it was possible and posted some bullshit without fact checking. We call it doing a Google search - the information about the rules are clearly stated on the MM2H website in English for crying out aloud! 

4. "Can you afford to live there when you get older? Can you pay your bills and medical costs? If you do not have a steady income you will become a sick beggar sooner or later. Some countries are very unforgiving."

Verdict: Mostly false. This is scaremongering. It sucks to be poor and old, you have got to feel sorry for the poor people in their 70s and 80s who can't retire and are forced to keep on working because they have no money. But that's the same problem in any country - in the UK for example, we have free healthcare in the form of the NHS and old people do get a pension; it is not going to allow you to live well but at least you won't starve to death even if you have no other sources of income. The moral of the story is simply: if you can't make it in Singapore where you were born and bred, where you speak the local language and know the local culture, where you have a whole network of friends and family - how the heck are you going to succeed in a foreign country where you are struggling with the local language, you don't understand the local culture and you don't have a network of friends and family to support you? In any case, I refer you to the point above: even Malaysia doesn't want the losers from Singapore, they only want the rich Singaporeans who have money and good jobs. So what makes you think countries like Canada or Australia will want stupid, poor Singaporean losers? Of course not, they will never meet the stringent criteria for immigration. You need to verify what the rules and laws are! If you're a poor loser in Singapore, then even if you somehow get a visa to live in the West, you're still going to be very poor because the problem lies with you - not the country you live in or the government that governs that country. 

5. "Racism. Can you handle it? many countries including Australia, US & UK are openly racist, This includes the police, who may shoot you first and ask who you are later."

"Crime & drugs. Most countries are not safe, especially in the poorer areas. Expect a big dose of reality."

Verdict: Totally False. This is fear mongering again. I have written so much about racism on my blog and I've lived in Europe (mostly in the UK but also in France) since 1997 and I've encountered very, very little racism. Sure I've encountered ignorance and stupidity - like people who ask me if my sister would speak English because she's from Singapore, or people who think that I am from China despite the fact that I told them I am from Singapore and not China. But there's a huge difference between ignorance/stupidity and racism. Oh there are stupid people in the West, make no mistake about that, that's a problem you will have in every country in the world. But are they racist? Hell no, a small percentage may be, but do allow me to say something very blunt and politically incorrect - I am not at the receiving end of the racism because I am neither black nor Muslim! Racism exists but it is directed mostly towards people who are black or anyone else who has a darker skin tone (like some southern Indians or indigenous Australians) or Muslims, particularly those who adopt some form of traditional dress like the hijab. As a fair-skinned Chinese person, I am not a target of racism and the worst that happens is that I am often mistaken as Japanese or Korean. Or like that evening in Bariloche in Argentina when some random drunk stranger ran up to me and shouted, "Gangnam style!" Yeah, that's really the worst of it. I'm the only Asian person in my company and I'm judged by the amount of business I can bring to the company, how much money I can make for the company rather than my skin colour. As for the police shooting first and asking question later, that's complete bullshit again, I refer you to my posts talking about the issue when I was in Florida.

Is life in the West a bed of roses? Hell no. But racism is the least of your worries - money is the key factor that is going to determine whether or not you have a good life. If you are rich, you can live in a beautiful house, drive a nice car, shop in the finest boutiques, dine in expensive restaurants where the staff will work hard to give you the best possible service, go on exciting holidays to some of the world's most beautiful places - life will be sweet. But if you're poor, the life is going to suck as you will be working extremely long hours just to make ends meet, you will be constantly exhausted as a result and even on your days off, all you will want to do is sleep - just as well as you have no money to go shopping or dine in fine restaurants. Rich black/Asian people can protect themselves from racism with their money - oh yes, money can protect you from so many things in life. But if you're poor, then life is going to suck and that's the thing about poverty: it doesn't matter whether you're black, white or Asian, it is your bank balance that matters, not your skin colour. If you're poor, you're going to live in a crime-ridden neighbourhood with nasty conditions, your kids are going to go to horrible schools with other poor kids and get a bad education, you probably have a crap job that doesn't pay well, hence trapping you in poverty. Yeah, life sucks for poor people in the West, tell me something new, tell us something we don't know already. But to confuse racism and poverty is just plain wrong because poverty is actually colour blind - poor white people suffer as much as poor black or Asian people. So if you're a poor Asian person, it is your poverty that's the real problem.

