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I saw the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ news article on the Green Paper. Earning citizenship, getting points? Get a life Labour, I'm a foreign national, I've already taken your test, I'm not taking it again. Plus I'm so busy working just to try and stay out of debt because you can't build affordable housing, when I am gonna have time to 'earn points'? Here's a good reason to get citizenship, voting. That way I can have immense satisfaction when I've voted Labour out.

Any chance I can hand back my 'citizenship' and just live on benefits?

What cheek! I am American and have been eligible for citizenship for over a year now, yet I haven't applied yet. Why? Because the UK wants me to pay about £1000 for the pleasure.

Why would I do that? I would love to become a citizen but to be fair, in 2006, I had to pay £550 for the pleasure of obtaining an indefinate leave to remain visa (permanent residency) - which I obtained... that was hard enough to make room for in our budget, let alone a grand just a year later!!

I work full time, I have a family and my husband is a citizen of this country. We work hard, and I am personally taxed at 40%. I get no benefits because I "make too much money", yet I am one of those penalised by the system.

I have a good job, make good money, but we can't get on the housing ladder. We have personal debt, have to pay commuting costs which are frankly offensively high for public transport, and to be honest most of the time we think about getting second jobs just for some breathing room!

I get so sick of these politicians here looking down at the real world and thinking that the ordinary person can pay that much money.

I shudder to think about true immigrants who come here and earn minimum wage - what is this sort of thing doing to them? How dare this government take advantage of this group of people in this way!

How about EU members coming here and getting to our benefits the next day of their arrival ? Is it fair ? I don't think so.

responding to #4 -
Gary:
Whatever made you think that you needed to be a non-citizen to do that?

How about getting the immigrants to meet the required criteria before they end up on our doorstep. Maybe they should only be able to apply from their motherland and only when they have been approved should be allowed to enter this country on probation. Minus benefits. This would soon sort the wheat from the chaff. When they do get here they must be told they have to live according to British law and culture. If they want so much to be British they should take us and not expect us to change for them.

I've lived in the UK now for close to 10 years. I'm a permanent resident and am moving towards naturalisation - I want to do it because I think it's the right thing to do.

Politicians go on and on about immigrants integrating - I've made numerous efforts to contribute to my community, to volunteer, to get involved. The problem is that there are few opportunities to do so, and when you do find one they often drag their feet to let you get stuck in and help out. I certainly did not have this problem in the communities I lived in, in the States.

It seems to me that part of the problem is that there is no longer such a thing as "community" in the UK - or rather it is in some phase of re-defining itself and is thus unrecognisable. Politicians are scrambling on all fronts (not just immigration) to "re-invent" or "re-construct" something that simply is no longer there.

I am an EU citizen, have lived (and paid taxes) since 1988 and received a letter from the Home Office last year saying that I had to leave the UK within 28 days of receiving their letter. I have been engaged in an extensive 'paper exchange' ever since. Can I support myself economically ? Indeed I can. In addition I have my own business and employ 5 British citizens. Creating a fair Britain .....

Ms Jacqui Smith just listened to and I stifled a yawn. Ms "I'm blarney" Smith - I thought for the umpteenth time

I wouldn't mind so much actually being a citizen if it wasn't so useless and one of the other Government Ministers laying down the new proposals didn't have a particular surname, redolent of another matter.

I was born here - a citizen - and it has served absolutely no purpose, so I agree with you Nick. What is the point? You are off to a citizen ceremony - I am just off being a citizen.

By paying £1000 pounds as well as £500 for English lessons and then the exams and hundreds more if you need to get a renewal on your visa BUT it might stop you getting quized by the nasty emigration officials at Gatwick. Anyway most people who deside to stay like it here a lot.We may be keeping a few well paid people and nasty emigrant officials in jobs with all the charges and fees we need to pay. We choose this country so to stay in this country we must of course abide by the rules. Also,we KNOW should go home if we dont like it.

Thank you for the report on becoming a British citizen from the official opposition spokesperson, Nick R

"What's the point in becoming a British citizen? Yes, you get a passport and access to consular services. Yes, you get the right to vote. But what else? "

You get the right for the Government to spy on you, lose your confidential details, vote (and get a Government that breaks its manifesto promises) , and which treats its citizens as muppets.

