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Some 70,000 sign petition to end immigration controls
Globe-trotting Australian, New Zealand, British and Canadian nationals have launched a major lobby aimed at eliminating immigration controls between the four Commonwealth countries.
The online petition started by 27-year old James Skinner from the UK has gathered tremendous international support with the group now claiming to have some 70,000 supporters.
Calling themselves, The Commonwealth Freedom of Movement Organisation, the group proposes that the four countries have a similar agreements like the European Union and the Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement between Australia and New Zealand. The group is telling their supporters to contact their local parliamentarians and media sources to push for freedom of movement between the four countries.
According to a report on the CBC, the group says the four nations are being considered because of their “shared language, government and common law legal system and similar cultural values.”
"We are virtually the same people," CFMO director James Skinner told CBC News, referring to the four countries. "The only thing that divides us is the cover of our passports.”
"We've had that Commonwealth tie for generations and decades in the past, we've stuck together through thick and thin. [We] share the same head of state, the same native language, the same respect for the common law," Skinner told the CBC.
Members of the CFMO are apparently those frustrated with the slow and cumbersome immigration arrangements currently existing between the countries.
A University of B.C. law professor who specializes in immigration issues told the news website, www.nationalpost.com that Skinner’s idea wouldn’t be that hard for governments to put into action, given the substantial freedom of movement that already exists among the four countries.
“Among such similarly situated economies with very similar immigration regulation frameworks, the kind of free movement that is characterized, for example, by the European Union countries might in fact be quite feasible,” said UBC’s Catherine Dauvergne.
Immigration blog
Sounds good in theory and I would love to have free movement between those countries. However isn't it becoming a problem in the EU with some countries eg Greece, Spain requiring bailouts from their rich neighbours eg Germany? And the UK faces employment issues with migrants from the poorer EU countries finding jobs in the UK and undermining the pay of locals.
I imagine that governments and unions would want to keep these barriers up for these reasons and more. Immigration is one of the controls that a government has to enrich the economy and raise the living standards of its citizens.