The US Now Requiring Negative COVID-19 Test for Air Travelers from the UK

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that effective December 28, 2020, American and foreign national air passengers arriving from the United Kingdom to the United States must test negative for coronavirus via the PCR or antigen test no more than seventy-two hours before departure from the UK to the US. The CDC notes that this order comes after UK public health authorities announced the discovery of a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 which may be up to seventy percent more transmissible than previously circulating variants. Numerous countries have announced new restrictions on UK travelers due to this new variant.

The CDC notes that this “additional testing requirement will fortify our protection of the American public to improve their health and safety and ensure responsible international travel.” In a statement, CDC explains: "Passengers are required to get a viral test (i.e., a test for current infection) within the 3 days before their flight from the U.K. to the U.S. departs, and provide written documentation of their laboratory test result (in hard copy or electronic) to the airline. Airlines must confirm the negative test result for all passengers before they board. If a passenger chooses not to take a test, the airline must deny boarding to the passenger."

NY Times: “U.K.’s New Immigration Rules Will Restrict Low-Skilled Workers”

The UK government last week announced plans to block low-skilled workers in order to cut overall immigration from Europe and elsewhere. Under a new post-Brexit points-based immigration system starting January 2021, immigrants to the UK will have to meet certain criteria to qualify for a work visa, including having specific skills, the ability to speak English, and having a job offer with a minimum salary threshold of £25,600 (about $33,300), with only some exceptions.

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CNN: “Trump: Immigration is ‘changing the culture’ of Europe”

Last week during President Trump’s trip to Europe for a NATO summit and to England—where he was met with hundreds of thousands of protestors—for talks with Prime Minister Theresa May, the president spoke out against immigration in Europe and the United States. At a news conference, Trump claimed that immigration was a "negative thing" and that it was hurting Germany and other parts of Europe, seemingly referring to refugees who have fled to Europe from Syria and other parts of the Middle East and North Africa.

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The Guardian: “Theresa May says she will make success of Brexit as prime minister”

Home Secretary Theresa May will be the next prime minister of the United Kingdom reportedly as early as Wednesday this week, bringing a fast resolution to the dramatic events surrounding last month’s “Brexit” vote to leave the European Union and the subsequent resignation of current Prime Minister David Cameron. May’s candidacy for prime minister is uncontested after Andrea Leadsom, Britain’s energy minister, dropped out of the race; Boris Johnson, former London mayor, declined to run; and Michael Gove, who with Johnson was a prominent proponent of the Leave Campaign, failed to attract enough support for the position.

The most pressing issue facing the incoming prime minister, of course, is overseeing the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union as part of the Brexit vote. In a statement, May says she would provide “strong, proven leadership to steer…through what will be difficult and uncertain economic and political times” and also to “negotiate the best deal for Britain in leaving the EU, and to forge a new role for ourselves in the world.”

While many voters have expressed regret for their Brexit votes after the sudden economic downturn that happened immediately post-Brexit referendum, May left no room for a second referendum, saying: “Brexit means Brexit, and we are going to make a success of it.” What success that might be is difficult to tell, as she has not released any specifics about how she will negotiate UK’s departure from the EU. May says that “her priority would be reclaiming greater power for Britain to control immigration, even if it meant sacrificing access to the Continent’s single market for goods and services.” As Home Secretary since 2005, Ms. May has overseen some controversial immigration initiatives and programs:

  • One of her most controversial policies to drastically reduce immigration from outside the EU was a new rule barring British citizens from bringing their spouses or children into Britain unless they earned more than £18,600, no matter how much their non-British spouse earned. Critics say this law is causing families to be split apart. The law is being challenged in the UK Supreme Court;
  • She also was responsible for the widely criticized “go home vans,” which drove around the country offering undocumented immigrants assistance in returning to their home countries. Plagued with hoax calls and texts and widely mocked, the program resulted in just 11 people leaving the country.

Despite all this, she says she will be a unifier and bring together a wide variety of people in the UK, saying “we need a strong, new positive vision for the future of our country, a vision of a country that works not for the privileged few but that works for everyone of us.”

The whirlwind of events culminating with this new prime minister without a general election—which was originally scheduled for 2020—has led some to call for a popular vote. Tim Farron, the head of the Liberal Democrats, is objecting to Ms. May’s becoming prime minister, saying on Twitter: “With @TheresaMay2016’s coronation we need an early General Election. The Tories now have no mandate. Britain deserves better than this.”

Slate: “Why Immigration Pushed Britons to Brexit”

Last week voters in England and Wales choose to leave the European Union in a nationwide referendum commonly referred to as the “Brexit” vote, with many voters claiming immigration fears as a top decider for them. The aftershocks of this referendum have been far reaching. In response, Prime Minister David Cameron, who opposed Brexit, offered his resignation, the Labour party is in turmoil, Britain’s credit rating has been downgraded, the British pound fell to a thirty-one year low against the dollar, the euro fell, and global stock prices have plummeted.

