Telegraph Citizenship approvals up by two thirds Foreign nationals are being handed a British passport every two minutes after a sharp jump in approvals for citizenship, Home Office figures show.
By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor Published: 8:00AM GMT 27 Nov 2009
A total of 54,430 migrants were granted British citizenship between July and September this year – the equivalent of more than 600 people every day. It means the country remains on course to hand out more than 200,000 passport to foreign workers, family members and others who have been allowed to settle in the UK – smashing the record of 163,540 set in 2007. The citizenship approvals for the third quarter of 2009 were a 69 per cent increase on the same period last year. In the 12 months up to September 2009, some 197,955 people were granted citizenship, up 57 per cent on the 126,310 during the previous 12 months. The rise has been blamed on a rush of applications ahead of new rules to "earn" citizenship through a probationary period. Damian Green, the shadow immigration minister, said: "Yet another of Gordon Brown’s sound bites has proved to be false. This government has created British jobs for foreign workers as the astonishing increase in grants of settlement shows."
Telegraph
Record number of people leaving Britain
The number of people leaving Britain hit a record high last year -
driven by Eastern European workers returning home, new figures have revealed.
Published: 1:14PM GMT 26 Nov 2009 The number of non-Britons leaving the country has risen by 50% from 169,000 in 2007 to 255,000 last year
But the number of new arrivals rose, with more than half-a-million people coming in, official statistics showed. Arrivals from Eastern Europe were down by nearly a quarter in the year to March as job prospects were hit by the recession.
More recent figures suggested immigrants from the eight countries which joined the EU in 2004 registering for work fell even more dramatically this year. In the year to September the total was down 41% to 106,000.
Overall, migration both in and out added 163,000 to the population last year. Some 590,000 immigrants came in - a figure that has barely changed since 2004 - and 427,000 left. The number of non-Britons leaving the country has risen by 50% from 169,000 in 2007 to 255,000 last year. Home Office minister Phil Woolas said the figures showed immigrants were coming to the UK to work and then returning home. He said: ''Our new flexible, points-based system gives us greater control over those coming to work or study from outside Europe, ensuring that only those that Britain need can come.''
But the Tories called for an annual limit on the number of non-EU workers allowed into the country. Damian Green, the shadow immigration minister, said: ''To make the points-based system effective in cutting immigration to sensible levels, we need to have an annual limit on the numbers coming here, as well as much more effective measures against those who abuse the loopholes in, for example, the student visa system.
'' The Ethnic Cleansing of Britain: Third World Immigrants Already Majority of Under 50 Population in High Wycombe high-wycome-mapA housing report prepared for the High Wycombe District Council has revealed that Third World immigrants already comprise nearly 60 percent of the population aged under 50 in that town. According to the District Council report, Wycombe has a "substantial and increasing ethnic minority population, significantly higher the regional and national averages." The report proudly details the "significant differences in the age profile with a much larger proportion of older people in the white population" as follows: In the age band 0 -- 15, some 20 percent of the population are classed as "White British/Irish" compared to 27.8 percent classed as "BME" (Black Minority Ethnic). In the 16 -- 24 age band, some 9.3 percent are white and 15 percent are BME. In the 25 -- 49 age band, some 35.6 percent are white and 39.3 percent BME. This means that the white British population of High Wycombe aged under 50 stands at 43 percent of that group. The figures are only slightly different in the 50 years and up group. According to the report, in the 50 -- 59 age band, 14.3 percent are white and 8.5 are BME. In the 60 -- 74 age band, 12.8 percent are white and 5.2 percent are BME. In the 75+ age band, 7.2 percent are white, and 2.2 percent are BME. Appendices_Front_Pages_Only
These figures means that although white British people are still a majority of the grand total in High Wycombe, they are rapidly being replaced as the older generation passes on. The majority of the younger population are BME --- which means that the next generation will no longer be a "minority" but an overwhelming majority. It is also worth noting that the figures which the report used come from the 2001 census and are therefore already nearly ten years out of date. According to the report, the "Asian group is notable for the large proportion of households with dependent children. "Black and mixed households appear particularly to be lone parent households -- 18.7% of black and 13.3% of mixed households counted as lone parent," the report said. Wycombe had been a British town since ancient times. Its existence was first documented in 970, as Wicumun.