I repeat - my 83 yr old friend, recently passed away whose ancester fought beside William in 1066, goddaughter of Gen. Ismay, served as Adj Lt in WWll, married Amer. pilot had 2 children. Back in england with 2 babies, who schooled, worked, married for 60 yrs in UK but must jump through copious hoops because 'mothers' can not pass on decendancy. Ludicrous? all serving UK for 60 and 80 years but must be interrogated as aliens/immigrants. Beyond ridiculous and there are 100,000 just like my two friends. Perhaps they need to go to the Congo, become citizens and arrive here seeking asylum - a much surer method.

Mr Robinson made a sweeping statement on tonight's 6 o'clock news, when reporting on non-EU citizens becoming British nationals, saying that they could now vote in British elections. And repeats it on the blog. Of course some of those obtaining British citizenship would now be able to vote. However, Commonwealth citizens living in the UK are entitled to vote with or without British citizenship.

Read Briefing Paper Number 8.15 – 'Immigration & the UK Voting System' on Migrationwatch's web site – www.migrationwatchuk.org. That paper shows that some one million Commonwealth citizens in this country are allowed to vote in our general elections.

I am not aware that the Government (or anyone else) has ever managed to prove Migrationwatch figures wrong.

Doesn't anybody get it yet ?
The majority of people in the UK,including those of ethnic origin do not want any more immigration, full stop !
A simple solution : Close the borders to immigrants both legal & Illegal.
Then you can embark on a policy of very controlled immigation, then perhaps it will be seen as something to be "earned" & not a "right".
We need peaople to contribute to our society, not just take from it.
Take head, there will be much unrest if uncontrolled immigration continues.

This is all a joke. We always claim Africa is poverty stricken and hypocritically organise AID concerts to help them. Yet Africans are charged higher school fees than the europeans who are supposedly rich. Then trade restrictions are placed on their countries so they get poorer. They come to UK, pay all that fees, work, get no benefits just to support others at home. When it is time to reap from their hard work, they ask them to pay higher fees still for them to qualify. Is the citizenship being sold to oppress the poor then?

Get onto some important things please.
Like the Gas prices! and who will benifit from them in the "House"?

Comment to "Have your say"

British Gas profits: Your ViewsSENT:21-Feb-2008 17:32COMMENT:MP's have been well paid to do nothing about this, so don't expect too much other than another committee to look into it until the public looses interest! Keep an eye though on which MP's who leave the "House" in the future get high paid positions with this company! I wonder how many and who they will be?

No 20. In effect - stop movement of people into this country. Full stop?

That has been tried in various countries and it works like a dream - not. And we would still be allowed to travel overseas on holiday will we - anywhere we want to go? Drawbridges not being pulled up in retaliation? I do not think so.

Oh and the unrest is here already - it is called life.

Isn't there something hypocritcal about the government claiming to value diversity whilst at the same time insisting that everyone here speaks English?

I am quite surprised by the Govt.s present move to control immigration for many reasons. First reason is, by employing different set of rules for non-EU nationals I think this Govt. is adopting double standards, I am sure this is against the human rights law (I would like to know what Liberty/Amnesty International thinks about this?). Second, it is fine blocking the doctors and nurses from coming to this country, but what about illegal immigrants/ and others who should not be here under any circumstances. Finally, the green paper do not specify any timeframe when people will be eligible for different types of citizenships, which will mean that the new rules will be open to interpretation by various officials, is this to promote systematic corruption (believe me in 3rd world countries the corruption is in the form of bribes, but in uk the system is corrupt as the common people are not- they sound different but effects are the same)?
So does it mean your skin colour (EU) matters but qualification not? Why UK Govt. does not have the courage to adopt same rules for all non-UK nationals? If anybody has the answer please let me know.

I think the problem is not the genuine immigrants who have made a contribution to society, like some of the posters here. The issue is the floodgates that were open to EU citizens. Government spin cannot hide the huge numbers of foreign beggars on the streets. Glasgow City centre has a lot, none of whom appear to be able to speak much in the way of English apart from "Big Issue please".

