Number of immigrants given passports predicted to reach a record 220,000

i saw this and was disturbed by it slightly.

Last year the total number of applications for citizenship approved by the government was 129,310 compared with 37,010 when Labour came to power in 1997.

In the first three months of 2009, 54,615 bids for passports were approved – a 57 per cent rise on the same period in 2008, it was reported.

At the same rate, the number receiving passports – and with them the right to full benefits – this year is predicted to reach 220,000, smashing the record total of 164,540 set in 2007.

The increase has been attributed to a rush of applications ahead of tougher rules that would extend the average waiting time for a citizenship from the present five to eight years.

Grants of settlement, the stage before citizenship, were also up in the first three months of 2009, running at an annual rate of 190,000.

A spokesman for the Home Office said: "The increase in settlement grants reflects the success of UK Border Agency staff in clearing outstanding applications. It also reflects the Home Office's decision to tighten up the criteria for settlement.

"In 2006 we raised the qualifying period for settlement from four to five years, which meant that migrant workers who wanted to stay permanently had to wait an extra year.

"We have also set out our plans for earned citizenship which demand that people earn the right to stay. We are now looking at raising the bar further by applying a points-based system to the path to citizenship and we will consult on this in the summer."
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...ports-predicted-to-reach-a-record-220000.html

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i found it really difficult to get a passport to go to america and i am fairly upset about this, because it shouldnt be that easy for immagrants to get passports, and i live in Uk and work in the UK, so why should it be so hard for one set of people and not anouther group?

 

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Why are they rushing through applications? I completely agree with the paragraph below.

"We have also set out our plans for earned citizenship which demand that people earn the right to stay. We are now looking at raising the bar further by applying a points-based system to the path to citizenship and we will consult on this in the summer."

Well you know the U.S has a right to deny entry if it so chooses.

 

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Whats the connection between getting a passport and immigrating into the UK?

 

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I'm curious about the connection between immigration in the UK and US visa or citizenship policy. I mean I don't know why the two are being connected as they are different countries.

 

why shouldn't these people be given citizenship? I think you'll find that they live and work in the UK too.

 

That is no reason to give citizenship. In most countries work visas are separate from citizenship. Citizenship entails rights that a work visa does not...like voting for example.

 

and why shouldn't they be able to vote? what makes one person living and working in the UK any more eligible than another person? the place that they were born? or maybe their parents? hell, since we're discriminating based on things that a person has absolutely no choice over how about we revoke peoples rights based on what colour their skin is or what sexual organs they have between their legs.

 

no to a certain degree you are right, but if they are NOT legal citizens of the UK why should they be able to vote, work and have the same rights to someone who was born in the country?

if they are giving citizenship to the country then fine, but if they're not they shouldn't be able to

 

Where does it say they were born there? In the States there are immigrants who can work and live in the country but are not citizens, they are 'residents' who cannot vote and have no right to social security. This is not discrimination. They have to go through a process if they want to become citizens, one being living in the country for many years and not getting into any trouble with the law. I find this absolutely reasonable. I am not living in a foreign country but I have no right to vote nor do I have citizenship rights just because I am there.

And by the way what does the color of their skin have to do with it? A white American who is a resident in the UK is as much an immigrant as someone of another race and they also shouldn't have these de facto rights. Why do you assume this is a form of racism?

 

but why should a person be granted citizenship just for the fact that they were born there? why shouldn't all people be required to "give citizenship"?

 

Citizenship is an inheritance.

Because then you would have people flooding your borders in large numbers whether you could use them or not and it would deplete the nations resources. How many people from Sudan for example would leave for the West if they could? But besides the fact that many would not be able to cope in the West without a lot of assistance, people in their own countries deserve the right to have jobs and other resources protected for them.

Another interesting point is this, colonialism is based on the idea that one group of people thought they had the right to enter into another's land and take whatever they wanted at the expense of the local inhabitants, those who had inherited those resources. Are you suggesting that this is a good thing?

Most immigrants who are already living and working in a country will have the right to citizenship over time.