Many are offering their views on what exactly caused so many voters to want out of the European Union when many economists and financial leaders warned that it would not be a prudent move. Slate examines former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s role in opening up Britain’s borders to immigrants beginning in the late 1990s. Britain soon received roughly twice as many immigrants in the United Kingdom as had arrived in the previous half-century. Britain additionally become a highly sought-after destination for less-skilled European immigrants, due to the structure of the UK’s economy and its public policies, as well as the free movement of peoples, one of the core principles of the European Union. This, combined with loss of economic opportunity in many areas of the United Kingdom and the availability of public benefits for many recent immigrants, fueled an anti-immigrant backlash.

Many Leave campaigners, including Boris Johnson, the former London mayor, claimed that the EU was preventing the UK from enacting immigration controls. In the run-up to the vote, however, London’s new mayor, Sadiq Khan, who was for the Remain campaign, objected to the scapegoating of immigrants and said of his Leave opponents that it wasn’t so much “project fear, it’s been project hate as far as immigration is concerned.”

Tony Blair weighed in post-Brexit vote, acknowledging the role that high immigration numbers played, but framed it slightly differently:

The strains within Britain that led to this referendum result are universal, at least in the West. Insurgent movements of left and right, posing as standard-bearers of a popular revolt against the political establishment, can spread and grow at scale and speed. Today’s polarized and fragmented news coverage only encourages such insurgencies — an effect magnified many times by the social media revolution.

While the Leave campaigners promised to swiftly reduce the number of immigrants coming to Britain from other parts of Europe, with claims that  a vote to leave would “bring down the numbers” by 2020, afterwards, however, the Leave campaigners adjusted their remarks: “Frankly, if people watching think that they have voted and there is now going to be zero immigration from the E.U., they are going to be disappointed,” Daniel Hannan, a prominent Leave advocate and member of the European Parliament, admits now.  

The Brexit vote has already given rise to an increase in xenophobia and reports of abuse against immigrants. Meanwhile, many eligible UK nationals, unsure of what lies ahead for the United Kingdom, are busy applying for duel citizenship.   

Marketplace: “Immigration a concern amid looming Brexit vote”

On June 23, the United Kingdom will hold a referendum—referred to as the “Brexit” vote—to decide whether Britain should leave or remain in the European Union (EU). The referendum comes after Prime Minister David Cameron bowed to pressure from his own Conservative MPs before his general election last year and said: "It is time for the British people to have their say. It is time to settle this European question in British politics."

Immigration is an important issue in the referendum, as the EU guarantees the free movement of people between the twenty-eight member countries. Many Brits are worried about the record influx of immigrants who have come to the UK. Last year, there was a net inflow into the UK of more than 330,000 immigrants with half of them from elsewhere in the EU. Elisa Padilla from Spain, who has lived in London for three years, is concerned about the EU referendum. “It is a bit scary,” she tells Marketplace, “because underneath it all, I feel there is some sort of rejection of immigrants. English people don’t want more people from abroad coming here.”

While some claim that immigrants are affecting public services like healthcare, education, and housing, Italian immigrant Daniela de Rosa, who runs an Anglo-Italian website, is surprised by the referendum. “I wouldn’t have believed when I moved to London eleven years ago that one day someone would question our staying in Britain—as Europeans,” de Rosa tells Marketplace.

Deporting the 2 million EU migrant workers already in the UK wouldn’t make economic sense since they pay more in taxes than they take from the government and many dispute their supposed drain on resources. Michal Zdunczyk, a printing equipment engineer from Poland, disputes the charge that EU migrants are putting Brits out of work. “We basically fill the gap where the British people will not accept those jobs for that kind of money,” Zdunczyk tells Marketplace.

Gisela Stuart, a Labour MP and Vote Leave chair, says that British people are feeling the strains of “uncontrolled migration” and should vote leave in order to take back control from the EU. “As an immigrant myself, I am conscious of benefits immigration brings to this country," she says in the Guardian. "I have been very clear that I would like to see the introduction of an Australian Points based system—something that would also serve to end the discrimination inherent in the current system. But the fact of the matter is that the democratically elected UK parliament is prevented from doing any such thing because of the EU’s obsession with open borders.”

Prime Minister David Cameron claims it would be “madness” to try to reduce the number of migrants to the UK by voting to leave the EU and Hilary Benn, the UK shadow foreign secretary, says that a vote to leave the EU will not put a stop to the high levels of immigration, as foreign workers are needed in the country. “Immigration into Britain will continue whether we stay or go, as the Leave Campaign have now admitted,” he says. “And anyone who thinks that voting leave will bring the numbers down significantly will in time be bitterly disappointed.”

While many view the Leave Campaign as anti-immigrant, support for Brexit comes from many unusual sources including many chefs and curry house owners, predominantly from Bangladesh, who want to leave the EU since they claim current immigration laws and EU-mandated salary requirements make it extremely difficult for them to hire the skilled workers for their restaurants. Four or five of Britain's 12,000 curry houses are closing their doors every week, says Oli Khan, vice president of the Bangladeshi Caterers Association. "It's not that we think Europeans shouldn't have a chance in Britain, it's just that we feel the country should choose who it needs, what kind of skills they need, so that industries like ours are not short handed," Khan tells CNN. Meanwhile, the rest of the EU waits nervously for the outcome.