[Anonymous]

[VintageKrug]

A 48 hour strike from Thursday.

Hopefully the IRIS machines will be operating, which should ease the passage of many regular travellers:

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/immigration-officers-strike-to-hit-travellers-2081259.html

[Travel-guru]

Not exaclty ideal. I understand its the first one in about 30 years. What is the likely impact on the travelling public though?

[MartynSinclair]

How can the Immigration service go on strike. Does that mean that passport contraol at all UK points of entry will remain unmanned or just closed for the day? Great day for the illegals to come flooding in.

[MartynSinclair]

On the issue of immigration control, a question I have been asked many times on the QT, and I believe too many people are too scared to ask it for fear of being accused of being anti whoever, but why are the vast majority of immigration officers (border control) manning the desks at Heathrow and Gatwick of overseas extraction.

Any other profession that has an abudance of say white folk, would be accused of being racist. i ask this question purely out of interest becasue a friend of mine fancies working at the immigration service, but on the 3 occassions he has applied he has been turned down. All interviews were carried out by English people but of foreign origins.

This question is being asked purely out of interest, i am not looking for a racist / racial fight / dicusssion, but factually the demographic make up of the immigration service employees at the 2 major airiports appears totally unbalanced. This is just a question.

When a simillar situation was apparent in the police force, the force was told to make a concerted effort to emply minority groups. It seems the opposite is needed in the immigration service (from what is seen on the front line)

[ekond111]

MS – is this strike about race? – my experience of UK immigration is that it appears to be well balanced and at the end of the day the folk working there are British nationals so be it, whether they are of White South African Descent (which was the largest influx of immigrants in to the UK in the 70’s) or Green Martians as long as they are British Citizens – otherwise we would have country full of white ginger haired protestants (like myself) and that would be oh so boring – in this day and age most reasonbly educated people do not care as long as a good service is provided .
P.S. Does anyone know where the IRIS technology was developed and manufactured – hopefully somewhere in the UK – because that could open up another can of beans.

[MartynSinclair]

ekond111 – thanks for your reply and again i stress that this is not a race issue – its a perfectrly valid question, although i admit that it may be PC incorecct (which I do not believe makes it illegal to ask). The same question was raised about football fans coming from minorities. It seems that over 90% of people sitting at the immigration desks in T 1 – 5, whilst obviously British are second or thrid generation British. Does it make a difference, yes, becasue it shows certain people are not being given the opportunities (FOR WHAT EVER REASON).

Yes they do a fantastic job, yes they are polite, but i still woul dlike to know why there are so few (am I allowed to say, white British faces). Again i stress, i am not looking to upset or insult anyone, i merely ask the question that so many people have asked me, but are afraid to ask in public.

[VintageKrug]

STRIKE OFF

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hhMIhFf8AEyQaWP81jF2AxwFxfuQ

[gogobill747]

Now everyone can create an ISO standard passport photo online at the comfort of your home.

http://www.yearbookandpassportphoto.com

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