Breaking down the Barriers Module 1: Understanding migration Presentation

1. Breaking down the BarriersModule 1: Understanding migrationPresentation

2. Section 1: Who are the migrants? � � Around 10% of the UK population was born abroad (6.3 million people). Many developed countries have a much higher proportion of their population born abroad. � The majority of the migrant population lives in London and the South East, with 25% of the population of London (in the 2001 census) having been born abroad. There are also substantial populations of South Asians in some cities in the Midlands and North West.

3. 1.2 Where do migrants come from? (1) Migrants come to the UK from all over the world, with the largest number coming from Europe, the USA, and the Commonwealth. In the 2001 census the most common countries of birth outside the UK were: Ireland (0.88% of the population) India (0.82% of the population) and Pakistan (0.56% of the population).

4. 1.2 Where do migrants come from? (2) Since the 2001 census, twelve new member states have joined the European Union (EU): The accession of these new member states has had a dramatic impact on the profile of migration to the UK, because EU Nationals have the right to work in the UK.

5. 1.3 Annual migration Migration to the UK is a continuous process with large numbers of people arriving in the UK each year and large numbers leaving the UK. �Around half of migrants are women, and most are aged between 15 and 44 years old. In 2007, 237,000 more people immigrated (arrived) to the UK than emigrated (left) from the UK . NB Emigration figures are estimated by government. � People migrating to the UK for at least one year, 2007

6. 1.4 Migration and birth Almost a quarter of babies (160,223 births) born in England and Wales in 2007 were to a mother born abroad, but there was substantial regional variation: more than half of babies in born London had migrant mothers, rising to over 70% in some boroughs. The most common counties of origin in 2007 for mothers who were born abroad were Pakistan (2.6% of births), India (1.7%) and Poland (1.7%). Source: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=14408�

7. Section 2: Why do migrants come to the UK? 2.1 Lawful migration People come lawfully to the UK for a wide variety of reasons. For example: they may be visiting as tourists, to see family members or on business they may come to work they may come to study they may be marrying a UK citizen they may come to join a family member they may be seeking asylum. �

8. 2.2 Unlawful migration There are some migrants who are in the UK unlawfully. They may have: entered the country in breach of immigration rules, or entered lawfully but stayed on unlawfully when their visa expired or their asylum claim and any appeals were rejected.

9. 2.3 Why we came: migrants� stories (1) 2.3.1 Coming to the UK to work 

10. Why we came: migrants� stories (2) 2.3.2Coming to the UK to study

11. Why we came: migrants� stories (3) 2.3.3 Coming to the UK for an arranged marriage

12. Why we came: migrants� stories (4) 2.3.4 Coming to the UK to seek asylum

13. Why we came: migrants� stories (5) 2.3.5 Coming to the UK as a victim of people-trafficking

14. There is no consensus on the full impact of migration on the UK economy and job market, as figures tend to rely on estimates and assumptions. Government figures suggest an overall positive contribution because most migrants come to the UK as economically active adults.3.1 Positive economic impacts The government estimates that immigration added 15-20% to economic output growth in 2001-06, amounting to �6 billion in 2006. Migrants were estimated to have contributed �2.6 billion more to the state in 1999-2000 than they received in benefits and state services. By 2003-04 it was estimated that migrants contributed 10 % of government receipts but only accounted for 9.1% of government expenditure. Migrants make a substantial contribution to the NHS. 27% of health professionals were migrants in 2000. A poll of 500 employers by a business organisation found that employers rate migrants as harder working, more reliable and more skilful that than British-born workers. 61% of employers employed migrants because of a lack of specifically needed skills in the UK workforce. Sources: The Home Office. The Economic and Fiscal Impact of Immigration. 2007. http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm72/7237/7237.pdf: Labour Force Survey, 2000 www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=14408 ; Institute of Directors. Immigration � the business perspective, 2007.

15. 3.2 Negative economic impacts Some low skilled workers find it hard to compete for jobs against migrant workers. Those affected by competition for jobs include existing migrant communities working in low paid jobs. Local services are under pressure in areas where migration, particular from the A8 countries, was much faster than anticipated, and where funding for local services has not kept up with population increase. For example, migrants have a higher birth rate than the UK-born population (2.54 compared with 1.79) and the proportion of women born abroad in the population of childbearing age has risen from 13% in 2004 to 15% in 2007. This has helped to push the UK birth rate to its highest level since 1991. This swift rise has not been matched by a rise in the capacity of local maternity services. �

16. Section 4: Different types of immigration status� There are many different types of immigration status and a person�s status determines what support and services they can use while in the UK. 4.1 Immigration status definitions(1) �

17. Immigration status (2)

18. Immigration status (3)

19. Immigration status (4)

20. 4.2 Who are asylum seekers and refugees? The terms �asylum seeker� and �refugee� are often mistakenly used interchangeably, but: An asylum seeker someone who has made a claim for refugee status but the claim has not yet been decided. A refugee is someone who has had her claim for refugee status accepted by the government. A refused (�failed�) asylum seeker is someone whose asylum claim (and any appeals) has been rejected.

21. 4.3 The asylum process It is up to the asylum seeker to prove her case for refugee status. This may be done by a combination of documentary evidence, medical evidence and oral testimony. An asylum seeker whose claim is refused can appeal against the refusal, and many claims that were initially refused are accepted on appeal. Asylum claims can take many months to be finally decided. An asylum seeker can be detained in a �removal centre� at any stage of her claim. When the asylum case is finally decided the asylum seeker will either: be granted refugee status be granted Humanitarian Protection if she would face a serious risk of death, torture, or other inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment that falls outside the strict definition of the 1951Refugee Convention if she was returned to her own country. be granted Discretionary Leave (most commonly because she is an unaccompanied minor who has been refused refugee status but can�t be �removed� until her 18th birthday) be refused the right to stay in the UK, in which case she is expected to leave the country and may be detained and �removed� if she does not leave voluntarily.

