Is It Too Difficult for Non-EEA Nationals to Work in the UK - Essay Example

Is It Too Difficult for Non EEA Nationals to Work in UK Introduction 1 United Kingdom has always attracted immigrants from all over the world in search of better opportunities and jobs. Among the immigrants coming into UK are those from Africa, Asia and Australasia. Since the formation of European Economic Area (EEA), nationals from the EEA have been granted better access to UK job market. However, amongst a growing xenophobia and concerns with terrorists, new policies regarding immigration and asylum have been devised so that the immigrants in UK from non-EEA countries have found it increasingly difficult to work in the UK 1.2 There are basically four different types of immigrants coming to UK today. (thomson 5) The first type is that of the skilled workers who come to UK under the official work permit scheme. These migrants make up about a third of the business and information services sector and a quarter of the healthcare sector. The second category of immigrants is composed of the relatives of British citizens coming to join them. These are frequently not economic migrants and do not contribute to the country with work. The third category is made of asylum seekers. Lastly, the fourth type is made up of illegal immigrants. The British Government has formulated policies that welcome the first type into its fold. But its policies regarding the other three are getting more and more stringent. As we will find out later in this paper that non-EEA immigrants who are not skilled are increasingly finding themselves excluded from the job market in the UK. 1.3 The government has specified certain schemes through which the workers from EEA and non-EEA countries could work. (Winchester, 2002) These schemes are as under: (a) Non- EEA workers usually work under the work permit scheme. This scheme was formalized in 1980. In this scheme, the employer has to apply on behalf of a particular employee for a specific job. He has to show that there are no other resident workers available for the same job and with the requisite skills and experience. Work permits are then granted for work up to five years, and workers are then eligible to apply for 'indefinite leave to remain.' The employer has to support the application for it to be granted. (b) Under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme farmers and growers and students in full time education can take up work for a period of not exceeding three months. The government has increased the quota of workers under this scheme recently. (c) Another scheme is the Working Holidaymaker Scheme, which provides the young Commonwaealth citizens to holiday for 2 years in the UK and work alongside full-time for 50% of the time or work part-time for more than 50% of their stay. This provides a good avenue for work for migrants from non-EEA countries. (d) There is also a Highly Skilled Migrant Programme, under which highly talented and accomplished individuals are taken in as workers in UK. In this scheme, the application comes directly from the individuals, not the employers. They are assessed on a point system which covers qualifications, experience, to some extent age, etc. (e) Under the Innovators Scheme those individuals are allowed entry into the UK who have business ideas which will bring economic benefit to the UK but they are not qualified under any other scheme. (f) The last group of workers is Asylum seekers and refugees. The asylum seekers are normally not allowed to work while their applications are under consideration. However, if a decision has not come after six months, they can apply for permission to work. After they are granted refugee status, they can freely work and do not need to be granted permission from the Home Office to do so. 2. Policies governing Immigrants and Asylum seekers 2.1 The British Government has passed, over many years, several acts governing the issues related with immigrants and asylum seekers. These are: Immigration Act 1971, Immigration Act 1988, Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act 1993, Asylum and Immigration Act 1996, Special Immigration Appeals Commission Act 1997, Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants) Act 2004, and Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act of 2006. (Govaert) 2.2 The most recent acts are protectionist in nature and serve to restrict the employment of individuals from non-EEA countries. ("Perspective") The UK Borders Bill 2007 seeks to put draconian measures into force against immigrants. This is a symptom of the growing xenophobia among the British population even as the requirements of the industries demand more workers, both in high-skilled as well as low-skilled areas. 2.3 The AITCA 2004 has about fifty clauses dealing with undocumented passengers, reform of the appeal system, removal to a safe third country, restricting of family support, accommodation of failed asylum seekers, prevention of sham marriages and the power to remove right to appeal. (Govaert) The act has also authorized certain stringent measures like possible electronic tagging of persons subject to immigration controls. It has extended the powers of the Immigration Services Commissioner, increased the fees for immigration applications and has created a new offence of trafficking people in to or out of the UK for immigrations purposes. Some of the other issues tackled very strictly have reduced the chances of anybody seeking to work in the UK tremendously. The act has instituted to restructure the immigration and asylum appeals system, it considers credibility of asylum seekers as automatically damaged in some cases. (Govaert) This act also gives immigration officers more powers of arrest, search, and seizure. The government has been criticized for creating another force, which falls out of the purview of the criminal justice system. This, apart from discouraging many job seekers and employers, also serves to create opportunities for abuse. Such draconian measures have been a major deterrent to the workers seeking jobs in the UK market or those who are already working there. 