A selection of recent media reports
National Archives: Thatcher bitterly opposed Asian immigrants
Margaret Thatcher complained bitterly in private about the numbers of immigrants coming to Britain from south Asia, saying they were being given council houses at the expense of "white citizens", it was disclosed...
Yorkshire Evening Post (30-Dec-2009)
UNIVERSITIES ARE NOW HOTBEDS OF ISLAMIC EXTREMISM
WE like to think of our universities as havens of reflection and study institutions in which our brightest youngsters can prepare for the rest of their...
Daily Express (30-Dec-2009)
THATCHER WARNED 30 YEARS AGO THAT BRITAIN HAD TOO MANY IMMIGRANTS
MARGARET Thatcher privately voiced grave concerns about the numbers of immigrants arriving in Britain 30 years ago, confidential Cabinet papers reveal...
Daily Express (30-Dec-2009)
U.K. Visa Policy Didn't Flag Suspect
LONDON -- In March, the U.K. government said more than 400 of the country's colleges and universities were told they wouldn't be able to accept foreign students, as part of a crackdown on bogus student visas.
Wall Street Journal (29-Dec-2009)
Detroit terror attack: A murderous ideology tolerated for too long
Telegraph View: Jihadist Islamism is comparable to Nazism in many respects. The British public realises this; so do the intelligence services.
Daily Telegraph (29-Dec-2009)
Stable door security panic hands victory to the bad guys . . .
Comments (0) Add to My Stories The only surprise is that the BBC and the Guardian aren't already describing the Nigerian nutjob who tried to blow up a...
The Mail On Sunday (28-Dec-2009)
Failed terror attack shows security checks can only work if we enforce them
Student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, originally from Nigeria, has been charged by the American courts for trying to blow up a translantic passenger jet on Christmas...
Daily Mail (28-Dec-2009)
In my day, student visas were hard to get
I am simply astonished by what appears to be the total collapse of controls over student visas in Britain.
Daily Telegraph (28-Dec-2009)
High price of illegal immigrants
Exploited, overworked and housed in poor conditions. Many of them come to Cumbria for a better life but end up shut...
News & Star (28-Dec-2009)
WILL LABOUR DUMP THE MAN LEADING THEM TO OBLIVION?
SHOULD Gordon Brown be sectioned under the Mental Health Act before he does any more damage to Britain? As he enters the twilight months of his woeful premiership, he is becoming increasingly deluded, demented and dangerous. With opinion polls pointing to Labour s heaviest defeat for a generation, he...
Daily Express (28-Dec-2009)
To our eternal shame, Britain is STILL a hub for Islamic terror
So here we go again. Another international Islamic terrorist plot - and yet another British connection. The attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up an American plane was averted only by luck and...
Daily Mail (28-Dec-2009)
The student visa loophole that lets 1.5m into the country unchecked
Almost 1.5million student visas have been handed out in the past eight years. The beneficiaries included Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab - given permission by the Home Office to study mechanical engineering at University College London between 2005 and...
Daily Mail (27-Dec-2009)
Press Release
Student Visas 'A Massive Hole' in Border Controls as Numbers Top 1.5 Million in 8 Years
Nearly 3/4 of visas under the Points Based System are given to students
1½ million students admitted in just 8 years
No checks on how many leave UK
Role of Immigration Officers severely undermined
A new report out today reveals that student visas are a massive loophole in our border controls. Nearly three quarters of visas issued under the Points Based System are given not to workers but students, under a system that is easily abused, badly administered and complex. Far from being “tough and flexible” as the Government claims, the new Points Based System has made a bad situation much worse.
The report by Migrationwatch shows that:
nearly 1½ million student visas have been issued in the last 8 years. Students also account for a huge number of applications for extension. For example, between 2004 and 2007 they averaged about 140,000 per year[1]
- only about 5% were refused. Time spent on a legitimate student visa counts towards the five years required to apply for settlement. This could well be having a significant impact on net immigration and, therefore on our population growth.
- there have been no checks on departure – so many of these students may still be in the UK.
- nearly three quarters of applications under the PBS are from foreign students - only just over a quarter of those who enter under the PBS come for the purpose of work.
- the administration of the student visa system is now largely run by those who have a vested interest in admitting students – the 2,000 colleges and institutes of education who are “sponsoring institutions”.
- the role of immigration officers has been changed such as to render it almost pointless. One told the BBC “I am forced on a daily basis to allow entry to passengers who clearly hold no ability or intention to follow any course of study in the United Kingdom”.
- there are just 62 officials to vet the 3,000 educational institutions and 13,500 employers who have been granted licences under the PBS system.
Commenting, Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of Migrationwatch said:
‘Once again the Government’s claim that their Points Based System is effective in managing immigration is shown to be worthless. Our report shows that nearly three quarters of the PBS is made up of student visas which are already a gaping hole in our immigration system.
‘We now issue 370,000 student visas a year – almost the entire population of Bristol or Manchester - yet hardly any of the applicants ever see hide nor hair of an Immigration Officer. Student visas have long been a massive loophole in immigration control. The PBS makes a bad situation considerably worse; it is now clear that it has feet of clay,’ he said.
[1] Control of Immigration; Statistical Summary 1999-2007, Table 4.2
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