Federal government plans to axe several types of family visas could mean that for some, being able to reunite their families in Australia could become a thing of the past.
Clark Fred/Wikimedia Commons
This afternoon, the Australian Senate will be asked to vote on a Greens disallowance motion, which seeks to stop the Abbott government repealing several types of family visas. These include: the Parent…
Calais might be in France, but it is the front line of Britain’s battle to control immigration. Yet the governments of both countries continue to pass the buck between each other and very little progress…
A recent joint report by British Future and Universities UK has criticised the Coalition for imposing unnecessary limits on the numbers of foreign students allowed into the country. Its authors say government…
David Cameron puts families first. As long as they’ve got money in the bank.
MIgrants' rights network
David Cameron has pledged to put families at the heart of his government with a focus on policies that help those most in need. But his rhetoric is rank hypocrisy. While the prime minister claims to put…
The recent discovery of 35 men, women and children in a shipping container at Tilbury docks in Essex is shocking for many reasons. Few had known that people were being brought into the UK in shipping containers…
Data, like fruit, can be selectively picked.
Joe Giddens/PA Wire
Two studies about the impact of migration on the UK economy have been published which – if media reports are to believed – appear to contradict one another. A closer reading of these reports, however…
If a visit to Christmas Island sounds like fun, think again. A remote tropical island in the Indian Ocean – billed as a birdwatcher’s paradise and a haven for snorkelling – has a dark side. It is “home…
Recent reports have indicated that the Home Office has enjoyed access to the NHS records of more than 6,900 people since 2010, and used information from them for ramped-up efforts to track down illegal…
Could there really be border controls between England and Scotland?
Robert Lindsell
One question that keeps raising its head in the Scottish independence debate is about border controls and what would happen between Scotland and the rest of the UK at border towns like Gretna Green – a…
Thank you - for not only speaking English.
Thank you via ivosar/Shutterstock
There are now more than 1.1 million children in our schools whose first language “is known or believed to be other than English” according to the latest government figures. This confirms a continuous upwards…
Level playing field? Raheem Sterling attacks.
Rhona Wise/EPA
Like football, globalisation creates winners and losers. For now, the England football team is one of the back markers. By globalisation we mean free movement: it is the increase in mobility across national…
Muslim and Christian Lebanese join with other communities to rally against racism. The Lebanese in Australia story is the subject of a new SBS documentary series, Once Upon a Time in Punchbowl.
Andrew Jakubowicz
Mediterranean societies have been described as communities of honour and shame. The fundamental currency of their social order is respect. When the Lebanese civil war drove thousands of its citizens to…
It is getting harder and harder to prove that you’re “truly British”. With immigration rarely off the front pages and UKIP making waves in election year, a national survey has shown that opinions are hardening…
For many children from Eastern European families, the 3pm school bell on a Friday isn’t the last they’ll see of a classroom until Monday. Many attend complementary schools, voluntary community-led programmes…
A lucrative immigration problem: international students at the ISC.
Jirka Matousek
Immigration has risen to the top of the political agenda in the UK. And the popular press has been propelling the bandwagon. “We must stop the immigrant invasion” according to the Daily Express and “enough…
Data from the latest British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey shows that since 2000, the percentage of Britons who admit some level of racial prejudice has clearly increased. Nationally, it now hovers around…
Always the bridesmaid. Until now?
John Stillwell/PA
Based on growing polling evidence, it is highly likely that the UK Independence Party (UKIP) will top the national poll in the European elections. Even though historically UKIP has over-performed in European…
It is tempting to try and use the recent release of figures from the labour force survey as a (metaphorical) stick with which to hit the likes of UKIP and Migration Watch who predicted that huge numbers…
Romanians - and they are not going to the UK.
EPA/Robert Ghement
New data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has shown a small drop of about 4,000 in the number of Romanian and Bulgarian-born people employed in the UK in the first three months of 2014 – the…
Professor of International Migration and Forced Displacement and Director of the Institute for Research into International Migration and Superdiversity, University of Birmingham