October 2006 The Interplay between the UK s Migration Policies and the Practices of Romanian Migrants Oana Ciobanu, PhD student Motto: The Visa Officer (V.O.) who is issuing the passports in the British Embassy tells a man: You were denied the visa, but you can appeal in 28 days without paying anything else. The young man (Y.M.): I cannot, I do not have the time, I have to leave. V.O.: A friend of yours can do this instead, and maybe you can receive the visa. Y.M.: While I am there? V.O.: But how will you go there? Y.M.: The same way as before. In 2004 when 10 countries joined the European Union, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Sweden opened their labour market for the residents of the new member states. In September 2006, just a few months away from the accession of Romania and Bulgaria in the EU, the United Kingdom, fearing the large influx of Romanian and Bulgarian migrants, have made statements indicating that it will not to open the labour market for these two countries. Moreover, the maintenance or not of visiting visas for Romanians and Bulgarians is still under discussion. The question that I propose for discussion is whether such a policy is effective, given that the migration of Romanian citizens to the UK has already started. The 2001 census, as shown by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), shows that about 13 000 Romanians and Bulgarians are already in the UK. The argument that I want to make is that a restrictive policy will only cause more illegal migrants, and not stop migration as such. In order to do this I will present some insights from interviews conducted in the autumn of 2004 in the town Borsa 1, 1 The fieldwork was conducted in September 2004 and the team was made up of: coordinator Monica Constantinescu, and team members: Diana Popa, Monica Jeler, Oana Ciobanu and Veronica Mitroi. The fieldwork was part of a larger
located in the region Transylvania. There are several communities in Romania with migrants to the United Kingdom, but I only have data from one community. In the second part I will present the voices that are in favour of Romanian and Bulgarian migrants entering the British labour market. The United Kingdom already has a distinct migration policy in comparison to the other member states of the European Union. It is not a member of the Schengen Space 2 and therefore, Romanian citizens who want to cross its borders currently need a visa. Given the legislative restrictions, migration to the UK has certain patterns. In spite of the danger faced when entering the UK, and the reinforcement of migration control both at the border and in the country, migration will not stop. The opening of the borders and the labour market could be the only mechanism of legalising migration, and indeed managing it. In the following I will present the characteristics of migrants and the strategies they use to enter in the UK. Migrants to the UK appear to be a distinct population when compared to the rest of the Romanian migrants to Italy, Spain or Germany. This is determined by the fact that the entry without a visa into the UK is illegal and so they pass through tougher conditions. Therefore, most migrants are men, the age average is quite low the migrants, when they left, were in their early twenties, just after high school. In Borsa the first departures for the UK appearing in the interviews, date back between 1993 and 1994.. In 1997, approximately 20 to 30 persons from Borşa lived in England (mainly London). In 2004 the number of migrants from Borşa to the United Kingdom grew to approximately 300 400 persons. The question that arises is How do these people enter the UK? T.D. is a 27 year old migrant to the UK and he spoke to us about the strategies to cross the border. How can one get to the United Kingdom? How did you go? research project of the World Bank, Analysis of social impact of mining restructuring policies at community level in Romania, that took place in September 2004 and was coordinated by Prof. Dr. Dumitru Sandu. 2 In 1985 the Schengen Agreement with regard to a common policy on the temporary entry of persons (including the Schengen visa) and a border system was signed. A total of 26 countries including all European Union states except the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, but including non-eu members like Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland have signed the agreement and 15 have implemented it so far. Border posts and checks have been removed between Schengen countries and a common 'Schengen visa' allows access to the area. The non-eu nationals need a visa for residence and work purposes when traveling outside of their country. Until 2002 it was necessary to have a visa even for visiting, but it was removed. With regard to Romanian citizens, since 2002, they have been free to enter the Schengen space provided they show they have sufficient economic resources. A visa is only required for stays longer than 3 months, and for work purposes. 2
