Ironies of Immigration

Ruth Lee’s account below tells of the paradox of on the one hand the relative freedom with which British passport holders can move around the world and the increasingly restricted access that other nationals meet when trying to come to the UK. Our research has highlighted other interesting and ironic parallels between emigration from the UK and immigration into it. She is well aware of her privileged position but is using it to create better understandings between different cultures. In a slightly different way, our research found that experiencing life as an emigrant creates a certain degree of empathy with immigrants in the UK and brings about a more accurate perception of our newest arrivals.

“As well as now hoping to go abroad to study (for an MA in international affairs), I have previously lived in India for a year, in France for a year and in Switzerland for 2 years.

I am not leaving the UK because I don't like living here. I am leaving because I want to have opportunities to understand other ways of thinking and seeing the world. I know that wherever I live, I'll never be able to fully integrate into another culture, but I like trying and learning about other cultures in a more intimate way.

I am very aware of the 'expat' culture that there is, and although I often feel I fit in there best, I don't think many such people realise how they are viewed by 'local' people - particularly in developing countries. I know that I am a very privileged person - having a British passport and having money means that I can more or less travel wherever and whenever I want. There are few countries that will not let me stay, as long as I have a job or a study placement or a reason to be there. This is not the case for the majority of people in the world. Most people don't even have a passport and couldn't afford to leave their homes, and if they do, their passport is not accepted by certain countries.

In one sense, I feel guilty for using this privilege to travel the world to my advantage. I feel that it makes me complicit in the injustice in our world. But in another sense, I hope that by travelling and broadening my mind, I am helping in some small way to allay the suspicion that humans from different countries, religious and cultures all too often have of each other.

My main embarrassment is that UK policy on immigration is becoming more and more severe, and that the rhetoric and indeed the policies of British politicians is not something to be proud of. We can't have it both ways - we can't expect our citizens to be able to travel and live here there and everywhere, yet at the same time 'bolt down the hatches' in the UK.

I know that it is not that simple, but there must be more strategic and joined up thinking in Government between our foreign policy, our immigration (and emigration) policy, and our international development policy. We can't compartmentalise these things to our own selfish and imperialistic advantage anymore.”

Comments

[Brian]

Well, some ex-pats, such as myself, were driven out of the UK by its immigration rules. My wife is American, as was my (now deceased) mother-in-law. When my wife (an only child) and I met, she would have preferred to come to the UK, but HMG wouldn't let her bring her (phsyically-dependent) mother with her. No, my wife would have to live in the UK for 12 months before we could *APPLY* to bring her mother over, and with no guarantee that the application would be (eventually!) approved. There was only one answer to that, and it involved a one-way plane ticket to the USA. And of course, now that my mother-in-law is no longer with us, financial reasons bar us from returning. I sold my house for 40,000 pounds when I left, 10 years ago. We now live in a small house in the rural northern Appalachians, just over 1/3 acre of land, cost us $55,000 six years ago. No, that's not a typo, a house on a third of an acre for less than thirty thousand quid. **HOW** much did you say British houses cost nowadays?? Much as my wife and I would like to return to the UK, barring lottery wins, I'm c/o Uncle Sam for the rest of my natural.

[Kate]

This is exactly how I feel. Having lived in four different countries, and planning to emigrate permanently (and relatively easily), I am well

We now know that most people in the UK have considered emigrating, yet many feel that there is too much immigration into the UK. There is a sense of entitlement there, which is entirely based on the idea that someone from Britain has a greater birthright than, for example, a Somalian.

We have been lucky enough to get free educations, and live in relative comfort (even those on the poverty line in the UK, compared with many developing countries), and believe we should have the right to settle where we choose, yet many do not want those fleeing persecution and war to have sanctuary in the UK.

We believe we have the right to seek a better life abroad, but economic immigrants do not have the same right to improve their lot by moving to the UK.