Britons living in Bulgaria. Guide to Bulgaria, Sofia and Varna

Why immigration makes the world go round - Investing | Investing ...
Will the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU benefit Britain? .... “Estimates give anything between 4 million and 13 million Britons living abroad,” ...

All mortgages are subject to underwriting, status and are not available to people under the age of 18. An unstoppable force and an immovable objectImmigration will probably always be an emotive topic in Britain. Any statement regarding financial services products and tax liability is based on legislation and tax practices as at January 1 2008, which is, of course, subject to change. But we don’t have any real idea how much labour is being exported, or how long the imported labour remains. Call 0800 085 3250 or search for details of IFAs in your local area. During the 2004 accession round, only the UK and Ireland allowed unrestricted entry. Finally, the families and economies from which the worker came are boosted by money sent home. First the receiving economy gets the most skilled, best educated or at the very least the most determined of workers from abroad. For the price of a dollar tip, hundreds of dollars of extra banking work gets done. For with-profit based investments, there is no guarantee as to the level of bonuses that will be declared, if any. Given the benefits to the economy, that is just as well.Will the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU benefit Britain? Govender, president of the South African Medical Association, said that his country loses half of all newly qualified staff each year to Europe and North America. Have your say on our message boards Global efficiencyThe global economy grows when labour is drawn to its area of highest reward. He certainly earned it.Migration and the UK The first problem with the UK immigration debate is getting the facts. He is believed to be working on plans for work permits and quotas, in anticipation that 60,000 and 140,000 may otherwise come to the UK. His entire extended family of more than 20 had saved for a decade to get him to the London School of Economics.He had been promised a top job back home on graduation, but he had to get a ‘first’. Hopes for a better life will always draw migrants, but the implacable hostility of a significant slice of the British population to those who arrive isn’t likely to change either. However they were disappointed that they rarely saw the newcomers, who didn’t come to church, preferred city restaurants over local ones and didn’t use the village shops. However, how long they stay and what they actually do while they are here is harder to find out.Those from within the EU do not have to fill out a landing card on arrival, so what they do here is anyone’s guess. However, in practice many members have curbed working rights for those from new accession states. In the oil-producing states around the Persian Gulf, immigrants from Bangladesh, the Philippines and Palestine have not only provided much needed labour, but they have sent back a fortune to their own economies. Laws, restrictions, quotas and other measures may slow immigration temporarily, but usually just drive the process into the hands of people-traffickers. Many will struggle to be anything other than a burden to the host country. Most of the time, he said, their homes lay unused. Nevertheless, based on these hazy figures we can surmise that from 1966 to 1996, more Britons left than foreigners arrived. Oddly enough, many of those in Britain who complain about being swamped by immigration feel no compunction about buying holiday or retirement homes abroad. Only 2.5 million to 3 million of those born abroad are not yet British passport holders. Physical barriers, as the US has discovered at its border with Mexico, don’t work either. Refugees from wars or oppression, those stuck for years in camps, and those who are not equipped for the societies they arrive in are going to overwhelm services. Research by Dean Yang of Michigan University in 2004 established that the 800,000 Filipino workers abroad sent home remittances that accounted for 40% of their household’s average income. Second, the immigrants add new skills which raise their income, which the host economy can tax. So while I and many British-born students spent our evenings in the Student Union bar, he was poring over econometric texts for his first-class degree. Stung by the large influx, which was five times official estimates, home secretary John Reid is taking no chances with Bulgaria and Romania, where unemployment is high and average income per head about a quarter of the EU average. That doesn’t include those who went into self-employment, perhaps including some of those iconic Polish plumbers. That’s a huge boost for the Philippines economy.Some problemsOf course, large and rapid migration can cause major problems. That’s a huge drain on a struggling economy.Hard work The sheer effort required to be even a temporary migrant cannot be underestimated. The articles are intended to provide general personal financial information. The balance of trade in labour is thus completely unknown.In Britain, out of a population of 60 million, 5-6 million, or around 10%, were born abroad. The best data we have is a worker registration scheme run by the Department of Work and Pensions. The Indian sub-continent has provided tens of thousands of doctors for Britain’s National Health Service for more than a generation. The Spanish Costas, Cyprus, and increasingly Turkey and Bulgaria are home to thousands of Britons, many of whom do not speak the local language or get involved in the local community. The value of any tax benefits or reliefs depends upon the individual circumstances of the investor. The word ‘immigrant’ in many minds only conjures up someone with dark skin, ignoring the legal complexities. There are disparities too among the skilled. These days there are some quite detailed figures on who is coming into the country from beyond the EU and why they say they are doing it. This is based on the 2001 census, the last time such figures were gathered. We may fail the cricket testI’m sure many of these Brits abroad will fail Norman Tebbit’s famous cricket test (ie do you cheer the team of your country of residence, or that of your country of origin?). We urge you to consult an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) before making any important decisions about your finances. When I was a student, one of my classmates was from Sarawak, one of the most deprived areas of Malaysia. When investment performance is mentioned you should remember that past performance is no guarantee of future performance. Where mortgages or secured loans are explained do remember that your home is at risk if you do not keep up repayments on a mortgage or other loan secured on it. Where products have an underlying investment content, in many cases the value of the investment can fall as well as rise. While India and Pakistan train thousands of doctors for free, the skills they acquire are worth far more in the west where training for doctors costs tens of thousands of dollars. Without them, there will be longer queues for operations, higher costs for basic training (most were already trained at home) and a much poorer service. Yes, we can be clear that Britain is importing labour.