Working abroad is one of the reasons why people from other countries apply for British citizenship. In line with this application, immigrants also apply for work-related visas. The website https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ released a report of immigration statistics from Home Office administrative sources. The data gathered in this report covered the statistical changes in terms in the number of visa grants from April to June 2013.

This report indicates that work-related visa grants to non European Union immigrants were 5% fewer. International Passenger Survey estimated that there were only 44,000 non EU immigrants who were granted with work-related visas.

In the statistical report presented, it can be said that United Kingdom has plans of severely restricting non EU immigrants with British citizenship. To fully understand the impact of this statement, one must be aware of European Union’s member countries. EU comprises 28 member states are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom.

Citizens from European Union countries have higher chances of being approved with British citizenship than those non EU immigrants. The number of work-related visa grant declines to non EU immigrants can also be attributed to the new regulations regarding foreign spouses of British nationals. These changes were introduced by Secretary Theresa May who faced criticisms from the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants. This new immigration rules require British citizens to have an income of 18,000 pounds before the visa can be applied for and the applicant must be in the probationary period of 5 years before permanent residency is granted. Another component of this new regulation is that the English test for foreign born husbands or wives had become more difficult. The new immigrations rules were implemented in June 2012.

In a recent report of “The Guardian”, United Kingdom’s immigration policy negatively affects British citizens with non European Union spouses. These citizens have British passports but they were not allowed to bring their husbands or wives to United Kingdom. According to this report, the government’s intention in implementing the new immigration rules is to reduce the number of immigrants from outside the European Union. This step is viewed as drastic and it already caused some families to be torn apart. The impact of being separated from a parent or parents for an indefinite period of time can cause damages to the children’s well being. It is important for both parents to be present in their child’s lives during the formative years.

There are several heartbreaking stories about families being torn apart because of this new regulation. In the same report published by “The Guardian”, a man filled out 250 pages of application forms then travelled to United Kingdom for an interview only to be told that their marriage is of convenience thus he was declined of a visa.

With the new regulations, British citizens can either leave United Kingdom to be with their families or stay but they have to be away from their loved-ones. This is still an ongoing issue and while people are lobbying for changes, lives had already been affected negatively.

The cold hard facts presented here can be discouraging. Before anyone can be disheartened to apply, one must be fully aware of the process to get better chances of being approved.