The Parish church was consecrated by Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester in 1086 and the town is listed in the Domesday Book as having several mills. Now however, thanks to the immigration policies pursued by successive Tory and Labour governments, more than a thousand years of British heritage is on the verge of extinction.
High Wycombe serves as yet more proof of the long term effect of mass Third World immigration --- against which only the British National Party has warned. If these trends are allowed to continue unchecked, the indigenous population of these isles will have been completely replaced by Third World immigrants within the next 30 or 40 years. The BNP represents Britain's last hope of averting this bloodless genocide of our nation.
**** We would urge all readers to go to their local council website and download / view their councils housing reports. It takes less than 5 minutes and can reveal a wealth of information such as that in this article! ****
E-mail message checked by Spyware Doctor (6.1.0.447) Database version: 6.13790 http://www.pctools.com/en/spyware-doctor-antivirus/
Taxpayers pay £1,600-a-week for family of ex-asylum seekers to live in luxury five-storey home
By Lucy Ballinger
Last updated at 3:28 PM on 29th November 2009
A SOMALI family are living in a luxury £1.8m five-storey house in central London funded by the taxpayer. Nasra Warsame, 40, has lived with seven of her children and her elderly mother in the six-bedroom house since October. Westminster City Council picks up the £1,600-a-week bill.
The fully-furnished house in walking distance of the West End has three sitting rooms, four bathrooms, with some bedrooms boasting balconies overlooking a courtyard. The main lounge has two leather sofas, a flat-screen television and a glass coffee table.
Annual rent for the new house would cost a staggering £83,200.
Meanwhile Mrs Warsame's husband Bashir Aden, 50, and another of their children are living in a separate property in adjoining Camden.
He said they live separately because the family is too big to fit under one roof. His two-bedroom flat is also paid for by housing benefit. Outside the family's main house Mr Aden, a butcher, said: 'I've already had too much trouble with this house.
'Yes, it is true I live in Camden, and yes, my wife lives here, but she has a lot of problems with this at the moment.' Mrs Warsame and her seven children, aged between two and 16 years old, first lived in a council house in Maida Vale but it was thought too small by council officials. Mr Aden said his family were forced to move in September because the five-bedroom home was not spacious enough.
He said: 'That place was overcrowded. They moved her here for the children.'
An estate agent showed the family the spacious five-floor property near Edgware Road Underground station because the previous five-bedroom home in northwest London, was considered too small. The weekly rent, which was also covered by housing benefit, is understood to have been £800. Mrs Warsame's new home is part of an impressive 1960s development of modern apartments and houses. There is a large glass sculpture situated in the middle of a courtyard outside the family's front door. Each room is painted white, with high ceilings. It is understood the £1,600 rent being paid for by the council is twice the going rate for a property in the area. 'The new house we moved into in October is a nice house and it is in a nice area,' Mrs Warsame told the Sunday Times. 'It is quiet and it is convenient and we do not want to leave. 'It is better than the house we were living in in Maida Vale which was quite small.
We were getting complaints from neighbours that the children were being too noisy.' Mrs Warsame and her husband fled unrest in Somalia in 1991 and claimed asylum on their arrival in Britain. They have since been granted citizenship and all of their children were born here.
She lives in the house with seven of her children but the family could be evicted from their new house, as it is claimed the house has been rented out illegally.
Last year it was revealed that Afghan single mother Toorpakai Saiedi and her seven children were given a £1.2million property complete with 100ft garden by Ealing council in West London. Mrs Saiedi, 35, received £170,000 a year in benefits.
Some £150,000 of that is paid to a private landlord for the seven-bedroom house. A cap has since been placed on payments for any property with five bedrooms or more, but this limit is different from one council to another. Philippa Roe, Westminster Council's cabinet member for housing, said: 'It's important to note that the amount of housing benefit payable for tenants is determined by government policy and not local councils. This rate is calculated and updated on a yearly basis according to the value of the local rental market.
We have absolutely no discretion in this area. 'Property rents in Westminster are among the highest in the country so it is perhaps unsurprising that a family claiming housing benefit for a property of this size would need to submit a claim for this amount.
