whos your daddy ...........?

Feb 23, 2008 1:25 PM

The Prime Minister is promising to take up the case of hundreds of New Zealanders who could lose their right to live and work in the UK.

Helen Clark says she'll talk to the British Government about its plan to downgrade the status of Commonwealth citizens, by getting rid of the ancestry visa.

Under the scheme, people whose grandparents were born in the UK have the right to live and work there for four years.

Clark says New Zealanders greatly value their connections with Britain, especially those whose grandparents were born there.

She believes the ancestry visa should remain in place, and is surprised the issue's been raised.

In 2006, more than 8000 visa holders entered the UK of whom just under 2000 of them from New Zealand.


hi, does anyone think that this is a very 'smooth' move by the British Government , its still in consultation but I think there was a point raised when chatting with a guy I know that given the Uk having closer economic ties with the E.U , that they have more of a resource of less skilled migrants to draw from . Therefore , there is no real advantage for kiwis in great britain to live and work there . Unless of course there is the famous kiwi work ethic ........? that they are prepared to do jobs the brits don't want to do ...? but I thought only a few thousand kiwis travel on visas through their grandparents a year . It had me thinking for a while just who is really wearing the pants ...? Is this one way of placing further limitations because of helen clark or the labour government letting off their blow valve , in there foreign policy ? or helen texting in front of the queen ...? No representatives at Sir Edmund Hillarys funeral ....? that it likes to portray NZ as a country that is increasingly becoming more independent from the motherland ..?

its an issue that seems to come up about every 4 years...

Can't see it as any slight against NZ

The question will of course remain - how long does this story have legs for (seems to be over already) and will the UK actually do anything more than raise questions and probably place this issue back in the can't be bothered basket

the last time this issue was around 2002 and when tony blair was in govt , so naturally a decision like this would take some time given the historical , ancentral ties that NZ'ers have to the UK ..if the NZ govt do send a 'strong response' I think it would have to be one of compromise .. but I don't think underestimating or implying that the Uk 'can't be bothered ' will help the NZ govt either ..

Sir Ed's funeral ....? probably not but when he climbed everest it was seen as a achievement for great britain ..?

Sir Ed's funneral.... we've got to get over this

Was Sir Ed our hero?

yes

Do we need someone in a shiney suit from the Uk at his funneral?

no



or in simpler terms, its not the 1950s anymore

I'm not moaning the fact no royal turned up to upstage the event and it was a British expedition after all with mostly British climbers and NZers at that time considered themselves to be British.

I can guarantee the cultural closeness NZ/Aus has with the UK is a much larger pull in the long run than keeping things in-house in the EU.

There are reasons lots of kiwis go to the UK, and most of them don't get grandparent entry. They include: the historic ties and knowledge that language and general culture difference wont be a problem.

NZ should be encouraging it's teens to go on OE to China, India etc. The long-run benefits would be better imo.

R

yeah question that should be asked could he have done it without a brit expedition ..? so there u go