More than 80,000 refugees fled to Britain claiming to be victims of the war in Kosovo, but were they all genuine?

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“...UK is our safe place and we have created our life here our friends here and we have our home here...WE ARE PART OF THIS NATION...”

Fully agree, no matter where you came from, I think such opportunities need to be given to everyone who wish too... I cannot find the right words for WHAT people like when refusing visa application forms... of people who were taken apart from each other after more than 3 years of living together in peace and love...

My sister (from Russia) could not join family in UK because of age over 18... THAT is AMAZING... cannot believe my self...
Don’t have no words, just bleeps and bleeps again...

- Disappointed, London, UK

Home Office probably knew there were some cases of deception but couldnt prove anything.
So what happened is that some albanians wanted to bring in the UK their relatives and family, instead of keeping quiet and maintaining low profile, which is rather naive and stupid. Now that Home Office can document their lies the **** hitting the fan. First the Home Office allowed their family and relative to enter the UK to see how many people would come forward, and it worked like charm, because albanians are naive and if someone does something they all follow suit, its more of an eastern stupid mentality which the Home Office psychologist now very well.
Just ask yourself, how can you submit an application having two places of birth, two family names, two birthdays? Stupid innit?
On the other hand british people are living the UK for a better life elsewhere near the sun, instead of turning into slaves of the system. So it would be unwise to return the people who lied home.
Keep it real

- Saimir, Tirana

Lets face it the real truth behind this move is a cynical one. The government is in an economic crisis. They knew from the beginning that some Albanians came in at the same time as Kosovans, but now they wish to use this as an excuse to charge 5000 pounds tax from immigrants to help pay off their debt. Nothing whatsoever to do with them 'discovering fraud'. Shame our government tries to disguise their true motives in such an underhand way!

- Emma, London, UK

I was once married to an Albanian. I never though anything bad of them until i got to know them. They have no respect for britsh people and use and abuse our compassionate hearts for financial reasons and an ego boost.Because of the way they have lived they simply do not have it in them to be decent people. With a few exceptions - the majority of them really are just scums.i learnt this the hard way.

- Jay, London

James, London said it all.

- - Sadik, London

So what if they did lie? Why don't people actually look at what situations were like in Albania around this time and you might begin to understand the desperation to get out of a country such as that.
The fact is MOST Albanians who come over here work hard and are tainted by a few. The few who do not should be thrown out, not the ones who just want a better life for their families, as should those British 'Citizens' such as those released recently from Guantanamo.
I am sick of this country punishing innocents who are pruley trying to find safety and hapiness for their families whilst rewarding people who act against the state. It's pathetic.

- Mike, London, UK

This is a rather concerning issue for a lot of people in the uk and i m not surprised to see the variety of reactiosn. Its true that the home office messed up and its true the albanians took liberty of the situation in kosovo at the time and used it to their advantage. The problem now though is the fact that these people have built their lives here and most of them have done it through hard work. They ve paid taxes and mortgages just like any other british citizen. their kids have been born and educated within the british society and most of them only speak english. Just to answer the critics from someone who wrote about Albanian mafia and criminals, they re part of every nation and noone is proud of them but they re not the people concerned by this initiative of the government. We re talking about thousands of people that lied to get a chance for a better life achieved not through crime but hard work. 85% of british people lie in their CV s in order to be hired for a job. I think the Home Office needs to do something to reduce the amount of people entering the country in a daily basis and control the future imigration figures as unfortunately chasing after files nearly ten years old wil NOT solve the current immigration crisis...

- Arthur, wolverhampton, west midlands

Shame on Home Office. It has nothing else to do but distroy the life of many British Citizens who earned this nationality by working hard and contributing to this society and still working and paying taxes and mortgage. Why the Home Office does not work torwards stopping illegal immigration that is drayning the system? I am a British Citizen and proudly so. Did get married in August 2007 in Albania but my wife has not yet heard from the British Embassy in Albania so she still over there. Is this how a human, who does everything right, to be treated? When will this burocracy end? I have to be over here apart from my love of life to keep my mortgage payments going and contributing to the society. How would any burocrat that works in possition of destroying our lifes feel if would be on our place? Well i do not think they can manage. I do really think that this has gone long enough and do call on Home Office to come up with a solution.

- Lazer, croydon

Well...I`m albanian..I agree with this investigation but all this problem is create from the Home Office because the Home Office is burocratic place who never try do somthing about it..now they have to do nothing so have to find out who is kosovan and who is albanian BUT i`m telling you one thing :We are the same ALBANIAN..well We have the same flag the same language, the same traditon...we are brother we use to be One country and this is a mistake from 1913 when in UK (London Conference)the seperate our land and give it (Kosovo) to Serbia...well when you do a mistake please try to sort it out....Now we are here and we are part of British sociaty and we are proud to be British citizens...UK is our safe palce and we have create our life here our friends here and we have our home here...WE ARE PART OF THIS NATION.

- Tim, England

the home office is stupid

- Jamie, Essex

This is not true what they saying about Albania’s , who come here since the war in Kosovo in 99 for what ever reason it doesn’t matter if they lied or not, if they lied it would not be because they were criminals/ Albania’s have worked and build their life in this country for years now and all of them work and contribute in our community and pay tax’s too.

The government needs to do something about those immigrants that they come here and work illegal to avoid the tax pay instead of trying to destroy British Albania’s who establish their life’s in our communities……..