But let's look at that a bit closer: a poor Asian person in the West (or in Singapore, or China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, or anywhere else) will suffer because it sucks to be poor. You want to live a good life - you need to have a lot of money to live in a beautiful house, have servants, afford anything you want when you go shopping, dress in beautiful clothes, be able to provide for your family, take care of your friends and treat yourself to amazing dream holidays in 5-star resorts. If you've struggled for years in the West and you're still poor, then people can turn around and say, "why are you such a loser? Why have some of your peers gone on to make so much money whilst you're still struggling to make ends meet at your age? What is wrong with you - are you stupid or lazy?" It is hard for people to be honest and admit, "yeah, it is all my fault, I am a failure." It is a matter of pride, so instead they play the victim's card and claim that they have been discriminated against in the West, it is all because of racism that they cannot get ahead in their careers - that is is not their fault, but it is the racist white people who have been the villains. Oh yeah, talk about deflecting blame. But there are poor Chinese people in Chinese-majority cities in the world, just have a look at the short documentary in the Youtube below about the poorest of the poor in Hong Kong - they are poor Chinese people in Hong Kong, so they can't play the racism card when trying to explain their poverty. There are other factors that have led to their poverty, but it just goes to show that even in the absence of the threat of "racists", there will still be poor Chinese elderly people really struggling.

Now Singapore does have a very low crime rate - that much we can all agree on but how much you are affected by crime depends a lot on where you live. Crime rates do vary greatly from neighbourhood to neighbourhood - when I was in Buenos Aires recently, I spoke to two friends who knew the city well and basically, I was told to find a place to stay in either Palermo or Recoleta - two very nice neighbourhoods where the rich people live, it will be expensive but it is absolutely safe. I was warned to avoid certain neighbourhoods where the poor people live: "don't be tempted by cheaper hotels or AirBNB places there - it is not worth it, it is a poor neighbhourhood and crime rates are higher there, don't risk it." So that's just me visiting Buenos Aires on holiday as a tourist, it was my first time in Argentina - yet I was able to get enough information to make sure that I had no trouble at all there (in fact I didn't encounter any problems with crime for the entire trip through South America) because I didn't willfully wander into an unsafe neighbourhood like La Boca in Buenos Aires alone at night to become a victim of crime. All it takes is a bit of local knowledge and some common sense to navigate your way through a city like Buenos Aires safely. A bit of common sense goes a very long way in the West - I'm not saying for a moment that crime rates are as low as in Singapore, no. But you need to understand the city you're in, get some local knowledge about what areas to avoid and it is really that simple. It is a mitigated risk we have to deal with - that means we understand what those risks are and we take important steps to reduce the risk we are exposed to. 

Allow me to explain how this can affect a neighbourhood even on a much smaller scale. I live in Camden in London, it is a neighbourhood of huge contrasts - there is the area closer to Primrose Hill by Regent's Canal where the mansions are so massive and can cost around £25 million. Then there are the council estates - these are housing estates that the government has built for the poorest in our society who will be homeless without access to this kind of subsidized (or in some cases, free) housing. The council estates are basic and cheap, many of them were built a few decades ago and are in a rather poor condition - these are the areas which are rife with all kinds of crime. I read in the news recently that there was a stabbing in Chalk Farm, that is about 15 minutes walk from where I live and when I saw the pictures of the crime scene from the BBC report, I realized at once that it took place in the council estate. That should come as no surprise of course to us locals - the irony is that you can easily walk another 15 minutes from the murder scene towards Primrose Hill and suddenly, you have gone from some of the poorest, nastiest most deprived parts of Camden to streets where only multi-millionaires can afford the mansions there. I'm not even talking about these places being a 15 minute drive apart, I'm measuring it by walking distance and hence that's only about 1 to 1.5 km. The crime usually takes place where the poor people live, rarely where the rich people live - so I would plan my route carefully if I had to walk home at night to try to avoid the dangerous areas. Thus like I said, a bit of local knowledge and common sense goes a long way. 

6. "What about Malaysia or Taiwan? Very few countries Singaporeans can go to. Canada and America too angmoh. Asian or Asia Pacific countries like Australia or NZ."

Verdict: Okay this is a question, so I am not going to judge the person. I have already talked about Malaysia above - they only want rich Singaporeans, if you're a poor loser, then fuck off, Malaysia doesn't want you. Likewise, if you want to live in Taiwan, you need to get a work permit in the first instance which is the first step - you work in Taiwan as an expatriate for at least 5 years, then you can apply to naturalize as a citizen of Taiwan (that really is no different from the UK and many other countries). But the same strict rules apply to Taiwan, if you're a highly educated, rich professional, then you should be able to get a job in Taiwan easily - but if you're a poor loser, then fuck off, Taiwan doesn't want you. As someone who deals with the Taiwanese market all the time, I must warn you that I daresay the vast majority of Singaporeans don't speak Chinese well enough to operate in Taiwan - everything is in Chinese and they use the traditional Chinese script. Your Chinese has to be of an exceptionally high standard if you want to work there and most Singaporeans won't be able to handle it as the standard of Chinese in Singapore is painfully low. And if you think that Canada and America are too 'angmoh' for you, then what the hell are you doing considering Australia and New Zealand which are just as 'angmoh' as any other country in the West? You should be thinking about other truly Asian countries like China, Vietnam, Laos, Hong Kong and Thailand if you think you will be a lot more comfortable in an Asian environment. 

7. "I was one of the first non-whites PR in Australia in 1980′s. I was in and out for 20 years as a professional. The cities are openly racist, the work places even more so. I have worked from Darwin to Alice Springs to Townsville to Perth. I have worked in more cities and places you will ever work in. You may stay in Australia but you have not really lived in it."

Verdict: Very misleading. One person's experience should never be generalized. Was there racism in Australia in the 1980?  Undoubtedly so, but I think every person experiences Australia differently and to claim that all cities are openly racist and the work places even more so is hugely misleading because this person is claiming because he suffered racism, then all of Australia is racist. Well I beg to differ. Now note that I am only offered an extremely short paragraph to analyze here, but I can tell that this person had a really hard time in Australia - was this purely down to racism or was he unable to adapt to a new environment? Did he have the necessary education and skills in order to obtain a good job with a reputable company? Did he have the vital social skills in order to assimilate when starting a new job? Why did he move cities and change jobs so many times? You see, what I detect is that this person seems to blame everything on racism and he is so keen to state all the different cities he has worked in as proof that he knows what he is talking about - yet he doesn't once divulge what industry he has worked in. Was he an engineer? A doctor? Or perhaps something a lot more lowly skilled? How did he obtain his PR? Did he qualify as a highly skilled migrant or did he simply marry an Australian citizen (thus bypassing the need to meet their stringent criteria)? Hence I get very skeptical when I come across people who are very defensive like that because I think they have something to hide - so he had a tough time in Australia but was it entirely down to racism or perhaps there are some other issues which he should take personal responsibility for? 

8. "The UK’s current problem is Brexit. The £ had been depreciating while London properties have come off lately. But the UK is a very expensive place to live. VAT is very high & around 40% of UK’s GDP goes into providing Social Welfare handouts & into Medical services."

Verdict: Only half true. Is the UK an expensive place to live? That depends on your income, are you rich or are you poor? So if you're paid peanuts because you're cleaning toilets for a living, then hell yeah the UK (or any other country for that matter) will be an expensive place to live not because of the price of goods but because you're earning so little money! But if you're a hot shot lawyer earning millions, then you can go to any city in the world and live like a king. And I was waiting for someone to mention Brexit and here we go. Brexit does change a lot of the rules of engagement when it comes to immigration - currently (until we actually leave the EU) we have a huge influx of migrants from the EU from poorer countries like Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania etc. That freedom of movement of labour will end at the end of the transition period after we leave the EU and the UK will still have gaps in our labour market to fill - that's when those gaps which were traditionally filled by the Eastern European migrant workers would be open up to the international market. That means Singaporeans would be able to compete for those jobs on equal footing as someone from Romania or Poland, since the UK would no longer have to give preferential treatment to EU migrant workers post-Brexit. As for the pound depreciating, I don't think that's a major factor - look, there was a time when the pound was very strong and you have your Polish worker who would come and work in a factory in England, save up most of his earnings to send home to his family in Poland because of the favourable exchange rate. But if you're a doctor, lawyer, engineer, investment banker or any other highly skilled professional who can command a huge salary, then you're not dependent on a favourable exchange rate to live comfortably - you will be paid a lot of money regardless. Such highly skilled professionals will be able to earn good money regardless of what the exchange rate is, their situation is very different from the poor Polish migrant worker trying to make his meager earnings go further by profiting from the exchange rate. 

