Migrant = someone who moves from one country to another to live

Immigration Law
A Timeline

Definition:

Migrant = someone who moves from one country to another to live.

Immigrant = someone who comes into a country to live, a settler.

In some ways the immigration law is very strict about who can come and live in the U.K. People from most countries in the world - like Brazil, or Russia - have to get a visa just to get past the airport, even if they are just coming as a tourist.

If you want to work in the U.K. it's much harder to get in. You can only work here if you're doing a specialist job that a British person can't do. This applies to people like footballers, too - a Brazilian player can't be given a contract unless the government agrees.

On the other hand, anyone from most European countries can come here without a visa, and we can go to their countries, because we're all in the European Union. We can all move about either as tourists or to work. If millions of British people wanted to go to Germany or France to work then they could just go (though there might not be any jobs) and French or German people could come to the U.K. in return.

Forty years ago it was much easier for people from outside Europe to come here. When the U.K. was short of workers and needed more - we had lots of new factories which were only working slowly because the owners couldn't find enough workers. We also had a new Health Service which was taking on new workers all the time. At first employers looked for new workers from places like Poland and Italy, but there weren't enough (other European countries were also short of workers). So employers looked in other places for workers, places where they knew some English was spoken and where people had worked for the British before - the colonies. They asked workers from the colonies to come and work in the U.K.

Immigration in the Fifties

India, and many countries in Africa and in the Caribbean had been controlled by Britain and were just becoming independent. Many men from these countries had been soldiers in the war and many others (including women too) had worked in factories to produce things for Britain to help fight the war. The soldiers had fought in the Far East, in Africa, and in Europe. After the war wages were higher in Britain than the colonies, so it was almost a natural step for many people to think of working here. Lots of Irish people came, too.

This did not last very long. After about ten years laws were brought in to make immigration harder. (Immigrants Act of 1962). This law was replaced by the New Immigration Act of 1972, which tightened controls. This might be because Britain did not need so many workers, and it might have been because some white people didn't like the fact that many of the new immigrant workers had dark skins. Britain was used to ruling people with different cultures in the colonies, but having them living nearby was new.

The Situation Today

Today, people from old colonies, Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, and people from the Caribbean and Africa, find it very hard to get into Britain. Many other nationalities find it easier. If you are from India and you have a relation living here, or if you marry someone here, then it is possible to get in. If you have no connection with anyone here it is almost impossible to get the right to settle here and very difficult even to get a visitor's visa (because they think you might just stay).

So how do you get into Britain?

As a visitor almost anyone can apply to come for a short time, though the authorities will be more suspicious of some people than others; people from other EU countries can come as often as they like without any special permission. To come here to if you live abroad but have close family here then you may live and work be allowed to come here, whether you are young and not yet working, or of working age, or retired; people from another EU country, can come here at any time; if you are a refugee, if you have to leave your home country because for no fault of your own you are not safe there, then you can stay in Britain if the authorities believe you'd really be in danger if you went back.

It's worth remembering that arguments about immigration are seldom really about numbers or about overcrowding. More people leave the country every year than enter it, and most of those who come in are white.

This is the story of of Akbhar from Bangladesh

Akbhar, a friend of Mumtaz's Dad: I came here from a place called Sylhet in Bangladesh in 1974. Bangladesh is a poor country and I wanted to go and work somewhere where I could be better off. I was 24 years old when I came here and I had to have a job arranged before I would be allowed into the country. A cousin from my village was already here and working in an Indian restaurant, and he got me a job (actually most Indian restaurants are really Bangladeshi). I didn't really make any money at first. I stayed with my cousin in a house he rented from the Bangladeshi who owned the restaurant, and just saved all my money. After five years I had quite a lot saved and I got my own flat and had a holiday in Bangladesh to arrange to get married. My parents had found someone for me, we liked each other, and after we were married we came back here to live. I've worked in restaurants all my time here and I expect I will until I retire. Our children are now 16, 14 and 12, and I hope they will do well at school and get good interesting jobs. [ source: http://www.britkid.org ]