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"Within a year, illegal immigration from Albania to Great Britain has decreased significantly, by about 90%, but London will not withdraw from austerity measures, said the ambassador of the United Kingdom in Tirana Alastair King-Smith.
In an interview for RTSH, the ambassador praised the cooperation with the government for reducing the number of illegal immigrants from 12,000 last year to less than 1,000 this year, but the golden times for Albanians with an illegal stay on the island seem to have ended. with the approval this week of what is known as the Rwanda law or the Rwanda scheme.
"There will be no differences by nationality. Any nationality can end up going to Rwanda, if they meet the criteria for that scheme, so Albanians can also be included in it, the ambassador said.
Under the law, which has only recently passed the House of Commons, illegal immigrants seeking asylum in Britain will be sent to Rwanda, where they will be held pending a response.
Before entering into force, the law must also receive approval from the House of Lords, which is considered an obstacle for Prime Minister Sunak so that the law can come into force before the elections.
The ambassador also spoke about the issue of visas. He did not claim that he has a visa facilitation policy, but rejected with official figures the claims of mass rejection of visa applications from Albania.
interview
Elona Meço: Let's start our interview with the issue that has worried London the most over the last 2-3 years, illegal immigration. This week it was one year since the agreement between Prime Ministers Rama and Sunak to stop this traffic and the results are a surprise. Traffic has dropped by 90%. In your analysis, how was the number reduced from 10-12 thousand raft migrants to less than 1 thousand per year?
British Ambassador King-Smith: Elona you are absolutely right that we have seen a really significant and impressive turnaround on this issue. If you look at the summer of last year, we were dealing with really high numbers of Albanians going illegally to Great Britain, over 12,000. This year, as you just said, 90% down, under 1000. That's really important because we want, if people are going to the UK, to do so legally, not by going against the law, and actually that's a result of a variety of things. First, people have realized that the images they saw on Tik-Tok and so on were fake. These are not easy situations and if you manage to get going, you get stuck, forced into exploitative labor and, in fact, people's lives are destroyed. So my message to young people and families is: Don't do it! But we also mentioned the Joint Communiqué that was signed, and it was actually just this week, a year ago that the two prime ministers signed it, and actually in just one year we've seen really impressive results. Not only for illegal migration, we are really making progress, a lot of positive cooperation, but also wide-ranging in all areas. In education, we have started partnerships with universities; in defence, our defense relationship is growing both bilaterally and in NATO and also in trade, culture and other areas. Therefore, I am pleased that we have seen extraordinary achievements this year in bilateral relations, which have really turned that situation around and now Albania is one of our best partners, bringing a real change to the world.
Elona Meço: I will ask you for details on this a little later, but can you explain what reasons Albanians give for obtaining asylum, political, economic, social insecurity? Albania is considered a safe country, but more than half of the applicants are accepted for asylum.
British Ambassador King-Smith: So one of the reasons for the decline in illegal migration is that everyone knows that we have taken strong measures to crack down on the exploitation of the asylum system. People know that if they are now trying to find a job they have to do it legally, you can't go and ask for asylum just for economic reasons. This is part of the focus of the Illegal Migration Act that Parliament has passed. But of course there are probably some Albanians who have a real fear of persecution and they will be treated like any other nationality and of course if they have a real fear of persecution for whatever reason, they will be treated just like everyone else, in appropriately, under our normal legal system.
Elona Meço: Could the situation be difficult now in Great Britain now that there is a hardening of the political language between the ruling party and the debates that are happening within the Conservative Party, because of what is known as the Rwanda law?
Ambasadori britanik King-Smith: Ne po shikojmë mjetet që të mund të sigurohemi mirë që nëse njerëzit shkojnë drejt MB-së dhe aplikojnë për azil, rastet e tyre të mund të trajtohen në mënyrë efektive, por gjithashtu duhet të sinjalizojmë se nuk mund të vini nëse arsyeja juaj për të ardhur nuk është e vërtetë. Kjo është arsyeja pse skema e Ruandës është një pjesë e rëndësishme e parandalimit.
Elona Meço: I prek shqiptarët ligji i Ruandës?
Ambasadori britanik King-Smith: Kjo do të jetë sipas sistemit ligjor, pasi ajo skemë të jetë plotësisht funksionale. Ju dhe mund të keni parë që qeveria sapo nënshkroi një traktat me Ruandën për të siguruar bazën ligjore për funksionimin e asaj skeme. Ne jemi të vendosur të bëjmë gjithçka që mundemi dhe mendojmë se nevojiten zgjidhje krijuese dhe inovative për këto çështje të migracionit që sfidojnë të gjitha vendet tona. Ne jemi të lumtur të punojmë në partneritet me Ruandën, Shqipërinë, Italinë dhe vende të tjera.
Elona Meço: E kuptoj, por dua të sigurohem, nëse ligji i Ruandës hyn në fuqi, shqiptarët që kapen në mënyrë të paligjshme në Mbretërinë e Bashkuar dhe kërkojnë azil, do të dërgohen në Ruanda apo do të kthehen në Shqipëri?
Ambasadori britanik King-Smith: Nuk do të ketë dallime nga kombësia. Çdo kombësi mund të përfundojë duke shkuar në Ruandë nëse i plotëson kriteret për atë skemë, kështu që mund të përfshihen edhe shqiptarët në të.
Elona Meço: Ambasada britanike ka marrë një famë jo shumë të mirë përsa i përket politikës së vizave, për shkak të refuzimit të një numri të madh vizash. Do të vazhdojë kjo politikë e ashpër apo Londra ka menduar ta zbusë atë? Pra, mund të ketë një politikë të lehtësimit të marrjes së vizave, duke kontribuar kështu edhe për reduktimin e emigrimit të paligjshëm?
British Ambassador King-Smith: Well, first I can clarify that the British Embassy does not deal with visa processing, which is done in the United Kingdom, and Albanians will be treated normally according to our visa processes. And I think people have a wrong perception that it's hard to get a visa. If you want to go and travel to the UK, whether that trip is for study or work visits, apply for a visa because we now have routes available to you that can really help. I've just closed some discussions with the government about how we can make this work, very positively indeed. And you may have seen that actually this year, partly as a result of the way Albanians now play a really important role, for example, in our construction sector, visas for construction workers are now a priority occupation for which people can apply more easily. So if people have that interest, I really encourage them to apply so they can travel legally. This will be much more effective. We've also done something else to make it easier for people to apply. So now there is a visa application center in the north, in Kukës, where although this is not done every day, it is basically done regularly, that people, if they prefer, can apply in the north instead of coming to Tirana. So we want to make it easier for people to come to the UK legally, because as you rightly note, that's a really important part of our relationship. We want to build those relationships that are built between people with each other, and we also want to help prevent illegal migration and the impact it has.
Elona Meço: I asked you the question because there is a perception that it is easier to get an American visa than a British visa.
British Ambassador King-Smith: So I actually brought you the latest figures. By the end of September this year, 2023, 77% of all visitor visas, 96% of student visas and 94% of work visas have been approved. So I mean, really this is for all nationalities, and then for Albanians, the rates are quite similar, so we have to make sure that we continue to do that. And indeed we have had an increase in visas issued this year compared to last year. It's actually up 35% from last year, so I think there's a lot of misunderstanding. There will obviously be individual cases, but we want to make sure people can travel to the UK if they want to.
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