London Tops Billionaire Residents

Cynthia Barker writes…Hey, maybe London’s streets really are paved with gold – we are home to more billionaires than any other city in the world.

The UK has become the billionaires’ choice of residence, with more than 100 of the word’s super rich living here. The 104 billionaires who live in the UK have a combined wealth of £301billion, according to claims the Sunday Times Rich List.

Not surprisingly, property prices in London are literally going through the roof, with 72 billionaires living right in the centre of the capital, ahead of Moscow, with 48 billionaire citizens, and New York City in third, with 43.

To get into the Top 50 wealthiest UK residents you need a fortune of £1.5billion - almost $2billion dollars.

Migrants have again come out top of the pile, with Indian-born siblings Sri and Gopi Hinduja (who famously obtained British passports with the help of the 'friend of the rich' former Labour Minister Peter Mandelson) heading the list of Britain’s wealthiest billionaires with a fortune of £11.9billion.

The businessmen own the global conglomerate Hinduja Group which helped their wealth soar by £1.3billion in the last year.

The richest Briton, the Duke of Westminster, only just reached the top ten with his fortune – he owns most of Belgravia which houses my favourite store, Harrods - rose to £8.5billion! How can you even put a value his land, which the family will never sell since they have been passing in down through the generations for hundreds of years?

The UK is favoured by the rich for it's steady, growing economy, rule of Law, world class schools and universities, shopping and a safe environment.

Britain is also the second most popular destination for overseas students after the U.S.

The Rich List is based on published details of the wealthy, but nobody really knows how many millionaires and billionaires live in the UK. You only have to walk around Kensington and Chelsea, or Mayfair to count the thousands of multi-million pound properties to realise that London is loaded with money - and UK jobs for migrant and local workers.

So boys and girls, if you want to meet a billionaire, London is the place…but don’t put that on your tourist visa application or you will definitely be refused by the Home Office! Ha ha!

If you need advice on any immigration matter, including overstaying your visa, EU or UK immigration law, or want to appeal against a refusal, call Cynthia Barker on 07850 307687 or 0208 731 5972 or email her your details to immigration@londonccs.com. Cynthia Barker is a qualified OISC Registered Immigration Adviser, with 15 years experience in immigration matters, with a team of Level 3 Immigration Law Practitioners, Concept Care Solutions, Middlesex House, 29-45 High Street, Edgware, HA8 7UU.

The Abuse of Domestic Workers In The UK

Cynthia Barker writes...As most people in the UK get back to work today after a long weekend break for Easter, spare a thought for some migrants workers who hardly ever get a proper day off - Domestic Workers.

Human Rights Watch has published a report: 'Hidden Away Abuses Against Migrant Domestic Workers In The UK', which highlights the plight of abused workers, many of them from the Philippines, who are brought into the UK on temporary visas by their foreign employers and have no means of escape.

The current government abolished the Blair government's 1998 Domestic Workers Visa concession, which allowed migrants who ran away from abusive employers to switch their visa to another employer and eventually obtain ILR (indefinite leave to remain - UK permanent residency) in Britain.

I have helped many such runaway domestic workers obtain new visas with decent employers and some of them are now British Citizens, yet still work for the same employer. Why? Because the employer is paying them very well, they live-in at some of London's most exclusive addresses and they have more net disposable income more than most people working in the UK.

Many of the victims brought in by overseas employers, usually from the Middle East or India, were either paid the same wage they would have received back home or in some cases nothing at all - despite the fact that some of the employers were billionaires!

Take the case of Liz Hurley's billionaire Indian ex-husband who brought in a worker under the old system and paid her the same salary as in India.

Workers in the UK must be paid at least the minimum wage or preferably a living wage and they have the same rights as British workers.

Unfortunately, under the current temporary visa (tied to the employer) system we have no way of enforcing these regulations or protecting the migrant worker.

Why do people with so much abuse people with so little?

