Making a "fake" asylum application to secure accomodation

Pixie5740

csgohan4 wrote: »

Then the Government only has itself to blame, these companies are only doing what's in the law of that country. That's what they pay accountants to do, to save them money.

I'm not really sure where you are going with this. The point I was making is that the government and the media want us looking down at benefit fraud to keep us occupied so that we don't pay too much attention to the till fiddling tax evaders or the loop holes that allow large corporations to legally avoid paying huge amounts of tax. Therefore, tax evasion is my biggest bugbear, not benefit fraud which is tiny in comparison.

You can try and close the benefit loopholes but someone is always going to find a way around them the same as someone will always find a way around tax laws. It's just that when the benefit rules are tightened some really vulnerable, genuine people fall between the cracks. So on the whole I'd rather have a few benefit cheats than shaft a bunch of vulnerable people.

AdrianC

csgohan4 wrote: »

or the fact large corporations paying minimal Corp tax such as Starbucks, Amazon.

However isn't it up to the Government to ensure loopholes like these exist and ensure money is directed to their coffers than filtered to lower corp tax countries?

Another fine example.
Look at that pie chart. Corporation tax accounts for less than £40bn of income - out of nearly £700bn total.

The Vodafone £6bn figure was entirely fictional - and, even within that fiction, the actual shortfall was less than £5bn.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/18/once_more_into_the_tax_breach_dear_friends/

The reality is similar for Amazon.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/05/25/amazon_sighs_reaches_into_trousers_to_pay_uk_tax/

SnooksNJ

HappyMJ wrote: »

Wouldn't a visa overstayer be locked up in a detention centre and removed from the US ASAP?

US citizens are regularly detained in the UK for overstaying visa's and removed quite quickly.

Visa overstayers do not get any money or credits. They may possibly get a free flight home paid for by a charity. Refugee Action pays for the flights and gives you cash when you land back in your home country. That cash is only enough money to pay for accommodation and food for 2 weeks until state benefits are in payment.

If they can catch you or go to a city that welcomes undocumented migrants. I think SF is one. My home state gives in state tuition rates for overstayers. Another way is to have an anchor baby or steal someone's identify.

AdrianC

Pixie5740 wrote: »

It's just that when the benefit rules are tightened some really vulnerable, genuine people fall between the cracks. So on the whole I'd rather have a few benefit cheats than shaft a bunch of vulnerable people.

I'd rather a bit more effort was spent on identifying who those genuinely vulnerable people are. If that's "intrusive", sorry 'bout that, but if your need is genuine, you surely won't mind too much if it gets you the help you need?

Pixie5740

AdrianC wrote: »

I'd rather a bit more effort was spent on identifying who those genuinely vulnerable people are. If that's "intrusive", sorry 'bout that, but if your need is genuine, you surely won't mind too much if it gets you the help you need?

The administrative burden of this extra effort would cost more than it would just letting the cheats get away with it. It's the law of diminishing returns.

I am interested to see how Finland's welfare reform pilot works out.

As for having to rely on benefits to live, but there for the grace of God go I. If I ever needed benefits I'm not sure how I would feel having my life put under a microscope to get some help. Hopefully I'll never have to find out.

AdrianC

Pixie5740 wrote: »

The administrative burden of this extra effort would cost more than it would just letting the cheats get away with it. It's the law of diminishing returns.

I can live with that. There would be other, more tangible, positive outcomes from it - not least helping to remove the stigma of disability from society and removing the whiff of suspicion from those who genuinely deserve help.

But I don't think that it need be that intrusive. If somebody genuinely has issues that render them unable to work, they are almost certain to be well known and well documented to the medical and social services. Just get everybody talking properly to each other.

csgohan4

AdrianC wrote: »

I can live with that. There would be other, more tangible, positive outcomes from it - not least helping to remove the stigma of disability from society and removing the whiff of suspicion from those who genuinely deserve help.

But I don't think that it need be that intrusive. If somebody genuinely has issues that render them unable to work, they are almost certain to be well known and well documented to the medical and social services. Just get everybody talking properly to each other.

The other side is that the companies that test for suitability are often poorly run and often get incentives or targets to fail people and p!!! them as suitable for work when they are not. The previous Company ATOS was quite infamous and in fact they cancelled their contract for some reason, perhaps bad publicity who knows

Voyager2002

TBeckett100 wrote: »

And where the !!!! is Eritrea? They keep coming over yet I never hear a news article about civil war and Bob geldof doesn't sing about it

Eritrea is on the coast of the Red Sea, next to Ethiopia.

You don't hear news articles about what is going on there because the government does not allow journalists to come in. Even getting in as a tourist is extremely difficult. However, it is generally accepted that Eritrea has the most repressive government in the world.

cloo

I do feel sorry for the OP's plight... but I also feel, aaaa1111 (etc), that you have very much been sold a line about 'asylum seekers'. Asylum seekers get nothing. They cannot work. They cannot get benefits. They certainly cannot get social housing. If they're lucky, while they're waiting they might get some sort of utterly substandard temporary accommodation or an awful processing centre. And I know this as I sometimes volunteer at a centre for asylum seekers.


It is equally wrong that you can't access the help you need and I hope you find some soon.

princeofpounds

You don't hear news articles about what is going on there because the government does not allow journalists to come in.

Indeed much news coverage seems to be driven by where journalists like to hang out.


We get wall-to-wall Palestinian coverage, because journalists can pop out of their 5 star Jerusalem hotels to film a spot of stone-throwing in the morning, before retiring to the pool for the afternoon.


Whilst we get almost nothing on Eritrea, Yemen, South Sudan, pretty much the who Sahel, and a bunch of other places I probably haven't even heard of.