pushing paper and credulity

The Gnomad has spent the day sorting, arranging and copying documents in preparation for the Gnomadette's visa application for the UK.

Once upon a time, in a galaxy really not very far away at all it used to be that being the spouse of a UK citizen would, by that fact alone, be granted UK citizenship and all the benefits and privileges that go with it. Unfortunately because of an abuse of the system known as "marriages of convenience" whereby some poor hapless person would be suckered into marrying only to have their spouse vanish into the distance never to be seen again once the afore-mentioned passport had been issued. Sometimes this was done as a financial arrangement and both parties knew exactly what they were getting into. When this situation got into the hands of the press there was the usual knee jerk reaction (was the word "knee" actually required there?) from Her Majesty's Government and the "loophole" was closed.

The situation now is that being the spouse of a UK citizen grants no privileges what-so-ever in the application for settlement in the UK. The initial settlement visa is valid for two years only, and only after that time has passed can it be transmogrified into "Indefinite Leave To remain" which effectively involves going through the whole process again. After this is completed there comes the only benefit in the process for being legally married. The incoming spouse only has to wait three years from legally being resident in the UK to apply for citizenship, instead of the usual five years, as laid down by the usual regulation. How kind of Her Majesty's government to be so considerate.

The amount of paperwork involved is staggering. The application form on its own is seventeen A4 pages long. The accompanying documentation and the required copies make a pile twenty eight millimetres thick, that's over an inch! The Gnomad spent eight and a half hours today collating, copying and checking the required documents. This doesn't count any time for collecting the documents or filling in the forms, that had all been done previously. The Gnomad strongly suspects that the next two stages will incur similar amounts of form-filling and copying too.

It is not, however, the time and paper that grate, but the cost:

Settlement visa £515 (£260 in 2005)payable now
Indefinite Leave to Remain £750 (£335 in 2005)payable in two years time
naturalisation £575 (£200 in 2005)payable the year after that.

That's £1,840 (UKP)! almost $2,500 (USD), 1,930 Euros or 120,000 PHP!

£1,840 so that the Gnomads can live as husband and wife like any other couple in the UK. Bargain, obviously.

No doubt these fees will have risen by the time they come due in two and three years respectively. Look at how much the fees increased in just two years, from a total of £795 in 2005 to £1,840 in 2007 - MORE THAN DOUBLE! and by now, 2009, there must be another hike in store

How can this possibly be justified?

to quote from the government's own press release*:

We will spend the funds raised by the fees on:

* providing additional enforcement to ferret out illegal workers and the employers who exploit them
* building new detention centres to securely hold those who are awaiting decisions on their asylum claims or who are waiting deportation following a failed application
* helping employers check their employees' nationality status
* running campaigns abroad to explain the UK's immigration rules
* increasing the rate and number of illegal immigrants who are sent back to their home countries

The new fees will mainly affect immigrants who make significant economic gains from living and working in the UK, while students, visitors and tourists won't pay as much.

So, lets get this straight,

1 Because a person is applying to come into the country legally they are having to pay to prevent others coming in illegally
2 Because a person is applying to come into the country legally they are having to fund detention centres for illegal immigrants.
3 Because a person is applying to come into the country legally they are having to pay the costs of potential employers who will benefit from their labour
4 Because a person is applying to come into the country legally they are having to pay for information given to others about how to get here
5 Because a person is applying to come into the country legally they are having to pay for the deportation of illegal immigrants.

So once again the British Government is making the innocent pay for the crimes of the guilty, as shown by items 1,2 and 5. Item 3 is ludicrous, if an employer needs to bring in ex-pat workers they should pick up the entire cost if only to encourage them to employ Britons first, train Britons second and only then if no one is available bring in workers from outside. Item 4 might be credible if it weren't for the fact that all of the information is out there and accessible already.

Its the last bit that really grates on the Gnomads sense of fair play though, this bit:

The new fees will mainly affect immigrants who make significant economic gains from living and working in the UK

What a load of disingenuous tosh!

Surely anyone making those "significant gains" will be paying tax on those gains like anybody else? So why are they being taxed beforehand as well?

This is worse than student loans, which are a pre-emptive tax on the higher earnings one might expect from having a degree, but of course higher earnings means the individual will pay higher taxes and therefore repay the costs of their education.

Her Brittanic Majesty's government really strains the Gnomad's patriotism at times!



*full article available here: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/about-us/news/visa-fees