If you need advice on any immigration matter, EU or UK immigration law, or want to appeal against a refusal, call Cynthia Barker on 020 8731 5972 or email her your details to immigration@londonccs.com. Cynthia Barker is an OISC registered Immigration Adviser with a team of Level 3 Immigration Law Practitioners, Concept Care Solutions, Middlesex House, 29-45 High Street, Edgware, HA8 7UU.

Pope Francis Prays for Migrants in his Easter Message

Cynthia Barker writes...I watched Pope Francis today on television talking about the plight migrants in his Easter message, delivered to thousands of people in St Peters Square in the Vatican, Rome. He said:

"Comfort those who have left their own lands to migrate to places offering hope for a better future and the possibility of living their lives in dignity and, not infrequently, of freely professing their faith."

The 77 year old Argentinian Pope also called attention to people suffering from hunger, war, violence, and disease around the world, asking for peace and reconciliation in different areas of conflict.

Addressing an estimated 150,000 pilgrims the Pope prayed for the people of Syria, Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Nigeria, South Sudan, Venezuela, and Ukraine.

This year the liturgical calender unusually coincides with the Orthodox churches of Greece and Eastern European countries such as Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia.

A very Happy Easter to you all, especially those migrants who are separated from their loved ones.

If you need advice on any immigration matter, EU or UK immigration law, or want to appeal against a refusal, call Cynthia Barker on 020 8731 5972 or email her your details to immigration@londonccs.com. Cynthia Barker is an OISC registered Immigration Adviser with a team of Level 3 Immigration Law Practitioners, Concept Care Solutions, Middlesex House, 29-45 High Street, Edgware, HA8 7UU.

Happy Easter from Multi Cultural Britain

Cynthia Barker writes...Good morning from London!

Last working day of the week for most offices in the UK. Tomorrow is Good Friday, one of the most holy days in the Christian calender, and the start of the Easter weekend. Monday is also a public holiday in Britain so no work until Tuesday...yippee!

Did you know that the word holiday derives from Old English word hāligdæg - hālig (Holy) dæg (day) - or 'holy' day? Most of the public holidays in the UK and Europe are based on ancient religious celebrations, such as Christmas.

Migrants from Eastern European countries, like Romania, observe Easter in their own Orthodox Christian calender, and this is also the time of the 'Passover' celebrated in the Jewish faith.

Britain is now a multi-cultural country and there are many other non-Christian religious festivals held throughout the year, for instance: Diwali (Hindu, Jain, Sikh), Eid (Muslim), Nirvana (Buddhist), Swaminarayan Jayanti (Hindu), Vaisakhi (Sikh) to name but a few.

Millions of Britons also enjoy the festivities on Chinese New Year, St Patrick's Day and, of course, St Valentines Day!

The Migrants Rights Network in Britain are trying to build support ' International Migrants Day', normally observed on 18 December.

On the streets of big cities in the UK you will see Churches alongside Mosques, Synagogues and Hindu Temples.

Britain has on the whole been an extremely tolerant place for immigrants, who have been coming to the UK for hundreds of years. As I said in the book "How 2 Come to the UK to Live, Work, Study or Visit", most immigrants came here with 'nothing to declare' except their brains, talent and a burning ambition to succeed.

And do they succeed! You bet they do! Migrants and their descendants make up a disproportionate percentage of millionaires and even billionaires in the UK (when you take into account their percentage of the overall population).

The children of first generation migrant families do better on average than locally born students, despite the fact that English is not their first language.

Migrants not only bring their skills and labour to the UK, they also have the energy and drive to go the extra mile. This 'energy' also helped build America, Canada, Hong Kong and Australia, where millions of British immigrants helped play their part too. I salute them all!

Wherever you are, and whatever your beliefs, I wish you a very happy Easter, Passover or just a good weekend ahead!

If you need advice on any immigration matter, EU or UK immigration law, or want to appeal against a refusal, call Cynthia Barker on 020 8731 5972 or email her your details to immigration@londonccs.com. Cynthia Barker is an OISC registered Immigration Adviser with a team of Level 3 Immigration Law Practitioners, Concept Care Solutions, Middlesex House, 29-45 High Street, Edgware, HA8 7UU.