The VAT in the UK is 20% - that is higher than say Australia, the US, Canada and Singapore but like I said before, if you're a rich professional earning a lot of money, the rate of VAT isn't going to determine whether or not you can afford that nice new suit when you go shopping. For poor people, yeah it is going to make a difference, but not for the rich people who have so much money they don't even think about the VAT when they go shopping. Currently, you will only get a work permit for the UK if indeed you are one of those highly skilled professionals who can earn a lot of money, so the issue of VAT isn't going to worry you at all if you are that rich. There is the possibility of a poor Singaporean marrying a poor British man, such as in the case of Irene Clennell - then yeah, she moved here, lived in poverty and found that her life totally sucked because it sucks to be poor in the UK. And if you're worried about the UK government spending too much money on subsidizing the poor through housing and healthcare, well - that's all going to change after Brexit because the government coffers are not going to have that much spare cash lying around after crashing out of the EU without a deal and cuts will have to be made. Personally, I don't think having a free healthcare system is a bad thing - if you get a cancer diagnosis tomorrow, you shouldn't have to ask yourself, "how am I going to pay for the cancer treatment? If I can't afford the expensive treatment, have I just been given a death sentence?" This is a system that benefits the poor as it is redistributing wealth and benefits from the rich to the poor - is that really such an evil concept? 

9. "Of all the non-White ethnic groups, the Whites find Asians especially those “pesky” Chinese immigrants, the most threatening to them!

Why? It is because the Chinese migrants:
* tend to be very academically inclined;
* tend to be very industrious & hard-working; &
* very effective in capital accumulation & in wealth achievements.
In the West, nearly all the top percentile of academic achievers are Asians especially of Chinese ethnicity."

Verdict: Half true, half bullshit, beware! This is very warped logic based on some facts which are true, but the conclusions is total bullshit. Firstly, let's start with the truth: yes Chinese people are the model minority, we work hard, our kids outscore everyone else in school by country mile - like seriously. Only the Indians come close to that, but the Chinese students blow everyone else out of the water when it comes to school and university - so it is hardly any surprise that they end up earning a lot more money than the local white population. That much is totally true and I have covered this in a recent post. However, the bit which is bullshit is the conclusion that the Chinese are therefore seen as a threat because we're more capable than the locals and we'll steal their jobs, thus that will turn the locals against the Chinese. That hasn't happened at all - to understand the situation, you need to look at the big picture. The Chinese are generally very much welcomed and appreciated wherever they go because they work hard and serve their communities - you turn up at your local hospital with your sick mother and she is being taken care by the Chinese doctor. Whereas we have loads of other migrant groups (mostly Muslim) who turn up, they don't speak English, they don't assimilate, their kids suck at school, they get married at 20 and go on to have like 7 children - the parents then claim they have too many kids so they cannot work and become totally reliant on the state for everything. Yeah, people like that are seen as the enemy and the real threat because they are a burden on the state, they are reliant on the local tax-payers to support them through government hand outs. They take, take, take and take some more but give nothing in return. So migrants like that who turn up as refugees as seen as the enemy, so when the white people compare them to the Chinese migrants, they would shake their heads and say, "at least those Chinese people work so very hard, pay their taxes and contribute to society."  