2.4 Another Act, which has made it more difficult for the non-EEA nationals to work in the UK, is the Immigration and Asylum Act 2006. This act instituted new penalties for employers who have been lax in checking the papers of immigrant workers. The Act has made it a criminal offence of knowingly employing an illegal immigrant. This can lead to a term of imprisonment and/or fine. A new civil offence has also been introduced where employers are liable to pay spot fines of up to 2000 pounds per alleged employee. This has encouraged a high incidence of unannounced visits by immigration officers to the work premises of employers. The officers have wide reaching powers, which means that employers have to cooperate by offering time and facilities to inspect premises and arrest suspects. This causes operational disruption and discontinuity in employment of workers. The adverse publicity is also not good for business. Apart from this, this enforces a liability on the employers to cross check the papers of the immigrant with the agency periodically. All of this procedure causes a burden on the employers that may overshoot the benefit of employing the immigrant worker. The fear of being imprisoned or fined is also another deterrent for the employers, encouraging them to stay away from immigrant workers. All these rules have impacted the possibilities and conditions of work of the non-EEA nationals adversely. The employers have full access to the EEA nationals for work subject to worker registration. This further encourages them to seek EEA immigrants in place of non-EEA nationals for work. 3. The UK Borders Bill 2007 3.1 The UK Borders Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 25 Jan 2007. "The Bill's clauses advance a radical package of measures to make the UK immigration system more authoritarian." (Beal, 2007)Mark Beal says that there is a concerted effort in this bill to "criminalize immigration." "The Bill focuses on the role of immigration officials, the use of biometric registration, the treatment of claimants, extending enforcement powers, the sharing of information on immigrants and an overhaul of the legislation relating to the deportation of foreign criminals." This bill seeks to increase the powers of immigration officials so much so that there is a danger of creation of a "second police force." 3.2 The extended police powers of the immigration officials are set out throughout the bill. A suspected individual could be held for three hours without a police official having to attend. This is set in language that means that the presence of a constable is not mandatory. Also the assault or resistance of an IO is punishable with imprisonment. In the event of conviction the immigrant can be deported immediately. This implies no recourse to appeal for the individual under consideration. 3.3 Draconian penalties have been put in place for breach of immigration controls. The government has put in place a system of biometric identity cards for all immigrants. This can become a major problem for immigrants, especially from non-EEA countries. The defaulters are liable to be fined and non-compliance would also result in cancellation of leave. This is considered by many as disproportionate penalty. Another provision gives the Home Office the right to disregard an immigration application, without clarifying the next steps or establishing any right to appeal. Another issue with biometric identity cards is that they are targeted at only 'migrants.' And with the 'stop and search' right to immigration officials, it provides a further tool for harassment of the non-white immigrants, as has been shown by Guardian newspaper that non-white individuals were more likely to be stopped by immigration officials. Further, in this use of biometric information of immigrants, the government has also reserved for itself the right to the use of personal information for future use and sharing of this information with other agencies. This runs in contravention of the European Convention on Human Rights (Article 8). 3.4 Another clause, which gives draconian powers to the government with respect to immigrant, is clause 16. This makes it mandatory for any individual subject to immigration control to report their residence and report every time they move residence. The potential for abuse of this provision is huge and is also against human rights of individuals. Another clause18 makes it an arrestable offence to abuse the National Asylum Support Service (NASS). This would further demonize and criminalize the asylum seekers, and would deter even those in need of support for fear of arrest and deportation. And, finally, clause19 drastically reduces appeal rights. This does not take into account the errors in previous decisions or inept advice to individuals making first application. 