A Place to Stand

On Monday the Scotsman carried a fairly heart-rending story (& likely to pluck at anybody worried about our dreadful shortage of dentists) about an Indian woman dentist who was about to be expelled because she didn't fit all the rules.

A FOREIGN dentist keen to carry on working in Scotland's critically understaffed dental service is being forced to return to her own country because immigration officials do not consider her to be a "highly skilled" migrant.

Despite having the offer of a permanent job from her current employers in Fife, officials have told Siddhika Sathyamoorthy that because, among other criteria, she did not earn more than £27,000 last year or have a highly- qualified husband or partner, she will not be allowed to remain in Scotland.....

Initially I commented on it about how we should welcome properly qualified people here (which I believe - the problem is when you get large numbers of unskilled people speaking little English). However a later post got me thinking that perhaps this is another non-story designed by our political class to sell immigration as acceptable by publicising particular cases.

29. Pralay, London / 3:06pm 7 Aug 2006 I think the basic point is being missed here.

Nothing is stopping her from working in the UK - she's just applied under the wrong category. The Highly Skilled Migrant Program is specifically for people with a certain level of education, experience and earning capacity. the rules are clear and set out in black and white.

On the other hand, if it is a proven skill shortage area, the employers should have no problem obtaining a work permit for her.

It is easy to blame and abuse the system in ignorance. I am an Indian working in London and have been here for the past two years on a Working holidaymaker, which has allowed me to work without restriction.

If you are keen to stay in the UK, the least you can do is spend some time and effort in trying to understand which immigration policies are in your favour, and apply accordingly.

If I was her, I would not have applied for the HSMP in the first place - a look at the criteria on the website is enough to make it obvious that she doesn't qualify or even come close.

I find this credible. In which case there is no real chance she will be deported at all. It is indeed a non-story. By comparison I was told personally recently of a Gorani (Moslem Serb) couple forcibly deported from Sotland back to Kosovo & the tender mercies of our KLA allies. Clearly they were less photogenic.

May we look forward to many more such photogenic non-stories. My suspicion is that we may.