Are there white people in the West who may react this way and view Chinese immigrants as a threat? Sure, but they are in the minority. But there are two main reasons why this is not a view held by the majority of white people. Both are wrapped up in racism at the end of the day. The first is the general perception that these outstanding results achieved by the Chinese students academically are only possible because their parents are such slave drivers who make their children study 12 hours a day and deprive them of a normal childhood. No friends, no fun, only studying. "Oh my white kids could score straight As like those Chinese kids as well, but I am a loving caring mother who isn't willing to subject my children to that kind of regime! I want my child to have a happy childhood, to have a social life, to do loads of sports and have loads of friends. What kind of price are those East Asian parents paying by driving their kids so hard to achieve those straight As? What kind of damage are they inflicting on their children - it is verging on abuse in some cases. No, I will do my way, I know how to be a good parent." So white people are not 'threatened' by Chinese students who outperform their white kids at school for that reason - there's this sense of "your parenting methods are completely wrong, my parenting methods are right, my children are going to be a lot happier in the long run: I'm right, you're wrong. White culture has much better parenting methods than Chinese culture, we don't want to be like the Chinese people." However, all this time, Chinese people are looking at the one thing that matters to them - academic results - and assuming some kind of racial superiority to white people when they are not even taking a moment to listen to what white people think about the issue, they can only see it from their point of view and that's only one side of the story. White people genuinely believe that their culture when it comes to parenting, is vastly superior. Thus they think that a lot of Chinese parents are terrible parents because there is a fundamental problem with our culture and I do agree with them. 

The second issue is that Muslim migrants are taking most of the heat when it comes to racism in the West. We're not dealing with your average rational, educated, white person here but the hardcore racists who truly hate immigrants. Now the reasons why these racists hate migrants is because they are different; they don't speak English (or whatever the local European language is), they have a different religion (ie. Islam - there's a lot of Islamophobia around), they dress differently (especially the hijab), they don't assimilate and of course, there's that assumption that if you're Muslim, you're potentially a terrorist undercover even if you're just a waitress in a cafeteria. I know that sounds ridiculous and downright racist, but well, that's how the racist people think. Then in America, there are the economic migrants coming over from Central America and white Americans are threatened because of the sheer number of poor, desperate people from countries like Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras who are willing to risk everything to make it to America on foot or die trying. They don't speak English and they have a ridiculous number of children despite being so incredibly poor, like they would have 7 or 8 children despite having no way to feed them - this is why so many white Americans support Trump's wall initiative. So whilst the racists so busy hating Muslims and Latinos venting their xenophobia on Muslim and Latino migrants, the Chinese people are mostly left alone because we're seen as far less of a threat: the Chinese are coming over in small numbers, they are not Muslims, they are not having 8 children per family, they don't rely on the government for handouts, they are very hardworking. No, the racists don't feel threatened by the Chinese - perhaps just the geeky white students who also want straight As and make it to Harvard will resent the Chinese. But the true racists are mostly way too busy hating Muslims and Latinos to discriminate against the Chinese minority in the West.

10. "I talked to many Sinkies (particularly Chinese Sinkies) who harbor hopes to migrate or for their own children to migrate (and then bring them along for the ride)."

Verdict: Completely wrong. A basic rule about immigration is that you can bring your spouse and children along to your new country, but no you cannot bring the rest of your family. So even though I am a British citizen now, my siblings and parents have absolutely ZERO rights to come and 'join me' here in the UK. The reason is pretty simple: these countries in the West want bright, young, hardworking, highly talented, highly skilled productive migrants to come and work there, to contribute to their economies. But the parents? No, they can fuck off. They are old, they are retired, they are unproductive, they cannot contribute, they will fall sick and be a drain on the resources when they need to go to a hospital etc; so the rules are such that parents of migrants have no way to join their children in their new country. They can certainly get a tourist visa for a short holiday there, just to visit - but any long term residency visa is out of the question. No no no, the policy is simple when it comes to the parents of migrants: you're too fucking old, fuck off, we don't want you here. Your daughter/son is cool because they are working, but you're old and fucking useless to us so please fuck off. So if you do want to migrate to the West, then hurry up and do it or else you will eventually see your kids move to the West and you'll end up talking to your children and grandchildren every weekend for 30 minutes on Skype. 

Okay, so there you go, there's so much misinformation out there on such forums that I would plead with you please never use such forums if you are genuinely serious about looking at something as serious and life-changing as immigration. Always seek your information from a reputable source, from experts who know what they are talking about rather than anonymous people posting fake news on internet forums. So if you have any questions about moving to the West, or if you have any thoughts further to the issues discussed then please leave a comment below and many thanks for reading.