It is hard to get to England. You have to go illegally. You can get to France with a Schengen Visa, and from there cross the channel illegally. How? By ferry. How did you do it? The easiest way was to get on a truck. At that time this was the easiest and most secure way. (T.D. migrant to United Kingdom, M, 27) Another migrant tells a similar story: And, did you need a visa? How did you manage that issue? Well, legally I needed a visa, but I passed illegally on a goods train. Where did you take the train from? From Italy. (S.V. migrant to the United Kingdom, M, 29) The stories of the migrant underline also the risks taken when crossing illegally borders: The money for the first departure was 700 DM, money that he had saved. He got to Callais and stayed in the port for 3 days, he looked at the trucks that were getting on the ferries and how he could get on one of them. He slept in a public toilet. He managed to get on a car and when he got to England, when the car slowed down he jumped out. He risked a lot. He thinks that when you make up your mind to leave, you no longer see the risks. Some people even cross the Channel on a simple boat, especially Russians and Moldavians. (from an interview with a migrant to England, M) Since 2004, the new strategy of crossing the border to the UK has been to buy passports from the new EU member states. In one village there is a connection with a migrant network from Estonia and people buy or borrow Estonian passports. Frequently passports are transmitted from one inhabitant of the village to another. Given the illegal character of the migration, once a migrant enters the UK, it is very hard to go back and forth between the origin and the destination. The migrant might return at some time to the home community, but very rarely, as it is more dangerous and difficult to enter the United Kingdom than countries like Italy or Spain. A migrant tells us more concerning practices and consequences: 3
The only problem with this country is that is has a bureaucratic and conservatory system in the process of becoming legal. It is very hard. This is a problem for many, and so they get caught there for years. (T.D. migrant to the United Kingdom, M, 27) We can speak in this case of a permanentisation of temporary migration; migrants want to go back and forth between the origin and the destination so they can keep in contact with their family and friends, nonetheless the migration policies force them to rest at the destination. I did not have any kind of papers. I could not risk coming back to the country and not being able to return to the United Kingdom. For four years I stayed like this. How many years did you have to stay away from Romania? 7 years. (S.V. migrant to the United Kingdom, M, 29) There are voices in support of opening of the labour market for Romanians and Bulgarians; i.e. the IPPR argues in favour of legal access to work for Romanian and Bulgarian nationals in Britain when accession takes place in 2007 because, as they show in a press release from 2006 3 : new inflows are likely to be relatively small the impacts on the UK labour market are likely to be positive free access will have to be introduced eventually and a separate scheme would increase bureaucracy those Romanians and Bulgarians already here would be able to regularise their status. To add to the previous two examples, as it appears in an on-line article from the 8 th of August 2006 entitled Britain debates 'open-door policy' on EU immigration 4 ; the Business for New Europe Group in Britain (NEGB), comprised of leaders from some of Britain's biggest businesses are pressuring the Government for an "open-door" policy toward Bulgarians and Romanians. Britain was one of only three countries in 2004 to give all new EU citizens automatic working rights. Since 2004 427,000 people have registered to work from the eight former Eastern Bloc countries which joined the EU in 2004, with the majority coming from Poland. To 3 The press release is to be found on the web page of IPPR; http://www.ippr.org.uk/pressreleases/?id=2081 28 th of September 2006. 4 http://www.workpermit.com/news/newsletter_archive/2006_09_06 28 th of September 2006. 4
this should be added the number of self-employed people from those countries and therefore, the total from the eight former Eastern Bloc states reaches about 600 000 5. Due to a large number of unregistered and undocumented migrants, the number could be significantly higher. Nonetheless, the fear of having to deal with an even larger number of migrants means that the UK will keep its labour market closed to the new comers. To conclude, the constraints on obtaining a visa will not diminish the number of Romanian migrants, the flow to the UK is a steadily increasing trend. It will only raise the costs of migration; e.g. the cost of an EU passport or of a false visa. If we regard the issue on the larger level, that of the European Union, we would notice that the countries of Central and Eastern Europe have already adopted the EU policies with regard to migration and citizenship. In other words, Romania, although not yet an EU member, has adopted immigration policies and regulations that give EU citizens the right to vote in local elections. Therefore, the EU treats the CEE candidate and new member states as members, as far as it concerns the obligations derived from the EU membership. However, the process is not equal, as these countries have the policies imposed whereas countries from the EU 15 have a choice whether or not to adopt some of these policies. 5 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/5274476.stm - 4 th of October 2006 5