UK – Ethnic diversity, immigration and problems

Although Britain doesn’t have a history of slavery like the USA they banned it in 1833. Nowadays Britain is a multicultural country and got its touch by the people immigrated from Commonwealth countries like Pakistan and India in the forties and until today the community has been growing gradually. “Multicultural” means that different ethnic groups enrich the country by their traditions and cultures. In today’s Britain Pakistanis and Indians launch their own firms whereas people of Caribbean origin and Bangladeshi become wage-earners”. And now the country’s majority Caribbean population has been born in Britain. But this multiculture causes some problems like prejudice against minorities which move back to “ghettos”.

“Roots of the Future” is a initiative by the “Commission for Racial Equality”, that has taken the challenge to build up a network which has the purpose to unite minorities. But actually it is not always easy to close the gap. Often traditions, religion and the missing overall acceptance divide them. Furthermore closing the gap is a permanent process, above all of education. There is also “Race for Opportunity” which integrates minorities based on business and shows the significance of these people to the employers. But to reach this aim people have to surmount many impediments, for example prejudices. With this help especially black people achieved a lot in business, sports and so on. Another huge problem is the risk for children to become expelled from school. So teachers have to make sure that they get more from their education.

In a speech Prince Charles remarked that this kind of work is essential if Britain’s aim is to have success in setting up a society with no isolation but respect for others. Despite these organisations there are still many cases of abuse caused by racial differences (1993-1994: about 11,000 incidents).

As already mentioned people have immigrated to the UK for years. But nowadays regulations set out some requirements. If candidates over 60 want to gain permanent residence they have to stay in the UK for 4 years. They also must confirm an income of 25,000 £ per year. However, they are not allowed to work. Consequently they have to get their income from different investments. Moreover couples and fiancés get a temporary visa, and if they are married at the end of this period they can receive permanent residence. But the couples’ children can enter the UK if they are under 18 without restrictions. Unlike fiancés unmarried partners must prove that their relationship is of a certain length and will last permanently. To get permanent residence or UK nationality either by marriage or naturalisation, they must stay in the UK for a certain period (mainly between 1 or 10 years). They need to speak rather good English and must not offend the law. Some people get the British respectively the Irish nationality based on their ancestors. But being in charge of two nationalities they needn’t meet requirements when travelling to the UK (Right of Abode). And finally even non-EU nationals can join their relatives in the EU without hindrances.

Difficult words:

1. to launch: to begin something new; to start something new



2. prejudice against: an unfair and unreasonable opinion



3. purpose: the reason why you do something or something exists



4. to surmount: to deal successfully with a difficult problem



5. to expel: to force to leave; to remove



6. impediment: something that makes a process difficult or impossible



7. regualtion: an official rule or act of controlling



8. restriction: synonym: hindrance



9. fiancé/e: the man/woman to whom a man/woman is engaged



10. naturalisation: to become a citizen of a foreign country