Initially I meant for the Albanian, I meat if they are in an EU country they don’t even need a plane they can just use public transport, trains buses etc to legally move to any ountry in the EU,
No. Within Schengen, yes. Not necessarily between all EU countries. There are countries that are EU but not Schengen like UK and Croatia. And there are countries that are Schengen but not EU like CH and N.
what I dont understand is why the Albanians chose the UK? when they can get anywhere in EU!?
I don’t either. Why would Albanians who are used to good weather ever choose the UK? 
Even the brits prefer France or Spain.
Having lived here since 1969, I actually think the list Timothy posted is pretty well spot on. Sure, Brits like holidays in warmer climates and when they get old and their joints start making funny noises (mine are currently OK, probably because Justine feeds me so much veg) they prefer to escape to somewhere warm.
The thing I don’t understand is why these people pay so much money to reach the UK. But then I also don’t understand why most ATPL candidates pay 80-100k for 14 exams and a CPL/ME/IR… hmmm… the answer is here i.e. they are ignorant of the options or are unable to exercise them for some reason
Timothy wrote:
Why the UK?
Because it’s the closest (in several senses) they can get to America.
Indeed. Although actually getting to America would be virtually impossible for them.
Also posts #19, #21 and #26 here illuminate the “why the UK” topic quite well. Although this ought to be less applicable to those who spend a fortune on “fake but good enough” documents. Those who cross the water from Turkey into Lesbos, Greece for $1000 mostly don’t have these documents…
Schengen doesn’t come into this because there are no borders within mainland Europe anyway, especially if you can walk over the ones shown on the map. Schengen concerns formalities at official border points e.g. ports, airports. If you can get yourself to say Greece or Italy, and can walk here and there, and have enough to buy food and bus tickets, you can get to the N French border without any difficulty. There, you get a bit stuck…
The UK is the only European destination where people smuggling in a GA aircraft makes any economic sense. Nobody would come up with this idea for other destinations that can be reached by land. In terms of absolute numbers, the UK is not a prime target for illegal immigrations. A bit of water around the island helps.
achimha wrote:
The UK is the only European destination where people smuggling in a GA aircraft makes any economic sense. Nobody would come up with this idea for other destinations that can be reached by land.Sweden, Norway or Finland are European destinations and can’t be reached by land (except by going through Russia). (The same thing discussed in this thread has already happened in Sweden.)
Aviathor wrote:
Why would Albanians who are used to good weather ever choose the UK?
My next door neighbour is Albanian.
The thing is Albania might have better weather but our climate is far better. We never have extremes of temperature. The temperature in the Isle of Man is rarely uncomfortable – in the height of summer, 17-20 degrees is the norm and on a nice day I kid you not there is not a better place in the whole world to be, with daylight lasting till 10.30pm and temperatures never being uncomfortable. Winter temperatures rarely fall below freezing (I have scraped ice off my windscreen maybe a dozen times in the last 10 years).
The other thing is, a lot is made of illegal immigrants and refugees in the UK getting all the free handouts and being lazy and not working in the red-top press. However, it’s pretty much a lie. Illegal immigrants can’t claim anything – that would attract the attention of the authorities, who would then detain and deport. Refugees are not allowed to work and receive a pittance – just enough to keep them fed and very little else. The right wing rag-top readers all seem to complain about “Schrodinger’s Immigrant” who is simultaneously lazy and sponging off the state while stealing all our jobs. None of it is true. The UK is something like 17th in the table of countries taking refugees per 1000 of population, way behind much poorer and much smaller Malta, for instance. A lot is made of the refugees in France trying to get to the UK, but other countries take far more refugees than we do. It’s perceived that they all want to come to the UK, because that’s how the red-top press presents it. Reality is somewhat different.
alioth wrote:
but other countries take far more refugees than we do.… like Germany and Sweden.
Airborne_Again wrote:
Sweden, Norway or Finland are European destinations and can’t be reached by land
Am I missing something? Google Maps says I can drive from Tirana to Stockholm in 33 hours, including several bridges from Denmark.
Am I missing something? Google Maps says I can drive from Tirana to Stockholm in 33 hours, including several bridges from Denmark.
Previous poster forgot the Øresund bridge which has been there for a while now…
