Dear Ms. Jacqui Smith We are happy to introduce ourselves as the members of Indian community in the UK. All of us are legally living in this country by paying tax and working hard We are writing this to invite your kind attention to an issue that affects all the ethnic minorities living in the UK, including us. On July 14 you have announced sweeping changes in immigration rules. We do not have any objection to the proposal to tighten the boarder and limit immigration. However, there is one proposal that deeply disturbs the skilled migrants in this country, and we would like to bring this up to your attention. According to the document announced by home secretary - THE PATHS TO CITIZENSHIP- the minimum period of permanent residency has been changed to 8 to 10 years from the current 5 years. If an immigrant does volunteer work, then he/she can apply for settlement after 8 years and if not he needs 10 years. We feel that this is not a fair deal to immigrants who are already here in this country with a belief that they could earn permanent residency after 5 years. The policy change will deeply unsettle immigrants who are expecting to get permanent residence rights shortly. We find that the government has not properly considered the fact that almost all of the immigrants are working hard, paying tax and not at all taking any benefits from the system. However, the British media are only interested in highlighting the issues of illegal immigrants. Unfortunately, the government too, it seems, is following their example. Therefore we feel isolated and discriminated against. In this circumstance, we request you to kindly make the following amendments before this bill is brought up for debate in parliament. We are attaching herewith the copy of the proposed changes, highlighting sections of the bill that may badly affect us. 1. As per the current system any foreign citizen who has lived in the country for 5 years with valid work permit can apply for settlement. Then, one year later, they are eligible to apply for citizenship. But according to the new proposals, if anyone wishes to apply for permanent settlement he/she needs a period of 8 to 10 yearsâ