These individuals, many of whom are over 50 years of age, will not find employment.

The UK has had steady emigrationa and immigration for years, but now service are being stretched and people are being directly affected.

That is the issue that needs address, nnot more useless and costly ineffective ideas from Labour.

Immigrants in themselves are not the real problem, the number of immigrants is, and this problem includes EU immigration, something which our government cannot or will not do anything about. This bull about 'earning British citizenship', does not tackle the real problem as assylum seekers and EU members are exempt and are the ones more likely to be coming to Britain merely to use the system for gain. Those outside of these two categories who genuinly wish to enter Britain in order to improve their lifestyle and that of their families are the real losers under this green paper.

What about commonwealth citizens with strong and relativly recent british heritage, many of us, especially those in Africa were stranded when the British GVT of the 60's cut loose its colonies in Africa. We have been subjected to 40 years or rule by people who do not share our values or appreciate our culture, ones nationality should be more than an accident of birth.

This is just another smokescreen by the government to make it look like they are actually doing something about the whole immigration problem, while not really solving anything, except getting even more money into their swollen coffers to waste.

Instead of stemming the flow of people from certain parts of the new EU, who are more to blame for public services being swamped and stopping people getting into this country illegally, they decide to make it even harder and more costly for people trying to legally get into this country. Why should they bother playing by the rules now, they could probably get in cheaper illegally and then not have to bother with things like ILR forms and fees.

Surely a curb on the numbers from the EU, removal of illegal immigrants and tracking of people entering and leaving the country would be more useful than trying to deter people genuinely trying to enter the country legally.

At this ceremony was there any reason why the UK flag was upside down?

In response to No 10 - The sense of community no longer exists in the UK because the country is full of foreigners (like yourself) and this Nulab government refuses to acknowledge that they have detroyed the British culture/heritage/traditions by their PC lockstep response to every situation, and their spiteful malicious attacks on Britishness in general, and Englishness in particular.

Come along chaps, one must remember that politicians, as averse to you and me, live in different galaxies. You, and me, live here, they live in different places, like the bottom of the garden, with the fairies, which many of them are. Some of them live even further away, in European worlds, so much different again. We really must give them some catch up space, live NEVER, EVER voting for one of them EVER, again.

The problem here is the term 'British'
Nobody knows what British is anymore!
It should be got rid.

More so, the Labour government should be got rid of.

I'm an Englishman, 63yrs. old and comming up to retirement. I have worked from 2 days after my 15th. birthday, served in HM forces abroad on active duty and I cannot get any assistance from our government on the rare occasion that I have had a short spell out of work, or between jobs. This is the greatest bone of contention among me and my friends, that people come here with their hands out, and appear to get everything they want and we who have contributed all our working life get nothing. If I was in charge in this country, I would suspend the Human Rights Act, and the Race relations Bill, as people coming here use it as a big stick to beat us with. My youngest son doing his A levels was forced to eat foreign food, and play second fiddle to foreign students, as they seem to have more influence than us locals.The immigrants in his country laugh at us.My wife works for a large national company, full of migrant workers from all over Europe and the middle East, and the comments they make to my wife makes her sick to her stomach, especially as they think they have this Automatic Right to everything that's going, and they are the laziest bunch of worker she has seen.

I just find it highly amusing, hilarious even.

Strategies like this are to ensure foreigners do not come into this country to live of benefits that you, me, the taxpayer pays.

Funniest thing in this is that all the foreigners I know seem to work harder than anyone British I know, and that all the people I know on benefits (unfortunately too many) are all British.

I totally agree that if you come into Britain, people must know the English language, and if they don't, they must learn it, at own expense (after all it's their wish to live here)

If you come to England, you will have to understand the laws and rules set by the government, and most important , follow these.

But to get people pay for these rights, even if they have the rights anyway.

for this, and all the other comments that come from the government, they should hang their heads in shame.

What has happened to Britain? We know that the government elected by the majority has got their pockets in mind, not our well being.

We've got everybody making sure that things go according to what's best for the people of Britain. there's nobody there making sure the government does everything they can for the people.

