Albanian Refugees

[Gathursty]

I have a blindspot where my knowledge of Albania is. Has there been any recent crises in Albania such that the asylum applications as seen in this picture and link are more than countries which have had widely reported disasters?

Why are the numbers of refugees from Albania so high?

Link - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64848101

 

[Bletchleyite]

Two reasons:

1. The country barely has a functioning economy, and what does exist is blighted by organised crime, as a result of which it has and long has had a very large diaspora of economic migrants. This is the majority of them.

2. People fleeing family feuds which are a big thing over there.

(1) is a much bigger group than (2), which is why this is controversial, because pretty much all of (1) are economic migrants and have no valid claim to asylum.

 

[Ediswan]

Also, the journey from Albania to Calais is lot shorter/safer/simpler than the others. That has to influence the individual decision to travel.

 

[route101]

Seen a few Albanian registered cars around. Usually expensive SUVS and the like.

 

[Magdalia]

I heard a radio programme about this a while ago, where the reporter went to Albania.

Many of the Albanian migrants come from the north east corner of the country, adjacent to the border with Kosovo. The migration route was originally established during the Balkan conflict in the 1990s following the break up of Yugoslavia.

 

[duncanp]

Last year a friend and I met a bloke who said he came from Albania in a local pub.

Over two successive nights he fed over £80 per night into a fruit machine and spent about £20 per night on beer.

I cannot think of any legitimate occupation that would allow someone to spend that sort of money on gambling and booze, so I can only conclude he was involved in some sort of illegal activity.

He did say he was estranged from his family, which is consistent with what @Bletchleyite said.

 

[deltic]

Last year a friend and I met a bloke who said he came from Albania in a local pub.

Over two successive nights he fed over £80 per night into a fruit machine and spent about £20 per night on beer.

I cannot think of any legitimate occupation that would allow someone to spend that sort of money on gambling and booze, so I can only conclude he was involved in some sort of illegal activity.

He did say he was estranged from his family, which is consistent with what @Bletchleyite said.

Spending £200 on two nights out is not exceptional - there are plenty of perfectly legitimate jobs that will enable you to do that

 

[AlterEgo]

Spending £200 on two nights out is not exceptional - there are plenty of perfectly legitimate jobs that will enable you to do that

Round here an Albanian family owns a legitimate car wash which operates in a supermarket car park. They are very good at what they do and the head of the business can almost certainly afford £100 on a night out.

 

[Cloud Strife]

1. The country barely has a functioning economy, and what does exist is blighted by organised crime, as a result of which it has and long has had a very large diaspora of economic migrants. This is the majority of them.

Albania isn't that bad anymore. It used to be very bad, but now it's just poor as opposed to barely functioning. Minimum wage is over 200 Euro/month now, so around 2/3rds of Montenegro and Serbia.

There's also a strong grey economy, so the economy is probably a bit stronger than the official data suggests.

With organised crime, this is the real problem: they have their teeth into many aspects of public life. I read only recently about how the country just removed networks of private CCTV cameras that were being operated publicly and openly to benefit gangsters!

2. People fleeing family feuds which are a big thing over there.

Those blood feuds are utterly ridiculous. It's one big reason why Albania won't be anywhere near the EU until 2040 or even later.

In terms of spending 200 quid on two nights out: A friend of mine works as the head of security for a gentleman's club. The club is popular, and he will easily earn 200-300 quid for a night's work there. He's got his regular day job as the boss of a building company, but he keeps the security job because he's known the owner for years. For him, splashing out 200 quid on a night out would be nothing unusual.

 

[GusB]

Last year a friend and I met a bloke who said he came from Albania in a local pub.

Over two successive nights he fed over £80 per night into a fruit machine and spent about £20 per night on beer.

I cannot think of any legitimate occupation that would allow someone to spend that sort of money on gambling and booze, so I can only conclude he was involved in some sort of illegal activity.

He did say he was estranged from his family, which is consistent with what @Bletchleyite said.

Clearly you haven't spent much time with people who work in the oil industry. I've witnessed people spending silly amounts of money because they've got nothing else to spend it on.

Your "Albanian = Criminal" is rather racist, to be honest. There are wealthy people all over the world, and if you really want to equate wealth with dodgy activity, you really need look no further than our beloved Conservative Party!

 

[Gathursty]

Clearly you haven't spent much time with people who work in the oil industry. I've witnessed people spending silly amounts of money because they've got nothing else to spend it on.

