Immigration legislation

• From there arrival in Britain many commonwealth immigrants had to deal with racism, they were often refused jobs or accommodation because of the color of their skin
• In the 1950s, gangs of violent young British men attacked immigrants from the West Indies. The attacks grew into race riots, in which the gangs assaulted West Indian immigrants and ransacked their businesses.
• The worst riots took place in August 1958, when violence broke out in Nottingham, as well as the shepherd's Bush and Notting hill areas of London. In Notting hill, around 400 white men attacked West Indian businesses and houses.
• Politicians condemned the white rioters, but also suggested that the riots were impart caused by too much immigration. As a result, immigration laws were changed. In 1961, the government announced a law that would limit commonwealth migration. It was passed in July 1962 as the commonwealth immigration act. The acts tried to control the number of immigrants coming to Britain from the commonwealth. Immigrants had to apply for a work voucher before coming to Britain. The fewer skills and qualifications they had, the less likely their application for a work voucher was to succeed.
• The government wanted to tackle the type of racism that had led to the 1958 riots. In 1965, it passed the race relations act. This outlawed racial discrimination and set up a race relations board to deal with race related complaints. However, the board was weak so that act wasn't properly enforced. In 1968, with the powers of the race relations board were extended.
• In 1968, many people from the Asian population in Kenya tried to flee their country and come to Britain. Fearful that more migration would increase racial tensions, the government decided to increase control on commonwealth migration. It passed another commonwealth immigration act in 1968.
• Under the 1968 commonwealth immigration act, only those with a British born parent or grandparent could claim for British citizenship. The act was followed by an even more restrictive immigration act in 1971.