- Lleshi, banbury

I am with an albanian, and as for saying they are scum of the england is putrid to me!!I also have some albanian friends and they are lovely people.
I will be getting married to him next year and we will be applying for a visa.
how he can be called scum is beyond me when there is worse english poeple!!
what about those who dont pay tax , who dont bother to work and live off benefits.they are the poeple who make this country look bad! and yet the government let them!! So what about my rights? do i not have a right to be with whom i choose or is he going to be refused and i am expected to accept it!!??

As far as im concerned the people who critisze albanians probably have never even met one and even if they did they cant expect all humans to be perfect (yeah albaninans are human aswell).
There are alot of people who come here and wish for a life which they wouldnt otherwise get over there.
Either way the whole system is a joke,they are supposed to be adults and are unfair, have no idea about fair judgment and probably cant even do their jobs properley. Albanians are obviously desperate to get out of that country and have a life so give them some slack and direct your attention to the real concerns in this world...

- Penny, Oxford

if Albania`s lied about their identity where was the home office before, and they are thinking of take their passports a way, how about their children that were born here in the UK. this is all joke and yeah there are people in this world that they may lie to have a better life, but they cant blame all Albania`s for 1 or 10 cases like that.

You know what home office should do? Leave the good people getting on with their life's that have settled in here, and fight the crime instead.

- Dan, Banbury

Being married to an Albanian man for 7years now I know that lots of people he knows were given passports under the assumption they were Kosovan. What for them now? It is hard not to take the easy option when you are looking for a better life. People in this country are so quick to judge lets hope none of us are ever in the position to have leave our country and rely on the compassion of another one. Albanians are seen as the new scum of Britain and this is unfair, unjust and downright racist!

- Dawn, Northampton

I am also a young woman from Kosovo, like many others I came here for a better and a safer chance of life. It annoys me that only now the Home Office have realised this...I believe they knew this before but were ashamed to admit their mistakes as the British Government only holds their hands up to something when they get caught. I strongly believe that Albanians like me came here for similar reason and I m sure any human being promised of a better life in another part of the world would jump at the chance. I've been in the UK for over 9 years and I m almost 19 and at University. I think those who have left had good reasons to do so. These people put their lives at risk to make it into this country - something an English person would never understand, especially the sacrifices we had to go through.
The Home Office should turn its attention on other important matters and they should leave these refugees in a peace of mind. They are only trying to correct their mistakes but it is now too late, because the concequences of these refugees being deported could be disastarous, i think they should catch those fraudsters who dont pay taxes and ect and leave the past where it belongs.

- Kristina, London

I know hundreds of lazy, work shy people who have used this story!

- Chantelle, London

Even if some have made it so far by lying there is a lot of hard working Albanians that have lived here for more then 8 years and their children have been brought up here, sending them back now could ruin their lives. I understand that people and the government would be annoyed.

- Ilir, London

Some of the nasty news I've been following from other sources indicate that no amount of truth was able to escape most Albanian's lips under any conditions. Kosovo with village names like Obilic, Bistrica, Zli Potok (all Serbian names) is an Albanian homeland? What power is it that forced native (Kosovan Albanians) to use Serbian language to name all the towns in such an inconsistent manner? Even the very word Kosovo is thoroughly Serbian. I wonder who's kidding who?

- Stanislav Kalenic, Canterbury, UK

We should always help people in need such as asylum seekers from countries ravaged by wars? Period. However, lies are lies and these people should go back to Albania. Albania was not involved in a war. There are a lot of "hard working people" around the world so why not let them in as well. Kosovo refugees should stay if they have nowhere to go (which I doubt - Kosovo is run by Albanian Mafia so these liars would fit perfectly well over there).

- Robert, London

I do not disagree with the fact that we have to help genuine asylum seekers. However, lies are lies and comments like "they are hard working people" do not justify their actions. In every nation there are hard working people and lazy ones. Albanians should go back to Albania. Asylum seekers from Kosova should stay if they cannot go back (which I doubt). No wonder why the George Bush's watch was stolen.

- Robert, London

I myself am a Kosovan immigrant, and people need to realise that Albania and Kosovo are as one, same language, same culture, and if they are linked to bringing family to England is because that's were their remaining families fled. NOT everyone has lied, although being prosecuted from your home and having no documents to prove it is hard. Even if Albanians did come over and say they're from Kosovo, it should not matter, it's the same thing. Troubles that occured in Kosovo also affected Albania, people had to find some escape to an extent. Also, striping people of their citizenship will only be a loss to this country, as you say yourself that people have made a good honest life here and contribute well here. Hope the Home office finds better things to waste their time on.

- Megi, London

I guess this is another Home Office cock up. However, if there is a loophole in any system, people who can will take advantage of it...this is the human nature. The one who should be held accountable should the Home Office and not the people. Most of them are people in need and it doesn't suprise me that they took a chance when they saw the opportunity. From this behaviour we cannot exclude even those who don't need to, like the very rich who hide their money in foreign accounts to escape fair taxes even though they made most of their money from us to start with.
I say the human thing and the right to do now, is that home office admits its mistake and also pay for it. I know people who have their lives here now and contrary to the usual portrayal by the media of all Albanians as criminals and what not, most of them are really decent and hard working people that share many of our principles and the way of life. It would be inhuman that now, nearly a decade later we just wake up and decide we should let them pay for our mistakes. Again, I emphasise, most people will take the chance for a better life if they saw one, however remote.

- James, London

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