Table Of ContentThe Migration and Settlement of Refugees in Britain
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The Migration and
Settlement of Refugees in
Britain
Alice Bloch
Goldsmiths College
University of London
© Alice Bloch 2002
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2002 978-0-333-96923-6
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First published 2002 by
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bloch, Alice, 1964–
The migration and settlement of refugees in Britain/Alice Bloch
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Refugees–Government Policy–Great Britain. 2. Refugees–Government
policy–European Union countries. I. Title.
JV7682 .B56 2002
324′.21′0941–dc21
2002022076
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02
Contents
List of Tables ix
List of Figures xii
Acknowledgements xiii
1. Introduction 1
Theoretical and thematic concerns 1
The categorization of forced migrants 6
Refugees 8
Asylum seekers 9
Exceptional Leave to Remain 10
Temporary protection 11
The case study and the research basis 12
The London Borough of Newham 13
Newham’s ethnic minority communities: demography
and geography 14
The case study groups 15
Content of the book 19
2. Migration to Britain and Policy Responses 21
Early migrants 21
Migration: 1800 until 1914 22
Migration: 1914 until 1945 26
Migration: 1945 until 1961 29
Eastern European displaced persons and European
Volunteer Workers 29
Migration from Commonwealth countries 31
Controlling migration: 1962 until 1988 33
Demography and geography of ethnic groups at the end
of the twentieth century 38
Race relations 39
Summary 41
3. Current UK and European Policy 43
Refugee migration at the end of the twentieth century 43
v
vi Contents
Policy responses to refugees at the end of the twentieth
century 44
Detention 47
Immigration legislation in the 1990s 47
Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act, 1993 47
Asylum and Immigration Act, 1996 48
Immigration and Asylum Act, 1999 50
The policy of dispersal 51
The EU context 54
Harmonization of asylum policy 56
Provisions for asylum seekers in European countries 59
Summary 62
4. Theories of Refugee Migration and Migration to Britain 64
Theories of migration 65
Neo-classical economic equilibrium perspective 65
Historical-structuralist approach 66
Migration systems approach 68
Refugees: a unique type of migrant 70
Trafficking and smuggling 73
Refugee migration to Britain 74
Seeking asylum in Britain 74
Reasons for coming to Britain 75
Preferred asylum destination 76
Summary 79
5. Theories of Migrant Settlement 80
Theories of migrant settlement 80
Policies of receiving countries 82
Citizenship 84
Social networks 88
Economic integration 91
Migration, aspirations and settlement: the links 95
Summary 97
6. Language, Education and Training 99
The Urban Programme 100
Newham: the economic context 101
Language and literacy skills 102
Language and literacy skills in the first language 102
English language and literacy skills on arrival to Britain 103
Contents vii
English language skills and language learning 104
Learning English as a second language: provision 104
Attendance at English language courses 105
Finding out about ESOL and getting on a course 107
Views about English language courses 108
Education and qualifications 111
Education and qualifications on arrival to Britain 111
Study in Britain 112
Training 115
Summary 118
7. Labour Market Participation in Britain 120
Ethnic minority employment 120
Refugee employment 124
Employment before coming to Britain 124
Employment in Britain 125
Working hours and pay 127
Barriers to employment 129
Past employment in Britain 130
Labour market aspirations 132
Unused skills and barriers to employment among those
seeking work 133
Methods of job seeking 133
Sources of information and advice about job seeking 135
Areas where training was wanted 138
Summary 140
8. The Social Settlement of Refugees 142
Perceptions of Britain as home 142
Aspirations for return migration 145
Living in Britain: areas of residence, housing and households 147
Areas of residence 147
Housing tenure 152
Household composition 153
Language spoken at home 154
Life in Newham: social interaction 155
Meeting people and making friends 157
Summary 159
9. Refugee Community Organizations and Volunteering 161
The role ofrefugee community organizations 161
Refugee community organizations in Newham 162
viii Contents
Using refugee community organizations 163
Information and advice 164
Community organizations and the statutory sector 166
Participation in community activities 168
Differences in community association 169
Voluntary activity 172
Volunteering 172
Type of voluntary work 173
Summary 175
10. Conclusion 177
Key findings: economic settlement 178
Language, training, education and employment 178
Skills base 180
Key findings: social settlement 181
Refugee migration 181
Structural barriers in the country of asylum 183
Factors affecting settlement 184
Factors that affect settlement: the views of refugees 187
Factors that affect settlement 187
Ways of improving life in Britain for refugees 191
Policy recommendations and the 1999 Act 194
Structural barriers to settlement 194
Social settlement: community and dispersal 196
Economic settlement: language, education, training and
employment 197
The implication of European harmonization 199
Summary 201
Appendix: Methodology 202
Bibliography 205
Index 218
List of Tables
Table 1.1 Decisions on asylum applications: 1990–2000 12
Table 1.2 Resident population by ethnic group –
Great Britain and Newham, 1991 Census 14
Table 1.3 Proportion born in the UK by ethnic group, 1991
Census, Newham 15
Table 1.4 The ethnic composition of ward areas in
Newham, 1991 Census 16
Table 2.1 Foreign born population of England and Wales,
1861 and 1901 23
Table 2.2 Main refugee groups arriving in the UK,
1870–1945 26
Table 2.3 Estimated net immigration from the New
Commonwealth,1953–62 32
Table 2.4 Main refugee groups arriving in the UK, 1946–61 33
Table 2.5 The ten local authority areas with the highest
proportion of ethnic minority residents in
England, 1991 Census 39
Table 3.1 Countries with the most asylum applicants to
the UK, 1990–9 45
Table 3.2 Asylum applications, 1988–99 46
Table 3.3 Asylum seekers and their dependents allocated
support by the National Asylum Support Service
(NASS) until the end of May 2001 52
Table 3.4 Number of asylum applications to countries of
the EU by year of application, 1988–99 55
Table 3.5 Ten European countries with the most asylum
applicants, 1990–9 56
Table 3.6 Indicative numbers of refugees and asylum
seekers by region, 1999 56
Table 3.7 Monthly income of asylum seekers in
European countries 60–61
Table 4.1 Origin of major refugee populations and
main countries of asylum, 31 December 1999 67
Table 4.2 Three stylized levels of migration analysis 70
ix
