Open letter to everyone that hates Romanians at the moment:

Dear Daily Mail, The Sun, UKIP, and all the anti-romanian/anti-immigrant people and media out there,

I have decided to write this after going to Asda the other day and while I was queuing to get myself my yearly NYE lottery ticket I accidentally read the most ridiculous so-called headlines in the papers. A lot of them involved something something Dark Side about Romanians, Bulgarians, benefits and the NHS. (I have tried to keep myself away as much as possible from this negative publicity for the sake of my own mental health, but that is proving to be more and more impossible by the day). Surprisingly (not really) reading those tittles while queuing, I found myself getting quite upset by them. I don’t know why, I was never a massive nationalist but… why the lies? Why make up stories and why try to make us look like the plague of Europe? Why make us feel bad for only asking to receive our rights as EUROPEAN CITIZENS? So that little event got me thinking, and I decided to write a this little piece, and to address some of the issues that have been raised by your newspaper, political parties etc. in the months preceding this big event of lifting our work restrictions.

Firstly, all that happened yesterday was that the employment restrictions have been lifted. This means that Romanians and Bulgarians have the right to work in the UK just like any other European citizen. That’s it. All this date did was make life easier for the Romanians already here, who for years had to go through complicated paperwork processes just to get a NI number, a yellow card, a blue card, a purple card (no, I am not making these up) etc. However, the employment restrictions have never limited our access to the NHS or to the benefits system. Actually some people I know found it easier in the past to claim benefits than to the get ever so magical Blue Card.

Also, why is everyone talking about how now the borders have been lifted? What are you talking about? Since 2007, as European citizens, we had the right to come in and out of the UK as we pleased. I was in and out of the UK at least 10-12 times in the past 4 years and nobody asked me anything. Ever. (apart from that one time at Southampton airport, but that was just human error).

Another thing I don’t get is why are you trying to make it sound as if all Romanians are roma gypsies? They are an ethnic minority living in Romania and every country has its gypsies (even the UK). End of. (I am not even gonna try and comment on the one article in the Daily Mail about Romas pooping on people’s doorsteps. I mean, seriously…?).

And what is the deal with the whole Student Finance thing? Why are they blocking payments purely based on nationality? That is pure xenophobia right there and, personally, I don’t like it.

And please, don’t even get me started on the historical aspect of it all. (do some reading on WW2 or if you’re feeling really intellectual, read bits about Romanian history on Wikipedia, and what you might find out is that we have been bullied by the great powers of Europe since early 11th century purely because of our natural resources. And a country constantly being attacked finds it a wee bit difficult to develop itself and its economy, dunno, just saying).

And most importantly: You keep on forgetting of the benefits immigration brings to this country. Every year thousands of young talented students come into your universities, spend money their parents send them (from Romania, just to be clear), get a degree, then get well-paid jobs and pay taxes. Also, a lot of them end up working in the NHS you are desperately trying to protect. I went to the doctor a few weeks ago and when I told him I was Romanian he started mentioning about 5-6 fellow doctors he knew that were also Romanians. We are not coming into your country to take your jobs, steal your benefits or abuse your healthcare system. Some of us simply want to take advantage of the benefits we should be having as members of the European Union. A lot of us come here and use our skills towards boosting the economy and just generally being useful. (I was a charity worker for God’s sake and then worked in mental health)

Each Romanian, each immigrant has their own story. Some of us are here to work and some of us are here to study and then work, but unfortunately some of us are here to steal and beg but bear in mind, the latter category constitutes the minority among us.
According to the Daily Mail about 900 Romanians have been arrested in the UK in the past 4 years. That is 900 out of the 94,000 living here at the moment (according to the BBC), that means that 0.94% of us living in England have committed a crime in the past 4 years. That doesn't sound so much like migration Armageddon anymore now, does it?

Oh, and you still want us to go home? Guess what, if we leave the UK for good we are legally entitled to claim back every little bit of tax we ever paid into this country. Still want us to go? Thought so…

Think we’ll invade the borders? Think again. Most Romanians have better things to do. Thinking that 20 million people will come in the UK now just because they can it’s a bit far-fetched. And those of us that wanted to be here… well were already here.

Kind Regards,

L. (a Romanian living in the UK for the past 5 years, who has spent a small fortune in Romanian money since living here, who has paid taxes for 2 years and who is studying Psychology as a second degree in order to become a psychotherapist and treat some of the Daily Mail employees of their Xenophobia).

Link: www.facebook.com/groups/romaniansinuk/permalink/10152266920137573/