'We would, however, like to see the entire housing benefit system changed to enable local councils to have more control and essentially the ability to limit the amount of money claimed where appropriate.' Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1231795/Taxpayers- pay-1-600-week-family-ex-asylum-seekers-live-luxury-storey- home.html#ixzz0YGNzQlMl
Italy urges EU migration help Med states bear brunt, deserve funds, Maroni says at summit
24 November, 18:56 Guarda la foto1 di 1 (ANSA) - Venice, November 24 -
Interior Minister Roberto Maroni on Tuesday urged the European Union to help Mediterranean countries deal with migration pressures. Addressing a summit of western Mediterranean interior ministers, Maroni said more resources were critical if such countries were to effectively manage the large number of African migrants entering Mediterranean countries en route to the EU.
He recalled that the EU was in the process of finalizing its home affairs policy programme for the next five years, providing a ''historic'' opportunity to request more help.
The so-called Stockholm Programme, drawn up to succeed the five-year Hague Programme, is expected to be finalized and signed at the EU summit in mid-December.
''It is to be hoped the Mediterranean will receive enough resources and attention to help it deal with the great challenges posed by immigration to this area,'' Maroni said.
''In order to better manage legal immigration, the procedures for fighting illegal immigration and human trafficking must first be strengthened''. The daylong summit in Venice was attended by the EU's five Mediterranean countries, as well as five North African states: Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco and Mauritania.
In addition to discussing migration, ministers also considered the issue of terrorism, Maroni said after the conference. All delegates agreed that the Internet was a crucial battleground in the fight against terrorism, he said. ''We have decided to join forces to prevent the radicalization and recruitment of terrorism and prevent new information technologies, such as the Internet, being used for terrorist purposes,'' the Italian minister explained. ''This is an important decision that will see us working together to block such sites and the exchange of dangerous information in our ten countries''.
Ahead of the conference, Maroni met with French Immigration Minister Eric Besson for bilateral talks on migration matters. Sources said they agreed to raise joint proposals for additional resources at the next European council of interior ministers at the end of November.
The centre-right governments of President Nicolas Sarkozy and Premier Silvio Berlusconi have several times adopted a common approach to migration in the context of the EU. Last month, Sarkozy and Berlusconi sent a joint letter to the European Commission and the EU's duty president calling for ''concrete decisions and actions'' in migrants' countries of origin. Sarkozy reiterated his determination to fight illegal immigration on Tuesday, stressing there would be no amnesties for migrants arriving in France without documents.
The immigration issue was also raised at a separate bilateral meeting between Italian Welfare Minister Maurizio Sacconi and his Spanish counterpart Celestino Corbacho in Rome on Tuesday. Both men agreed on the need for ''more robust cooperation in tackling migration flows,'' sources said, while Corbacho remarked afterwards that there ''a growing need for a coordinated immigration policy''. http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/rubriche/english/2009/11/24/visualizza_new .html_1620416404.html
IMMIGRATION: 300 PEOPLE SAVED, MAZARA FISHERMEN AWARDED (ANSAmed) -
PALERMO, NOVEMBER 25 -
They risked their lives to save those of over 300 immigrants, without considering the consequences or risks that they were exposed to. The sailors from the Mazara del Vallo vessel 'Twenty-Two' received an award today in Palermo entitled 'For the Sea - To the Courage of those who Save Human Lives', recognition that comes out of the collaboration between the High Commissioner of the United Nations for Refugees (UNHCR) and the general command of the port Authority. The delivery of the award took place today at the managerial offices of the Port of Palermo. The award is given every year to those, who often risk their own lives, help migrants and asylum seekers who are in trouble at sea, in respect of the traditions and principles of international agreements. The recognition was assigned this year to Captain Salvatore Cancemi and other members of the crew of the 'Twenty-Two', which on the night of November 27-28 2008, off the coast of Lampedusa, saved 303 immigrants at sea during a storm. The sailors each received a commemorative plaque and 10,000 euros to divide in equal parts. "There were waves of more than 15 metres in height, stormy seas and everyone", Commander Cancemi remembered, "screamed out of desperation. We didn't give up, and after we managed to rescue everyone there was a communal liberating cry". Coast Guard officials also participated in the rescue as well as another three fishing vessels from Mazara. (ANSAmed). 2009-11-25 15:25 http://www.ansamed.info/en/news/ME03.XAM15250.html
Telegraph
Baroness Scotland ex-cleaner charged
Baroness Scotland faces the prospect of an embarrassing court case after her ex-cleaner was charged with fraud and immigration offences.
