From now on migrants from EU member states, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway have to prove that they came to UK for the ‘right reasons’ and they have ‘reasonable chances’ of getting a job to receive the unemployment benefit for more than six months. Prime Minister, David Cameron, is setting out to toughen up the European migrants’ benefit rule as well.
This step was thought of so as to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the generosity being shown by the government, without these people contributing to society. Downing Street would assess the whether the migrant have a realistic prospect of getting a job and knowledge of spoken English would be considered to be the major criteria in this regard.
The Prime Minister also announced that the private landlords would face fines if their tenants were found to be illegal immigrants. According to DWP figures, 17% of UK nationals who are of working age claim a benefit, whereas working age non UK nationals comprise of 7% of the numbers.
Changes would be made in health care as well and the UK would start ‘reciprocal charging’, which means charging foreign governments for providing treatment to non-working overseas nationals.
On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg called for 1000 pounds worth of deposits for visa applications from high risk countries, which will be repaid when they leave UK.