Your "Albanian = Criminal" is rather racist, to be honest. There are wealthy people all over the world, and if you really want to equate wealth with dodgy activity, you really need look no further than our beloved Conservative Party!

I would say context is key here because if someone was in my local putting £160 into our fruit machine, we'd check they were okay at the very least. They'd have to be sat at the thing for quite some time. £160 in a casino is different to a fruit machine in a pub.

 

[duncanp]

Clearly you haven't spent much time with people who work in the oil industry. I've witnessed people spending silly amounts of money because they've got nothing else to spend it on.

Your "Albanian = Criminal" is rather racist, to be honest. There are wealthy people all over the world, and if you really want to equate wealth with dodgy activity, you really need look no further than our beloved Conservative Party!

I wouldn't say I was racist.

I wasn't questioning his source of income because he was from Albania.

I was questioning it because I don't live in a particularly wealthy area, which has problems with drugs prostitution and other criminal activity, and few people can afford to spend £100 per night on fruit machines and beer.

When we spoke to him, he was very evasive about what he did for a living.

I would have come to the same conclusion regardless of his nationality.

 

[GusB]

I wasn't questioning his source of income because he was from Albania.

Why mention his nationality at all, then?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Why mention his nationality at all, then?

Because it's a thread about Albanian people, so an Albanian person was used as an example?

Personally I would agree with the OP that someone splashing a lot of cash in a rough pub in a poor area, unless something like a student (they often live in rough areas and drink in the pubs but may have rich parents) is very likely to be involved in some form of crime.

It's been noted upthread though that Albania has a serious organised crime problem that has to varying extents migrated with them to the UK (for instance, some of the cash-only "Turkish barber shops" are actually Albanian and are often alleged to be covers for money laundering, even by people who patronise them as they also do a decent haircut), so I don't think it's racist to consider that to back up the view that a situation like that may involve crime.

 

[Iskra]

I worked with a young Albanian lady recently, and she left Albania purely because of how backwards it is and because old-fashioned gender stereotypes/roles are quite normal over there. In comparison, she felt the UK much more modern/progressive, free and safe. She wasn't particularly positive about Albanian society.

 

[ainsworth74]

There's a lot of applications from Albanians, but how many are actually successful? Just because you apply doesn't mean you'll actually be granted leave to remain as a refugee! Though it takes so long for the Home Office to decide asylum claims after having been starved of funding in recent years and then mismanaged over decades (I could easily add the Home Office to my signature as a department that needs to be destroyed!) that maybe we don't have good figures yet because all the applications are still pending!

 

[GusB]

Because it's a thread about Albanian people, so an Albanian person was used as an example?

Personally I would agree with the OP that someone splashing a lot of cash in a rough pub in a poor area, unless something like a student (they often live in rough areas and drink in the pubs but may have rich parents) is very likely to be involved in some form of crime.

It's been noted upthread though that Albania has a serious organised crime problem that has to varying extents migrated with them to the UK (for instance, some of the cash-only "Turkish barber shops" are actually Albanian and are often alleged to be covers for money laundering, even by people who patronise them as they also do a decent haircut), so I don't think it's racist to consider that to back up the view that a situation like that may involve crime.

It's lazy stereotyping, as is the assumption anyone who runs a largely cash business is engaged in money laundering. You cannot look upon someone of a particular nationality or ethnic group and say "they're all at it".

 

[Bletchleyite]

It's lazy stereotyping, as is the assumption anyone who runs a largely cash business is engaged in money laundering. You cannot look upon someone of a particular nationality or ethnic group and say "they're all at it".

"They're all at it" != "there is a significant problem with crime relating to people from that country due to its known domestic organised crime issues".

I don't believe the former, I absolutely do believe the latter.

 

[Gathursty]

I worked with a young Albanian lady recently, and she left Albania purely because of how backwards it is and because old-fashioned gender stereotypes/roles are quite normal over there. In comparison, she felt the UK much more modern/progressive, free and safe. She wasn't particularly positive about Albanian society.

It is incredibly hard to change opinions and society but Britain has improved within itself over many decades through trailblazers and grassroots campaigns.

I wish Albanians the best in improving itself socially, democratically and economically.

If I was a young Albanian, I'd certainly feel the need to escape anywhere, not just England. No-one person can improve a country but if no-one is there, it certainly can't be improved.