By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor Published: 3:49PM GMT 27 Nov 2009
Tongan housekeeper Loloahi Tapui (right) denies says that Baroness Scotland did not give her payslips or a contract The Attorney General could even be called as a witness if the case goes to trial and face uncomfortable questions over how thoroughly she checked Loloahi Tapui had a right to be in the UK. Tapui has been charged with possessing a false passport, fraud by false representation and overstaying her visa. She could face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty in a crown court of the fraud charge, which relates to her employment with Baroness Scotland. Baroness Scotland sacked Tapui as her cleaner after questions were raised as to whether she was in the country unlawfully but has faced calls for an inquiry after conflicting claims over what checks the law officer carried out. The Attorney General said she had seen "all relevant documents" including a passport but Tapui later claimed she had never been asked to show her passport. Tapui, 27, of Sutton Court Lane, Chiswick, west London, was charged after answering police bail. She will appear before City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on December 7, but the case could go to a crown court.
The maximum sentence for the fraud charge is 10 years if heard in a Crown Court while the maximum for holding a false passport is two years in jail and for overstaying a visa six months in prison and a fine of £5,000. The case could be heard by magistrates or could be passed to the higher court. Equally Tapui could elect a trial by jury which would raise the prospect of Baroness Scotland being called as a witness. Her husband, Alexander Zivancevic, was cautioned for assisting unlawful immigration but will face no further charges, the Crown Prosecution Service said. Baroness Scotland has already been fined £5,000 after admitting failing to keep copies of documents.
She apologised and was backed by the Prime Minister Gordon Brown despite calls for her to resign. Simon Clements, head of the CPS Special Crime Division, said: "Following an investigation by the UK Border Agency, I received a file of evidence on November 9. "I have decided there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to prosecute these offences."
Telegraph
Hidden threat from al-Qaeda sleeper cells
Al-Qaeda terrorists are exploiting loose visa and immigration rules to enter Britain, the security services fear
By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent Published: 10:00PM GMT 27 Nov 2009
Counter-terrorism police and Whitehall officials believe dozens of extremists could have arrived here by posing as students or legitimate visitors. They are concerned both by the relatively lax checks that are made on the visitors before they arrive and by the ease with which they can outstay their visas without anyone noticing. As many as 13,000 visa applicants may have entered the country from Pakistan in a seven month period since October last year without any checks on their supporting documentation.
The security services fear that because most do not mix with home grown terrorists, they are able to operate under the intelligence radar, acting as sleeper cells until ready to launch attacks in Britain. Every year around 100,000 visitors arrive in Britain from Pakistan alone, which has been described by the Prime Minister as being part of a "crucible of terror" along with Afghanistan.
They are supposed to be checked by Home Office visa staff working in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. But according to an official watchdog, the Independent Monitor for Entry Clearance, many visa officers do not have "enough time to go through applications carefully".
The security services are also worried about arrivals from Somalia, Yemen and North Africa. MI5 have got 2,000 domestic extremists under surveillance across the country but is becoming increasingly concerned about the threat from abroad. Similar concerns are felt in the police and one senior counter-terrorism officer told the Daily Telegraph: "There is a lack of control and supervision at our borders in the broadest sense.
"The problem is not confined to Pakistan, terrorists could arrive from anywhere, and we simply have no idea how many extremists may be here." Police have discovered that the leader of an alleged plot to blow up shopping centres in Manchester last Easter ran a visa advice service in Peshawar, Pakistan. He is thought to have helped other alleged members of his terrorist cell to arrive from Pakistan under the cover of student visas. At least one arrived to attend a course at a "bogus college" that had already had its accreditation withdrawn.
The discovery of the group based in Manchester and Liverpool earlier this year set off alarm bells among counter-terrorism officials who believed the threat was coming under control.