22. 4.4 Asylum facts and figures In 2007... There were 23,430 applications for asylum. Numbers of asylum applications have fallen every year since the all time high of 84,130 applications in 2002. The nationalities accounting for the greatest number of asylum claims were Afghan, Iranian, Chinese, Iraqi, Eritrean, Zimbabwean and Somalian. 28% of asylum seekers were granted refugee status, Humanitarian Protection or Discretionary Leave. The rest had their claims refused.

23. Section 5: Financial and housing support for migrants 5.1 Support for different categories of migrant There are strict rules about which migrants are allowed to claim social security benefits or apply for council housing. Most migrants are not eligible for any state support in the UK and are only allowed to enter the UK on the basis that they will have �no recourse to public funds�. Some migrants are not granted permission to enter the UK unless they can prove that they can support themselves, or someone else (such as a friend or relative) signs an undertaking to support them. See module 3 for the separate rules on paying for NHS services. The table on the next slide shows support entitlements according to immigration status.

24. Entitlements to financial support and housing and the right to work, by category of immigration status *United Kingdom Borders Agency: see next slide � Section 4 support for refused asylum seekers: see following slides

25. The support available to people seeking asylum is complicated. There is a separate support system for asylum seekers and some refused asylum seekers, run by a Home Office agency called the United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA) � formerly the National Asylum Support Service (NASS). 5.2 Support for asylum seekers(1)

26. Support for asylum seekers(2) Asylum seekers who are pregnant or have a young child can apply for extra money from UKBA: Pregnant asylum seekers should notify UKBA of their pregnancy with medical evidence to receive an extra �3 a week. They receive an extra �5 a week while the child is under one and then an extra �3 a week while the child is under three. (This replaces Healthy Start to which they are not entitled). Pregnant asylum seekers can apply for a UKBA maternity grant of �300 from four weeks before their due date or up to two weeks after birth, using the MAT B1 form or a birth certificate as evidence.�

27. 5.3 Support for refugees and refused asylum seekers  If their asylum claim (and any appeals) has been refused, there is minimal support for refused asylum seekers. If they do not have children they do not receive any financial support or housing and are not allowed to work, so there are people in this category (including pregnant women) who are destitute and sleep rough. In some circumstances � including being unable to travel due to late pregnancy or having a baby under six weeks old � they can apply to UKBA for a very limited support (accommodation with meals, or accommodation with food vouchers). This is known as �section 4 support� and is only available to people who sign an agreement to take steps to leave the UK. Refused asylum seekers with children (where the child was born before the asylum claim was refused) usually continue to receive UKBA support until they leave the country.

28. 5.4 Migrants and poverty Black and minority ethnic communities experience higher rates of poverty (including income poverty and material deprivation) than the White UK population. Risks of poverty are highest for Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and Black Africans, but are also above average for Caribbean, Indian and Chinese people. Over half of Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black African children are growing up in poverty. Many people from these communities are affected by a complex cycle of deprivation that includes poverty, unemployment, low educational achievements, lack of English language skills, overcrowding, stress, ill-health, social isolation, and discrimination.

29. 5.5 Ethnic minorities and homelessness Ethnic minority households are around three times more likely to become statutorily homeless than are the majority White population. People of Black African and Black Caribbean origins are twice as likely to be accepted as homeless as people of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds.

30. Section 6: Exploring attitudes to immigration 6.1 History of migration Migration into the British Isles has a long and diverse history, and there is also a long history of anti-immigrant feeling, especially when communities have been under economic stress or looked for a scapegoat. Over time, however, successive migrant communities have integrated successfully into the UK.

31. 6.2 Current attitudes to immigration A survey conducted by Ipsos MORI in 2008 found that almost two thirds of people questioned believed there were too many immigrants in the UK.

32. 6.3 Misconceptions about immigration Polls have found that many people overestimate the number of migrants in the UK and overestimate the support available to them: A MORI poll for the Readers Digest in 2000 found on average the public believed there were five times more immigrants in the UK than the true figure at the time. Almost two thirds of the MORI respondents stated that there is too much help available to immigrants; on average they estimated that asylum seekers received �113 a week to live on, three times higher than the true figure at the time(�36.54). � A MORI survey in 2002 found that the public believed that the UK hosts 23% of the world�s asylum seekers and refugees, an overestimate of more than ten times the true figure which is less than 2%. Sources: MORI/Reader�s Digest . Britain Today. Are We an Intolerant Nation? Poll 2000. MORI. Attitudes towards Asylum Seekers for 'Refugee Week� Poll 2003.

33. 6.4 What shapes attitudes to immigration? Racism In an Ipsos/MORI poll in 2008, 20% of respondents described themselves as racially prejudiced.

34. Media reporting Studies have found that media reporting of immigration significantly influences public perception. Persistently negative reporting encourages and reinforces negative views and stereotypes. For example, some sections of the national press have been analysed as: using the terms to describe asylum seekers, refugees and other migrants interchangeably; using provocative terminology, including meaningless and derogatory terms to describe asylum seekers such as �illegal refugee� and �asylum cheat�; relying on politicians and an anti-immigration organisation as sources; taking an editorial line on photographs that emphasises the stereotype of the �threatening young male�.

35. Example headlines 2003-2008NB While these are all real headlines, they are not necessarily factually true

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