Ok, so it's from the dm, but I have read about this before and the proposed changes, cannot see that this will actually help , uk has to do something, there simply isn't any more room, but interested to hear views on this proposal .
Sorry, not sure re Canada and how that works, believe the spouse has to have income minimum but isnt there also something where no benefits can be claimed by the spouse for a certain period of time?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...foreigner.html

There's no salary needed to sponsor In canada. You do have to sign that you can support for the first 3 yrs with no use of benefits.

Vancouver simply has no room in the same way certain areas of the uk don't. Maybe they should be more stringent here.

vancouver proper (which only comes down to arbitrary muncipal boundaries), but the metro area is no where near as constrained as anywhere in the UK. There are 1000 sq miles in the metro area, not including the valley. Delta, Surrey and Langley have lots of room for growth. There are not even a million souls living south of the Fraser. Granted we're limited due to geography, but there's plenty of space. And if ALR is released.....

i read an article sometime ago, where 70 million is the magic number for England...beyond that and they are maxed out...not enough water, space, power, arable land, limited infrastructure (which is in a serious state already)...etc.

seems ill thought out...maybe it should be a case of being able to support one's spouse, rather than coming up with a certain amount, which in some parts of the country, is below the average wage.

They have to do something. The welfare state has crippled the UK.

The infrastructure can't take it, is what I mean. Neither can house prices

Why focus on the 250,000 immigrants, and not the >250,000 british born "job seekers"?

Changes to the social welfare system havent been quick enough or harsh enough to those who can but refuse to work.

it's not just about jobs though, it's about the whole resource and infrastructure foundations of the country being stretched to breaking point... Electricity, water, food, housing, transportation, the environment, land for development and agriculture etc - they're all buckling under the strain of our population size as it is. The UK's population continues to rise, making all these problems worse. And a good half of the population growth is being caused by immigration.

We really need to stop calling criticism of mass immigration racist.

Of course the irony is that we are all migrants ourselves... But it's a UK-specific problem - the UK is one of the few developed countries that is experiencing this population stress. Canada's situation is much much better.

Having said all that - this particular policy is pretty poorly thought out.

I doubt it's the population size, it's the lack of investment in infrastructure. It's amazing how quickly people appear to have forgotten why western economies are down the tubes since 2008.

I agree with the second bolded remark.

also add: more pollution and waste, an aging population, rising unemployment, requiring more resources and a disproportionate tax base. Add to that the unusually high amount of victorian era infrastructure.....looks grim, unless some major changes are made...and they have to made now.

the uk is one of the most densely populated places on the planet.

If the immigrants are working, what's the problem?
Or are you one of those who confuse the term "immigrant" with "refugee/asylum seeker"?

There is a far bigger problem with teenage pregnancy, kids dropping out of school etc, than there is with immigration.

nonsense.

Oh dear, I see another U-turn in the crystal ball. What a stupid proposal.

Interestingly the Guardian's version of this story puts the minimum salary at more like £25,000 and I'm not sure why there's a discrepancy. DM does usually like to pretend that immigrants can stroll into the UK with ease so maybe that's why.

The talk of an "attachment test" is pretty baffling. If you're in a position where you're married but neither have lived in the other's country and both only have economic and family ties to their own country, surely your combined attachment to each country is precisely equal. But Britain only wants to let the spouse into the UK if your combined attachment to Britain is greater than it is to any other country, which is all good and well until the other country implements the same policy. I guess those spouses can pitch up a marital tent in no man's land or something?

Any policy designed to effectively exclude British citizens from the UK probably needs a rethink.

Interesting thread...Although from my perspective, the issue is not with those who come from outside the EU, it is those who come from the EU itself. When I moved over to the UK nearly 5 years ago, I had to go through tons of paperwork, and paying like 1200 pounds to apply, and then again 6 months later when I was married, to get a spousal visa, and then to get indefinite leave to remain, I had to do the "life in the UK" test and pay again like 1200 pounds. Oh, and you can't claim ANY benefits.
They made sure to make life difficult and expensive to move over here. I know plenty of people though, who have come from other countries within the eu, and have received free university education, benefits etc, and basically it's just hassle free. They just pick up and move. In my mind, they are not hard enough on those coming from within the EU. Canada is a first world country, most people (not all mind) typically are educated to college or university level, and can offer something should they decide to pick up and move over to the UK, the same cannot be said for those poorer countries such as romania etc.
I agree that there is a population strain over here, and it's not just going to dissapear from creating better and new infustructure/housing.
There are 64 million people living over here, and only 34 million in all of canada. You can see why that is an issue surely.