One source said: "Borders have always been an issue because they are a vulnerability but the Manchester group brought that home because they had a different profile from what we had been dealing with."
A police source added: "The arrests in Manchester were a good example of the problem and afterwards we had a lot of discussions within government. We are now relying on the UK Border Agency to sort the problem out. "Part of the problem seems to be that foreign students generate a huge amount of money and there is not a lot of incentive to do proper checks." Providing courses for foreign students has become a multimillion pound business but the Home Affairs Select Committee said in July that "tens of thousands" of illegal immigrants could have entered Britain using visas obtained through bogus colleges. It said there could be up to 2,200 colleges that were not legitimate but were accredited by the Government under a system operating until March this year.
It noted there was "no adequate provision" for tracking down those that had arrived illegally and overstayed their visas. One of the bodies responsible for checking the colleges, the Accreditation Service for International Colleges, based at a semi-detached house in a village near Middlesbrough, has itself been criticised by a body representing British universities, Universities UK. Lord Carlile, the Government’s terrorism watchdog, called this week for "severe penalties" against those running bogus colleges with non-existent courses and "fresh strategic attention" for what he said was a major issue.
In a report earlier in the year he said it would take "at least another two years" for the aspirations of the UK Border Agency to be met on issues such as visa checks. He said yesterday: "Being able to identify who is entering and leaving the country is a very important issue because travel patterns are absolutely key to deterring and disrupting terrorism." The Home Office has been criticised for moving its visa operation from Islamabad in Pakistan to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, last year.
Figures released in a series of parliamentary questions show that in the seven month period from the end of October until May this year, just 29 of 66,000 applicants from Pakistan were interviewed and in 20 per cent of cases there were no checks at all on documents giving qualifications, references or travel plans.
A leaked report for the Border Agency warned that immigrants were arriving with false bank accounts, letters of introduction from non-existent British companies and pretending to be tourists when they had left their wives and children at home. In a raid in Southall, West London earlier this year police found at least 90,000 documents including 980 visa application files, false university certificates, academic records, bank statements and pay slips, and officers believe at least 1,000 people had entered the country illegally, around 150 from Pakistan. Chris Grayling, the Shadow Home Secretary, said yesterday the visa system was in desperate need of an overhaul.
He added: "The big concern in all of this is just how do we provide proper checks on applications without the ability to judge them in country. "We know that there’s an industry in Pakistan in particular to try and help obtain visas for people to come to the UK, we also know the visa system has been extensively abused in the past and the average process time for each application is just eleven minutes long. "I don’t see how this gives us the safeguards we need."
The Home Office said they had introduced mandatory fingerprinting for all visitors from Pakistan and the number of visas rejected had risen from 41 per cent in 2006-2007 to 46 per cent in 2008-2009, while for student visas the figure had risen from 64 per cent to 74 per cent.
Last night, the Border and Immigration Minister Phil Woolas said: "The UK’s borders are stronger than ever before. Visa applicants are required to attend in person so fingerprints can be taken and their details checked against a range of police and immigration databases. If there is still any doubt, we can conduct face-to-face interviews. "Our new electronic border system will count everyone in and out of the UK, by the end of next year 95 per cent of all passengers will be covered. It has already screened 130 million passenger movements leading to over 4,600 arrests."
IMMIGRATION: SPAIN, CONGRESS APPROVES NEW LAWS ON FOREIGNERS (ANSAmed) -
MADRID, NOVEMBER 26 -
The Spanish Congress gave its final approval to law reforms for foreigners, with 180 votes in favour (Psoe, CiU, Coalicion Canaria), 163 votes against (PP, Pnv, UpyD, Erc, Iu-Icv e Nafarroa Bai), and 3 abstentions. The new reforms, the fourth in a short time, are: the maximum stay by immigrants in temporary detention centres increases from 40 to 60 days; a restriction in the possibility of reuniting families, consent for children who are minors and only family members over 65 or for humanitarian reasons; the legal protection of repatriated minors; the possibility of granting stay permits or work permits to immigrant women who are victims of domestic violence; the creation of a register of foreigners entry and departure. (ANSAmed). 2009-11-26 19:02 http://www.ansamed.info/en/news/ME01.XAM19025.html