Bayanihan!

Last Monday I attended a launch for new researched conducted by the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities (NICEM).

The study is a comprehensive look of the small but growing Filipino community in Northern Ireland, and the ways in which this community is likely to be effected by the economic downturn. Perhaps most interestingly, the study sums up the immigration process for Tier 2 migrant workers in the United Kingdom and the challenges in obtaining (and keeping) these work permits.

At a time when anti-immigrant sentiment seems to be rising in the UK, this study helps to show that the negative propaganda spouted by some newspapers, particularly with regard to the immigrant's right to public funds, is misinformed.