3.5 Regarding enforcement of the provisions of the bill there is a provision, which gives the immigration officials to automatically arrest or detain an individual before or during deportation. This runs contrary to human rights. Clause 23 allows arrest of employers relating to illegal working. The main effect of this would be to discourage employers from employing anyone subject to immigration control, especially when the immigration rules keep changing, and falling foul of the immigration authorities. This will make it even more difficult for non-EEA nationals to find work in UK. 3.6 Also, clause 40 allows immigration officials to search premises in search of proof of nationality, if they believe that an individual is subject to immigration control. This power has huge potential for abuse. It gives them unlimited powers to challenge and detain any individual on suspicion. This will lead to vilification of migrants and abuse of many other workers simply for reason of their being from the non-EEA countries. These measures would not just make it difficult for workers from non-EEA countries' to work in UK, but also put fear in the minds of those applying to work in the UK. 4. Conclusion 4.1 The UK Borders Bill is the culmination of a series of changes in immigration law and policy over the last year. All these changes stem from the document released by the Home Office "five year strategy on asylum and immigration," entitled "Controlling our borders: Making migration work for Britain."(Thorp, 2007) Its proposals, regarding migration, included "the institution of a transparent points system for those coming to study or work in UK, financial bonds for specific categories to ensure that migrants return home, an end to chain migration, an end to appeals when applying from abroad to work and study, allowing only skilled workers to settle down long term in UK and English language tests for all intending to stay in UK, and fixed penalty fines for those employers who employ illegal workers." For asylum seekers electronic tagging, giving only temporary status to refugees, removing failed asylum seekers, fingerprinting of all visa applicants, detention of failed asylum seekers and such other stringent measures have been put in place. 4.2 The immigration officials have been given wide-ranging powers with respect to those who fall under immigration control. These powers are no less than draconian. The immigrants have to carry biometric identity cards, with the provision that they can be searched anytime by immigration official for the same. The personal information collected from the individuals can also be shared among agencies, which puts them under further scanner. 4.3 All these measures have served to deter workers, mainly from the non-EEA countries, as they are being exposed to abuse. The employers have been also put under criminal law with respect to the immigrants they employ. For fear of falling foul of the authorities and putting their own business under strain, they would not be very keen to employ workers who fall under immigration control. 4.4 The work permit system has also been modified to encourage only the highly talented and skilled workers to work in UK. There have been quotas allotted to each sector in relation with the shortage of workers. All others seeking to come to UK to work are discouraged. Those who are already working here are under the scrutiny of immigration officials and can only apply for leave to remain after having worked for five years. It is hard for them to bring in their family members who are not equally skilled. Chain migration is completely discouraged now. 4.5 Hence, it has become extremely difficult for non-EEA nationals to work in the UK. The Government is inspired by the anti-immigrant sentiments in instituting laws to stop the flood of migration to UK in search of jobs. They still have to look at the shortfall in the supply of workers in various sectors and is using the work permit system to stem the number of migrants entering the economy. This has resulted in many non-EEA nationals in losing the opportunity to work in the UK. The immigration control measures further instituted against those already working here serve to make it even more difficult to work here. References Beal, Mark.(2007). "UK Borders Bill: Draconian measures to police and control immigration." Law Centre (NI). [Online] http://www.lawcentreni.org/Publications/Frontline/Frontline%2063/f63_borders%20bill.htm Govaert, Patrick. "Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004 and Human Rights Act 1998: Friends or enemies" European Young Lawyers Scheme. [Onlne]http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/eyl/05repGovaert.htm "PERSPECTIVE: Costly price of being caught by illegals trap; Last week Home Secretary, John Reid, announced the intention to restrict the employment of Romanian and Bulgarian workers wishing to work in the UK. What will this mean for Birmingham's employers Audrey Elliott, head of immigration at international law firm Eversheds, explains how to avoid ending up before the courts." The Birmingham Post (England). Nov 3, 2006. British Council Newspapers Database. Thomson Gale. Thorp, Arabella. 2007. "The UK Borders Bill: Bill 53 of 2006-07." House of Commons Library. (RP011) Winchester, David. 2002. "EIRO comparative study on migration and industrial relations - the case of the United Kingdom." European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO). Read More