Indefinite Leave to Remain

It was not until late into the evening that I remembered the envelope and went to open it. To my surprise it was my US passport. As I opened my passport I found the last in a long line of visas: my indefinite leave to remain in the UK. This all important visa allows me to live in the UK with my British hubby for as long as we choose to live here ' a critical part of the Baby Plan, because family's works best when mommy and daddy live in the same country.

My US passport has been around the block a couple of times; my first ever visa was as a student in 2004 to study in Italy, followed a year later by my student visa to study in the UK, followed a year after that by my spousal visa when Husband and I were married in 2005, followed two years later by my definite leave to remain visa, and now, finally, two years after that, this final immigration hurdle. With all the paperwork involved in immigration matters, I could open a consultancy.

There is a perception in the UK that the Government are soft on immigration matters. Because the UK is a member of the EU, many European's choose to live in the UK and are free to do so - persons from France and Germany are as welcome as persons from Poland and Greece. Many British people feel that the fabric of British society is being diluted in certain areas, and extreme political viewpoints are becoming more commonplace as a result. I personally do not think there are too many immigrants in the UK, and the ones that are here tend to live in certain areas such as big cities and regions of the UK with expatriate communities. In cities such as London and Birmingham you will see whole areas that are solely occupied, seemingly, by Indian or other Asian communities, as well as African and Caribbean areas. But for the most part these people are not immigrants ' they have lived in the UK for several generations.

The UK actively recruited persons from these countries to migrate to the UK at various stages during the 20^th century, mainly after the war. There was a labour shortage in the 1950's and workers were recruited from the Caribbean Islands to drive busses and people from India and Pakistan were recruited to work in textile and engineering sectors. In truth the UK is a country with only 8.3% ethnic minorities out of a total population of 59.8 million persons.* Comparatively, in the USA we currently have nearly a 40% ethnic minority population, with projections to be over 50% by 2050 (which will challenge the term minority) out of a total population of just over 300 million. http://www.census.gov/population/www/pro<wbr />jections/analytical-document09.pdf

But to say that the UK is soft on immigration is too not fully understand how complex the immigration process is here: undeniably to live in the UK legally, it is actually quite difficult.

For anyone from outside the EU, you need a visa to live, work, or study in the UK. To obtain this, you generally need either a school, employer, or spouse to vouch for you in the form of sponsorship. It is true that you could simply arrive on a plane as a tourist or 'student' and then disappear off the radar. But that is illegal immigration ' and that is a completely different issue. A new points-based system has now been introduced in the attempt to filter out the dishonest visa seekers, and you now need to provide proof of funds in sufficient amounts to be granted any kind of visa to come to the UK.

In my case, each time I applied for one of my visas that was related to my being married to a UK man (which is a coveted thing to be in this world) I had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that we were indeed married. This consisted of providing documents addressed to both of our names, from different sources, to span a certain time frame. I am very lucky that I am a naturally organised person, and I keep most things that are sent in the post, because had I not been I would not have been able to produce such evidence. And this was the situation in our household for no less than 5 years ' every item of post was saved, so that this condition could be met. Now I can go through and purge my bursting filing cabinet, hurrah!

In addition to this documentation requirement, for the last and final visa, I had to study for and pass a test on life in the UK. There was a text book and practice questions and I had to study about things such as typical British holidays (including Christmas and Easter) alongside the inner workings of the Scottish Parliament. I realise that the intentions of the examination are noble ' the UK government want to ensure that immigrants understand and respect the laws and cultures of the land in which they will be living - but the implementation means that persons from the USA need to suffer the same hurdles as anyone from a non-western country would. But I suppose this is fair. After all, we Americans did have a little scuffle with the British, all those years ago, and ever since we have been excluded from the good old Commonwealth Club and all the perks associated.

Speaking of the tiff which resulted in the break of the US from Britain, there is an issue of tax to be discussed. You see, Americans do not like to be taxed by the British without fair representation in the lawmaking institutions. As a resident of the UK, which is what this new visa allows me, I will continue to pay tax in the form of income tax, national insurance tax (similar to social security) and council tax (similar to property tax) which I have been doing for the last 5 years. However, if I ever wanted to vote in an election to voice my opinion as to whom those law makers should be, I cannot. For those of you who read my last blog and think I am a Tory supporter ' this may come as a relief! But in my book this amounts to taxation without representation, and we Americans do not like that one little bit. Europeans and the Irish can vote, but not resident Americans. There is one final hurdle to full rights in the UK - I have to raise my right hand and salute the Queen, crown and country and become a dual citizen. Now, I have no real problem with this. I am not a royalist but I don't really mind saluting the queen ' she reminds me of my Gran (albeit a very posh version!). My issue is that for every British person who I ask 'would you salute the queen if asked to by the UK government?' the answer is passionately divided. Why should I, just because I was not born here, do something that many British people would vehemently refuse to do?

In addition, as I was studying for the 'Life in the UK' test I quizzed my British friends and colleagues. They only got about 50% correct! It was a gas to recognize the hypocrisy of a country that wants its immigrants to know the details of the Crown Court system inside and out but fails to teach its own natural born citizens about their civic rights and responsibilities. Many a child from some of the poorer white areas in Britain would fail this exam miserably. So the irony here is that UK immigration ' far from being soft or easy ' actually requires more from its migrants than it does from its own citizens.

* UK figures taken from the publication 'Life in the United Kingdom, a Journey to Citizenship' published by the Home Office in April 2007