Unscrupulous agencies and human guinea pigs
 Extended queues at the Immigration and Emigration Department at
Borella, Government Employment Bureaus, Western Embassies and numerous
private employment agencies are mounting on a daily basis. A throng of
people from all walks of life is trying to leave the country regularly.
Why? And for what reason?
It is apparent that many who undergo hardships, as much as well
heeled types, want to leave the Motherland seeking greener pastures due
to various raison d'etre. Increasing demand in the international labour
market undoubtedly induces people with high hopes to seek better
countries to go and settle down, most of the time being oblivious to
what they are heading for!
 The
government policy of assisting seekers of foreign employment too has
opened up channels to a new money spinning industry for a certain
section of sharks who act as 'employment agents' and 'human smugglers'
with horrendous incidences like the 'nailed-woman' who returned home
from Saudi Arabia recently.
Family units
Human nature has no barriers on contentment. When it is sunny we
complain of the unbearable heat and cry when it rains! Human-being by
nature is unable to strike a happy medium easily.
That is why, I believe, that apart from the underprivileged who are
trying to go abroad leaving family units and young children at home, to
the detriment of their very family fabric, to try and build them up with
some foreign earnings even by stooping to menial jobs abroad. But it
becomes incompressible when people who are 'well settled in life' trying
to run away with families, at times with two to three young children,
blinded by their illusions of grandeur by burning their boats
completely.
The main cause for such exertion is mainly due to a lot of
misinformation disseminated especially when those who have been already
abroad return on holiday for three to four weeks splash their dollar
bills, Pound notes, or Euros and impart a completely phony picture of
life abroad which makes others to form off beam opinions. The naive
types simply convert rupees into foreign currency and think in terms of
hundreds of thousand rupee earnings thus ignoring the long hours,
working conditions, type of jobs, high Cost of Living and accommodation
etc. Sincere and genuine advice given by a friend or a relative with
experience in this regard to an already conditioned mind may be
construed as being envious!
Human smugglers
Such unfortunate plights have led to a lot of innumerable tragedies
where gullible folk have become victims to unscrupulous set of newborn
cult of human smugglers. The loss of large amounts of money, number of
tragedies, unpleasant experiences during boat travel and worst of all
loss of human life in mid sea at the hands of such 'saviours' have gone
unrecorded. Blinded by a 'promised land abroad' eager men and women go
hammer and tongs to achieve what they are conditioned to believe in,
what those so-called 'Agents describe and promise, safe journeys,
resident visas, jobs upon landing and sun, moon and the earth for a
hefty fee which the majority obtain either by selling or mortgaging
their houses and property or burning their boats altogether to
accomplish their dreams.
Influenced by Colonial mentality, many still believe that UK is a
heaven on earth! Visitors allowed entry to the UK are given a maximum of
six months stay, less in certain cases, with strict conditions barring
them engaging in any business or seeking employment for payment or
reward. Student visa is conditional on the particular course of study
but the number of hours permitted for genuine students to work has been
reduced from 20 to 10 hours a week at present which is hardly adequate
for survival if funds are not sent by parents.
Avoid frustration
Home Office acts ruthlessly on poor attendance of students; colleges
and universities are made to shoulder the responsibility by making them
submit their own statistics to help Home Office monitor phony 'students'
who attempt to hoodwink immigration authorities.
A new concept of sponsorship is based on a points-system for migrants
to the UK. Those who are inclined to visit UK are well advised to refer
to the UK Border Control Agency website which explains the role of
employers and education providers under the points-based system to avoid
frustration and hardship. Victims of immigration end up marooned and
compelled to go underground and work illegally for a pittance until
caught and repatriated, the financial burden of which will ultimately
fall on the Sri Lankan Government.
For those who want to employ a migrant or enrol as a student need to
register as a sponsor according to the latest UK immigration regulations
covering student's stay in the United Kingdom. It is imperative that one
acquires a sponsor licence before one can be a guarantor for a migrant.
UK immigration authorities are harsh on illegal migrant working.
Unless an employer checks that all prospective employees have the right
to work in the UK, employer risks breaking the Law and could receive a
substantial fine under Civil Penalty System introduced to employers in
February 2008 (allowed under Section 15 of the Immigration, Asylum and
Nationality Act 2006). Employers who contravene the Law will receive a
Notification of Liability (NoL) and Civil Penalty of up to Pounds 10,000
(Rs 1,800,000) for each illegal worker.
Genuine refugees
The UK has a proud tradition of providing a place of safety for
genuine refugees. However those who are found to have made false claims
automatically get repatriated. Asylum is protection given by a country
to someone who is fleeing due to persecution in their own country. It is
given under the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees. To be recognised as a refugee, the person must have left his
country and be unable to get back due to well-founded fear of
persecution.
The days one could take a direct SriLankan Airlines flight from
Katunayake to Heathrow airport, or doing a convoluted tour via the
European Union and landing by train or boat in England and lamenting at
the UK immigration counter on persecution and seeking refuge has gone by
the wayside now that the international community is abundantly conscious
of Sri Lanka's situation, being a free country after three decades of a
terrorist war where the national slogan stands at: "Firstly it's my
country, secondly it is my country and thirdly it is my country". No
wonder Sri Lanka was termed as Paradise Island from the time of Adam and
Eve!
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