Does anyone know what the UK’s green card is called?

Since January 28, 2003, the British Home Office has reformed the current immigration system, drawing on the relevant systems and "green card" systems of the United States and Canada, and promoting high-skilled immigration policies. This is the first time in 30 years that the UK has opened up its immigration policy to the outside world. After the implementation of this policy, a large number of skilled immigrants will be able to come to the UK legally to work. Compared with the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the British immigration policy is much simpler, more relaxed and faster. Currently, the UK does not have any restrictions on the age, occupation category and English proficiency of high-skilled immigrants. As long as they meet the conditions, anyone can apply to immigrate to the UK with their whole family.

Since the application has just started, very few people know about it. Generally, immigration applications can be approved in about one and a half months. After obtaining immigration qualifications, new immigrants can freely find jobs or start businesses in the UK. After four years, they will become residents with permanent residence in the UK. In the fifth year, they can apply for a British passport and become British citizens.

The British government’s reform of the current immigration system has two main purposes. One is to solve the shortage of skilled labor in the UK, and the other is to open up legal immigration channels to facilitate international human smuggling who make huge profits from illegal immigration activities. The group lost its "market".

The UK is facing labor shortages in many fields. Some problems are universal, such as the shortage of doctors and nursing staff in public hospitals, the general shortage of teachers in primary and secondary schools, and the shortage of workers and service personnel in the manufacturing and retail industries. Some problems are regional, such as the special shortage of IT talents in London and southeastern England. ; There are also seasonal problems. For example, during the busy farming season, many farms in the UK cannot hire enough people to pick fruits. The new immigration policy will be linked to domestic economic needs, providing a legal, government-controlled route for those who want to find work or start a business in the UK.

According to the American-style "green card" system, qualified applicants will become residents with permanent residence in the UK after working in the UK for four years. For 30 years, legal immigrants to the UK have only included those who have relatives or spouses in the UK and those who have assets of at least ￡250,000 and have invested in the UK. Except for EU countries, it is difficult for ordinary applicants from other regions to enter the UK legally. As a result, some human smuggling gangs took advantage of the situation and organized smuggling activities, secretly importing illegal workers into the UK and profiting from it.

The British "Guardian" once conducted a public opinion poll on immigration and "asylum" policy issues. The survey results show that most of the British public supports the government's new immigration policy and allows a certain number of skilled immigrants to enter the UK. The British business community also welcomes the "green card" system, which allows employers to directly select the talents they need from a group of "ready-made" legal immigrants. British public opinion believes that an open immigration policy will not only help the UK attract overseas talents, but also alleviate national tax and social welfare problems caused by the aging population. An article in the British "Daily Telegraph" stated that the UK needs to introduce 1 million immigrants every year to maintain a certain level of social welfare, otherwise the retirement age of the next generation will have to be postponed to 75 years old. Therefore, the British "green card" is not only related to foreigners who want to work in the UK, but also closely related to the lives of ordinary British people.

Compared with the United States, the ratio between the number of illegal workers and the number of legal immigrants in the UK is seriously skewed. The UK approves an average of about 73,000 applicants as legal immigrants every year. However, nearly 100,000 people applied for "asylum" last year, most of whom were illegal immigrants; there are currently nearly 16 million immigrants employed in the United States, of which 5 million are illegal workers. After the implementation of the "green card" program, the number of legal immigrants in the UK will increase in recent years.