Pipistrelle, I'm aware of the main issue but am more concerned about this chip you seem to have on your shoulder regarding people with foreign accents. You seem to suggest that they are somehow less worthy of a job than a British born person.
Three examples in my own company:
1. An American who is married to a British Citizen
2. A Frenchman who did a CAP509 here and has never worked as a pilot in France and indeed doesn't even have a french licence
3. Myself, an Antipodean who has been paying taxes into HM exchequer for the best part of 10 years which is most of my adult life and who spent the best part of £30,000 on flying training in THIS country before securing myself a hard earned job. HM Home Office afford me indefinate leave to work and remain here on the basis of ancestery and I will eventually hold a British passport.
Are you seriously going to tell any one of us that we are any less worthy of our jobs now that there are British pilots out of work than we were when times were good???
The principle of marriage should provide for the couple to live and work freely in either of their citizens countries, or would you disaggree with that?
Like it or not Britain is part of the European Community and increasingly global economy. The EU provides not only the benefits of free trade but also free movement and work rights of it's member states citizens - that's the law.
To take up JW411s point, historically the U.K. licence has been recognised everywhere and British pilots have and still provide their services to operations around the world and particularly in former colonies.
My point is that you can't just assume that just because someone speaks with a foriegn accent that they have less rights than a 'local' person. There's a word for attitudes like that and it starts with X. Britain is supposed to be a tolerant and decent society and if you believe that immigration policy has admitted too many like me and my 'foreign' colleagues then maybe you should go and join up with one of those extreme right wing minority parties and swap ideas with like minded people because I think you'll find that most decent and fairminded folk wouldn't agree once they'd heard the facts as opposed to your anti 'foreign' soundbites...