I am a citizen. I returned to the UK from abroad to be with family and give my children a chance at a better future. Little did I know as a citizen even after asking all the right questions, as a divorced father, I will not be allowed to bring my children.

I have spent thousands of pounds on applications and visa requests. I have full joint custody of my children, I have their mother wanting to give me the children as she believes it is in there best interest. I have a child psychologist report indicating it is in my children best interest, the children themselves have clearly indicated they wish to be with there father, however the British government says "No" The reason - I do not have sole custody and my children can speak to me on the telephone and email. How did the judge put it to me, I made a choice and it is not their problem. The government will not even let them come for a holiday. They are stuck in South Africa, emotionally stressed and depressed. This is children who have a father and grandfather who are British, myself by descent and my father by birth who is disgraced at the way the Government treat their own citizen and even worse did not even consider what was best and how it is affecting 2 children well being.

So I ask you why become a citizen, hey if you are part of the EU you can just walk into this country , live of benefits and that is no problem. But if you work , pay your tax and are a law abiding citizen, british citizen it counts for nothing, I cant even get my own children into this country - so tell me why become a citizen??

Clinton was the benefactor of a technique that Mandelson and Blair made into a practical political science here in the UK.

A new type of democracy that exploited the irrational behaviour of people by testing the opinions of focus groups in just the same way that advertising does.

People feel they matter when a government delivers substance on such irrational fears and opinions.

This is a classic demonstration of the technique. It is irrational to say the least but it finds favour with floating voters.

If practical politics has come down to this then a rational 49% of voters are prisoners of the id both here and in the USA.

I don't think all immigrants come to UK to become british, it is totally unrealistic. People immigrate to other countries in order to have a better life , make more money or get away from some difficulty which they face.
When British people move over to Spain, France or US; they do not do so in order to become Spanish or Americans, it is because they want a better life.

Alot of people talk about how immigrants should learn british culture, speak fluent English and be totally briitsh. I don't think that is really important as long as you are law abiding, hard working and integrate. You don't have be be all british in order to immigrate, it is like that all over the world.

It's little more than yet another scam by Gordon to bleed even more people of their money, just like the recently introduced entertainment licence, HIPS, and the latest lark of forcing all motorists into one lane so that when they become so fed up they break out into an adjacent lane, only to be nabbed by a waiting copper, and taxed another £30 for their non-compliance.

I agree that there are too many immigrants, not just in the Uk but around the world. We left the Uk 40 years ago for a better life in the US, guess what? we did not get it. Your standard of living has shot up while ours has stagnated. My husband worked for Ford motor co over 35 years and only earned 3 weeks paid holiday. As for sick pay forget it ,it does not exist. In many ways you people in the EU are lucky. In the Us we are being overrun by Mexican illegals and a lot of them belong to gangs like MS13, if you don,t know who they be grateful. They are brutal. Get after your members of Parliament to stop this out of control migration.. Before you are facing Sharia law.

Responding to 20: What do you think Amnesty/Liberty could do about it anyway? I think that the sooner we get shot of certain sections of the Human Rights Act, like those which prevent deporting criminals to their homeland and those which prevent deporting illegal immigrants because they've been here for so long that they've manages to settle down and raise a family, the better it will be! Make immigrants get citizenship before they're let into the country, and keep better tabs on them!

In a nutshell, vote Tory!!

This is yet again another Labour gimmick.They should be dealing with immigration at source. We need secured borders, a fully manned and operational border patrol force.I sat in my GP surgery the other week and was stunned frankly. I and the receptionist were the only english speaking people there. The practice had to hire an interpreter.I know of sham marriages taking place in order for so called asylum seekers to get a passport/visa.Housing is being given to foreign nationals over british nationals, it's happened literally next door to me. An english couple, young, both in work but not high earners,can't get on the housing ladder, yet the flat next door went to an algerian guy, on benefits, no leave to stay indefinitely.Why?Algeria isn't on any list of countries where there are human rights issues, its 99% muslim anyway.It's high on the list for terrorists so why are we letting them stay here in the first place?Hows a citizenship test going to sort that problem?