Immigration Legislation Issues - Essay Example

1 a The British Nationality Act of 1981categorised British citizenship into three categories, ly, British citizenship, citizenship of British dependent territories and British overseas citizenship. British citizenship bestows the right to live in the UK. It can be obtained by birth if both the parents are British citizens settled in the UK (Citizenship 1906-2003). Descent is another mode of becoming a British citizen if the applicant was born outside the UK and if the applicant’s parents were British. Citizenship can also be obtained through naturalisation which is subject to the discretionary powers of the Home Secretary. At the present instance, the rights of citizens are under critical review and legislation has been enacted in order to prohibit any manner of discrimination. The central idea behind this review is to create an equal and vibrant society (Citizenship 1906-2003). The composite citizenship of the UK and its Colonies provided by the British Nationality Act of 1948 has been replaced by the British Nationality Act of 1981, which had been effective from 1983. Under this act, British citizenship can be attained only by birth in the UK, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, Gibraltar or the Falkland Islands to a parent who was a British citizen, or a settled resident there, by descent, by registration or by naturalization. In the year 1999 the Government restored full citizenship to UK Overseas Territories and Overseas citizens. Further, Commonwealth citizenship includes all sorts of British citizenship besides citizenship of any country of the Commonwealth. Citizens of the UK automatically become citizens of the EU (British citizenship, 2003). Naturalization is a legal process through which a non – citizen of a nation, by taking an oath of allegiance, attains the citizenship and the rights of a natural – born citizen of a nation. The British Nationality Act of 1981 stipulates the requirements for naturalization in the UK. These conditions include a definite period of residence or service for the Crown abroad, good character, considerable proficiency in English, and an intention to reside in the UK (Naturalization, 2003 ). The British Nationality Act 1981 restricts the acquisition of the status of a British subject to persons on whom the British Nationality Act 1948 bestows this status. Persons who had been citizens of the UK and its Colonies under the 1948 Act, but failed to become citizens of the country where they lived, would continue to enjoy their status as British subjects. However, British Overseas Citizens cannot obtain any other citizenship. These persons will be issued with British passports but they cannot enter and settle in the UK. The only option available to them is to British citizenship by registration (British subject, 2006). 1 b (a) To The Immigration and Nationality Directorate Work Permits (UK) HSMP P.O. Box 3975 Sheffield S19BL. Dear Sir, My name is O and I am thirty years old. I am a Cameroon resident, who had joined a PHD programme in Canada. I have just six more months to complete this programme. I am an environmental scientist and I want to conduct further research in this field in the UK. Since, my field of study is classified as highly skilled, I request you to grant me entry under the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme. The Form HSMP 1, duly complete in all respects is submitted for your kind perusal and favourable action. Moreover, my wife has been employed as a nurse in your country for the past one year. Thanking you, Yours sincerely, O. 1 b(b) The application mentioned above has to be submitted to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. Subsequently, this authority will run a test based on the information supplied in the application form. The points obtained in the test are given below: 1. Age 5 (since the applicant’s age is 30 years). 2. Qualifications 35 (the applicant has completed his masters) 3. UK Qualifications 5 4. Earning Power 20 (the applicant was earning £ 4, 500 in a category D country, namely Cameroon ) TOTAL 65 Entry into the UK requires a minimum of 75 points. Hence, the applicant cannot enter the UK under the highly skilled programme. 1 b(c) The immigration of individuals with exemplary qualifications increased sharply in the years 1999 and 2000. This phenomenon was aided to a large extent by the better employment opportunities made available to such persons and the fact that it had become easier to obtain visas. To increase this influx, some of the OECD countries commenced to issue five – year work permits and Australia and Canada started to issue temporary work permits that would be valid from three to six years. The single major cause for this demand was the extraordinary progress made by information technology (Vaknin). The EU and Canada have extended the agreement in the areas of education, training and youth from the year 2006 to 2013. This agreement, which was ratified and signed on the 5th of December 2006 at the Informal Education Ministerial Meeting held in Helsinki. It revives the EU – Canada cooperation programme, which was established in the year 1995. The main objective of this agreement is to promote understanding between the people of EU and Canada (The new EU-Canada Cooperation Programme in Higher Education, Training and Youth (2006-2013) ). This programme is essentially a consortium of projects and new measures to promote in –depth policy matters negotiations, new activities for the youth and establishing an alumni association to maintain contacts with former grantees and to promote cooperation schemes among future students. The EU – Canada Programme is jointly governed by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Education and Culture or the DG EAC and the Human Resources and Social Development Canada or HRSDC. Under this programme, nearly 4,500 EU and Canadian individuals will participate in mobility activities to implement approximately 210 projects during the period from 2006 to 2013 (The new EU-Canada Cooperation Programme in Higher Education, Training and Youth (2006-2013) ). The relevant application is to be submitted by the lead Canadian institution to the Canada – EU programme for Co – operation in Higher Education, Training and Youth. This will enable O to be granted entry into the UK. Therefore, in view of the above discussion, the best option available to O in order to gain entry into the UK is to avail himself of the Canada – EU programme. References British citizenship. (2003). Retrieved May 24, 2007, from In The Macmillan Encyclopedia: http://www.xreferplus.com/entry/3294183British citizenship. British subject. (2006). Retrieved May 24, 2007, from In Collins Dictionary of Law: http://www.xreferplus.com/entry/5978957British subject Citizenship 1906-2003. (n.d.). Retrieved May 25, 2007, from The National Archives: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/citizenship/brave_new_world/citizenship4.htm Naturalization. (2003 ). Retrieved May 24, 2007, from In The Macmillan Encyclopedia : http://www.xreferplus.com/entry/3306301naturalization The new EU-Canada Cooperation Programme in Higher Education, Training and Youth (2006-2013) . (n.d.). Retrieved May 24, 2007, from http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/eu-canada/index_en.html UK Marriage Visa . (n.d.). Retrieved May 25, 2007, from http://www.globalvisas.com/page51_marriage.aspx Vaknin, S. (n.d.). The Labour Divide II. Migration and Brain Drain . Retrieved May 25, 2007, from http://samvak.tripod.com/pp118.html Read More