Taxpayers foot bill for Home Office blunder YOU ARE TOO SOFT ON THE FANATICS, US TELLS BRITAIN BRITAIN MUST GET TO GRIPS WITH ISLAMIC EXTREMISM A bright new dawn: At the start of the new decade, Britain's mood may be bleak. But there are reasons for optimism Commons tops information shame league Year of industrial unrest looms as public sector braces for spending cuts Al-Qaeda has relocated to Africa Leeds in the Noughties: The city's changing population Dad to discover if he can stay in UK £3M FOR FOREIGN CRIMINALS TO PLAY CRICKET Let this be the year the spinning stopsA selection of recent media reports
A HOME Office blunder has cost taxpayers more than £20,000 after it failed to deport a foreign criminal, who was living in Rugby, at the end of his...
Rugby Today (01-Jan-2010)
BRITAIN was yesterday accused of being a menace to the outside world for failing to tackle Islamic...
Sunday Express (01-Jan-2010)
ONCE this nation was renowned for transmitting civilised values across the world. Increasingly the opposite is...
Daily Express (01-Jan-2010)
Seldom has a past decade been less lamented than the Noughties. Entering the Teens - a silly word, surely we can do better - we perceive a host of reasons to be...
Daily Mail (01-Jan-2010)
The House of Commons and Home Office top a league of shame for the parts of government that have most consistently refused to comply with the information commissioners requests over inquiries into alleged breaches of the Freedom of Information Act.
Financial Times (31-Dec-2009)
Threat of strike ballots over modernisation and pay further strains relations between unions and...
Guardian.co.uk (31-Dec-2009)
The case of Umar Abdulmutallab shows us that Islamism is now a global phenomenon, says Melanie Phillips. But we must keep fighting it on every front There has been general shock at the attempted downing of Northwest Airlines flight 253 over...
The Spectator (31-Dec-2009)
The first decade of the new millennium ends this week and, 10 years on, Leeds is a very different place to the one which stood on the cusp of a new age as 1999 drew to a...
Yorkshire Evening Post (31-Dec-2009)
A DRUG DEALER who moved to Stoke-on-Trent from Jamaica 35 years ago is still waiting to be deported. Grandfather-of-five Courtney Thomas, who has clocked up 17 convictions for 36 offences, should have been released from his three-and-a-half year jail sentence in...
The Sentinel (31-Dec-2009)
TAXPAYERS are being forced to pay £3million to teach criminals in Jamaica to play cricket, it emerged last...
Daily Express (31-Dec-2009)
At the dawn of 2010, we're facing a crisis of confidence in our politicians on a scale unprecedented in modern times. It's a sickness that has been growing for more than a decade, as the culture of spin and deceit introduced by Tony Blair has spread through...
The Mail On Sunday (30-Dec-2009)
Press Release
Massive Increase in Family Visitors Appeals Now Cost Tax Payers £1 Million a Week
January 2, 2010Appeals against the decision of immigration officials to refuse family visas to enter the UK have increased eight fold since charges were abolished by the government in 2002 and are now running at over a thousand a week. They cost the taxpayer £1m a week, says a report from think-tank Migrationwatch.
Unlike ordinary visitors, "family visitors" have a right of appeal but the definition of "family" includes first cousins, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces etc.
The report notes that there has been a huge increase in applications in recent years. Last year, just three countries - India, Pakistan and Nigeria - produced nearly 200,000 applications between them.
Said Migrationwatch Chairman, Sir Andrew Green. 'The government talk up their so-called tough points based system for work permits but leave gaping holes elsewhere. They have ducked the issue of family visitors for years. Obviously, family members should be able to visit relatives in Britain but such visits need to be properly regulated. There is a clear risk that, once here, some of these visitors will stay on illegally knowing that the chance of being removed is remote. Furthermore, in current financial circumstances, it is no longer acceptable that taxpayers should pay the appeal costs for foreign nationals wishing to visit Britain. The definition of a family visitor is so wide that it could include as many as 120 relatives of a middle aged person in Britain. It should be narrowed and charges which the government abolished in 2002 should be re-introduced.'
Sir Andrew said that urgent changes were required:
a) Fees should be re-instated. There is no reason why the British tax payer should pay the appeal costs of foreign visitors.
b) The definition should be substantially tightened, at least until exit controls are in place. In particular, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, and first cousins should no longer be included. This would reduce the number of eligible relatives by up to 68.
c) The right to sponsor family visitors should be confined to British citizens. The relatives of others should apply as ordinary visitors.
a) In cases of doubt, there should be provision for sponsors to deposit a bond, if they so wished, to guarantee the departure of their relative.
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
December28, 2009A 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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