France: no mass legalizing of immigrants

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I can second that - a friend of mine is doing pretty well for himself in Estonia.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Just seems weird to me these nations join the EU but don't want anything to do with each others citizens.

I think when they speak of immigrnts, they mainly refer to non-EU citizens.

yup

[Dr_LHA 3]

I can second that - a friend of mine is doing pretty well for himself in Estonia.

Estonia is great, I loved it there when I visited a while back. That said its hugely benefitted from Europe, it's really a rising star.

[sereia 0]

well no one wants to move to romania, slovakia, poland, etc... but everyone else wants to move to the uk and france! imagine if they let turkey in? lol

Why not? I'd rather move to Poland or Slovakia than France. Eastern Europe is really

not as bad as you think.

I've been to Eastern Europe. I enjoyed myself as a tourist... but the fact is hundreds of thousands of them have left to go West. I forgot where I read the actual numbers who have moved to the UK since being let in the EU but it was astonishing.

[mawilson 2,133]

I've been to Eastern Europe. I enjoyed myself as a tourist... but the fact is hundreds of thousands of them have left to go West. I forgot where I read the actual numbers who have moved to the UK since being let in the EU but it was astonishing.

And how many UK citizens have left the UK to go and live some place else?

You'll probably find that there are more British citizens living overseas than

any other nation, including Poland.

Ireland is a close competitor. There are 15 million Irish passports in

circulation, and only 4 million people living in the Republic. That's right,

11 million Irish citizens are missing in action.

In comparison, there are 40 million Poles, and only 1 million of them have

moved to the UK (and other EU countries) since 2005. Some of them might

even go back home after a few years, who knows. In the grand scheme

of things, it's probably not that big of a deal.

Edited May 22, 2007 by mawilson

[sereia 0]

i think it must also have a lot to do with ability to move away. money. access. etc. i think they're all lucky to be able to move around like that and work anywhere in the eu. interesting statistics anyway!

i wish i got my eu passport when i had my chance (i'm not 24 anymore).

[homesick_american 1]

well no one wants to move to romania, slovakia, poland, etc... but everyone else wants to move to the uk and france! imagine if they let turkey in? lol

Why not? I'd rather move to Poland or Slovakia than France. Eastern Europe is really

not as bad as you think.

I've been to Eastern Europe. I enjoyed myself as a tourist... but the fact is hundreds of thousands of them have left to go West. I forgot where I read the actual numbers who have moved to the UK since being let in the EU but it was astonishing.

About 600,000 Poles have migrated to the UK since 2004 but that doesn't account for the ones who came here, worked for a while, then returned.

You can definitely notice that there are a lot of eastern Europeans around, though. Even York now has Polish shops and signs in Polish in council/government offices. In some areas, public services are really being stretched. It's not like the eastern Europeans aren't working; over 95% of them are, but they still send their kids to school and go to the doctor, and there's just not enough school places/doctors to go around in some areas. Even here in York...which is a small city in a mostly rural county...I've noticed an increase in the time I have to wait to see a doctor, mainly due to migrants. Even at the doctor's surgery half the notices on the bulletin board are now in eastern European languages. Doesn't really bother me though, especially since my grandmother was Polish. I'm more pissed at the UK government for not realizing this was going to happen and planning for it. I don't blame the migrants, who are here 100% legally.

Edited May 22, 2007 by homesick_american

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Well the UK did have all that bullshit with the asylum laws. There's little doubt that Britain got an influx of east-european refugees following the Kosovo war and the fall out from the Yugoslav civil war.

The government true to form did not handle it very well - and dumped large concentrations of people in towns (typically seaside towns) around the country. Most of them ended up being put up in hotels basically at taxpayer expense - for an indeterminate period while their petitions were reviewed.

What happened in many areas (and in my town also) was that landlords were paid to house those immigrants, and the asylees ended up being housed in accommodation barely fit for human habitation. In my town, a large disused victorian-era hotel was used to house Asylees. Outside at least it looked pretty derelict, but I got a fair sense that it wasn't much better inside on seeing people keeping food on window ledges for lack of a refrigerator.

[homesick_american 1]

Well the UK did have all that bullshit with the asylum laws. There's little doubt that Britain got an influx of east-european refugees following the Kosovo war and the fall out from the Yugoslav civil war.

The government true to form did not handle it very well - and dumped large concentrations of people in towns (typically seaside towns) around the country. Most of them ended up being put up in hotels basically at taxpayer expense - for an indeterminate period while their petitions were reviewed.

What happened in many areas (and in my town also) was that landlords were paid to house those immigrants, and the asylees ended up being housed in accommodation barely fit for human habitation. In my town, a large disused victorian-era hotel was used to house Asylees. Outside at least it looked pretty derelict, but I got a fair sense that it wasn't much better inside on seeing people keeping food on window ledges for lack of a refrigerator.

Yeah...in another post you said that public services in the UK were better than those in the US, but I never saw such deprivation in the US as I've seen in some poorer areas with public housing here. :huh: :huh: