Free UK Visas

[Guest The Pom Queen]

New Zealanders and Australians would find it easier and cheaper to live and work in the UK under proposals in a new report backed by London mayor Boris Johnson.

Johnson said he hoped the scheme would reverse the dramatic drop in Australian migration to the UK – from 40,000 in 1999 to 26,000 in 2011.

Johnson was due to launch the report in the UK Parliament on Monday morning.

He – and the report - propose a 'bilateral mobility zone' agreement between Australia and the UK, modeled on the trans-Tasman agreement currently between Australia and New Zealand.

Any Australian or New Zealander who wanted to travel to, live and work in the UK would get a free visa – though they would not get immediate access to welfare support.

The same would apply for British citizens who wanted to work in Australia.

"Extra Brits would never be seen as alien," the report predicted. "Nor would Aussies or Kiwis in Britain. The issue may come down to political climates and the resulting political will.

"It would certainly allow a greater flourishing of our common unity.

"The UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand share the same head of state, the same language and the same common-law legal system. Critically, they are all highly economically developed democracies and there is also a distinct common culture and familial bond between them.

"Taken together this has led some to ask why policies of free movement don't already exist."

However the report conceded that the idea would have to wait until after the UK elections next May – and warned that "grasping the nettle of immigration policy is always replete with trials in Britain."

The report quoted an unnamed Australian teacher who described how red tape had almost prevented her staying and working in the UK, after her application to renew her work visa was initially declined.

"Jumping through hoops, playing the waiting game and being in limbo is definitely something I wish not to have [again] any time soon," she said. "The amount of processes that Australian and New Zealand and other Commonwealth citizens have to do just to stay in the UK is absolutely ridiculous."

It also quoted an Australian electrician who arrived on a youth mobility visa, planning to work and travel for a few years, "fell in love" with the UK, and found a company willing to sponsor him to stay.

However the company changed its mind because of the "strict and long process" required to get a visa, which included conducting a labour market test to ensure that nobody in the UK or EU could do the job better

The report also recommended extending the same option to Canadians.

 

Johnson first proposed the idea of a 'bilateral labour mobility zone' between the UK, Australia and New Zealand in September last year.

In a foreword to the report Johnson said it was "the beginning of a long-overdue discussion about how we engage with Commonwealth citizens".

"In 2013 I visited Australia and was reminded of the myriad enduring bonds between 'the English-speaking peoples', to use Churchill's phrase," Johnson wrote (he has just published a biography of the former prime minister).

"I was also struck by the strength of the Australian economy… It seems that almost all parts of the Commonwealth are brimming with a new energy and optimism at precisely the time that the European Union is struggling.

"As we reconsider Britain's place in the world I want us to reconsider how we engage with Commonwealth peoples."

The report was written by Tim Hewish, a former academic and Conservative researcher who co-founded a new think tank called Commonwealth Exchange, aimed at promoting trade, education and strategic cooperation within the Commonwealth.

He wrote that the Commonwealth had "fallen out of fashion in recent years" but this was to the detriment of Britons.

The Commonwealth had a population of 2.3 billion including a growing labour force and middle class, with a common lingua franca – English, and much of it sharing English common law.

"However at present the UK under-utilises this network and the Commonwealth is undermined by an outmoded UK visa regime," he said.

Migration from what he called the 'old Commonwealth' had crashed – Australian migration to the UK going from 40,000 in 1999 to 26,000 in 2001, New Zealand migration from 18,000 in 2000 to 8000 in 2011, and South African from 37,000 in 2004 to just 5000 in 2012.

The report also recommended extending the Youth Mobility visa, which currently applies to only a handful of nations, to more Commonwealth countries.

It says there should be a 'Commonwealth concession' on the cost of tourist and business-tourist visas.

- Sydney Morning Herald

[itegoa]

Linky:

 

http://www.smh.com.au/world/let-australians-live-and-work-in-britain-london-mayor-boris-johnson-backs-migration-report-20141103-11fwfn.html

 

[kevsan]

Thanks Boris.

 

Assuming this happens, can i get a refund on my visa application fee???????:biglaugh:

[Guest51810]

Dramatic drop?! When I was in London Australians were everywhere lol

[JonnyMac]

My first job in London was approx 75% Aussies, Kiwis and SA. This was back in 1999. There seemed to be huge numbers of Aussies living in London at that time.

 

Definitely fewer by the time I left London 6 months ago. I thought it was more to do with the less beneficial FX rate than Visa issues. (from the conversations I had with Aussies)

 

Hope that more NZ & Oz peeps get visa to the UK. Definitely great people to work with.

[starlight7]

About time they did something for their 'cousins'

[Guest]

Given the current political climate on migration I can't see this happening, aren't over 60% of Australians either born in Britain or born to British parents and therefore entitled to a visa anyway?

 

I would think the reason has much more to do with the economic climate/exchange rates etc. than visas. I worked in London and Edinburgh with lots of Aussies from 1998 for around 5 years and it was all about the money - they could earn much higher rates, take it back to Australia and be set up for life with no mortgage etc. Similar to the Poles that came over and then headed back in droves post 2008 when the UK economy crashed.

[BritChickx]

So it'd be easier for brits to move to aus or nz as well as them moving here? I can't see it happening but it's a nice idea.

[Parley]

It may happen if UK gets out of the Eurozone.

 

More freedom for all commonwealth citizens to travel and work in each others countries would be a good thing

[Gbye grey sky]

Surely this plan could not be limited to Commonwealth countries that are predominantly white.

[Parley]

No. Why would it. But the Commonwealth could work similarly to how the European Union is working now. Closer cooperation and freedom of movement for commonwealth citizens

[BritChickx]

I'd love to get out of the EU too, but that also seems unlikely :-( it does make sense though to have close ties with commonwealth countries rather than EU countries because we're more alike.

[bell123321]

Surely this plan could not be limited to Commonwealth countries that are predominantly white.

 

LOL! That's very incorrect the following countries on the link below are part of the commonwealth and a very mixed bag of countries so not sure how you can say they are all mostly white countries?! I would say its very diverse!

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_states_of_the_Commonwealth_of_Nations

[Gbye grey sky]

LOL! That's very incorrect the following countries on the link below are part of the commonwealth and a very mixed bag of countries so not sure how you can say they are all mostly white countries?! I would say its very diverse!

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_states_of_the_Commonwealth_of_Nations

 

I didn't but I thought I noticed that the article referred to Canada, Australia and New Zealand only.

[Guest]

I very much doubt that would happen either.

 

Just a thought though would that mean the asylum seekers in Nauru would automatically be allowed to reside in Australia? And the boats from Sri Lanka would immediately stop as they could just jump on a plane and enter legally.

 

I rather like that idea - sadly I think GGS is right it would only be the prosperous white counties included.

[Guest]

And to answer your question GGS I think it could be limited - it would be an agreement between the countries, just like the WHV or even reciprocal agreement to Healthcare is.

 

It would be countries which if brought together would result in net migration of zero i.e. as many emigrate as immigrate I expect - so no winners or losers.