GOVERNMENT BUDGET CUTS: BORDERS BLITZ Foreign criminals paid to return home: case of Agnes Wong ROMA FRAUD CASE EXPOSES ABSURDITY OF BENEFITS SYSTEM German immigration debate in the spotlight Get out of jail and here's £1,500! Cash handouts for foreign prisoners returning home are TRIPLED Blair and the Problem of Muslim Integration Asylum seekers allowed remaining UK EU: Free trade agreement with India could lead to increased immigration Four jailed over sham marriage Woolas: Brown and Cherie Blair back me Zulqarnain Haider set to seek political asylum in Britain John Bercow gives Phil Woolas time to clear his name like wife said he should! Germanys immigration issue Asylum-seekers' £4m legal aid bill attacked NEW WAVE OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS IS FEARED IMMIGRATION: SHAM-MARRIAGE CLUES Gipsy campaigner who exploited the Roma community is jailed for multi-million pound benefits scam Immigration laws are unfair on SMEs Four men found working illegally in Caernarfon abbatoir 'Lying MP' Case: Oldham Election Must Wait Independent Chief Inspector of the Border Agency’s report on entry clearance in Abu Dhabi and Islamabad, published 4 November 2010 The report “covers the inspection of the Abu Dhabi and Islamabad visa sections, examining the handling of applications made by customers in Pakistan, Iran and three member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Dubai). The inspection included a detailed assessment of cases “…..in the categories of General Visit and Tier 4 of the points-based system (PBS)” and an assessment of UKBA’s “customer strategy” together with the benefits UKBA had set out for the Hub and Spoke (H&S) business model, which were to: The inspection considered performance in each of these areas and whether the process: The inspection methodology entailed a random selection of files for review, the interview of officials and talking to stakeholders. The thrust of the Chief Inspector’s findings was that there were failings throughout the process. While in Pakistan, the introduction of PBS and H&S had additionally left stakeholders (including the government of Pakistan and the British Council) dissatisfied. Mr Vine’s main concern centred on what he saw as an inconsistent approach by entry clearance staff over the weight they attached to evidence, depending on the nationality of the applicant. He felt that customers from the three Gulf Cooperation Council countries were treated more favourably than customers from Pakistan and that customers in Pakistan were subject to higher evidential requirements in support of their entry clearance applications. This he thought was not only inconsistent but also fell foul of the Race Relations Act 1976. There was no mention in the report of the weight attached to evidence provided by Iranian applicants. To underline his concern the Chief Inspector pointed to notes in one file indicating that a GCC national’s word had been taken at face value without any supporting documentary evidence being produced. This was raised with UKBA senior staff who agreed that documents should have been both seen and copied. Other observations in the report reinforcing the Chief Inspector’s view that Pakistani applicants were being treated unfairly and the system not working as it should were: The report concluded that the UKBA had failed to deliver on its stated objectives and strategy for processing visa applications from Pakistanis, Iranians and GCC country nationals. We do not suggest that the Chief Inspector should have arrived at different conclusions; after all, he could only examine the system in place, assess it in accordance with the criteria to which UKBA were working and in relation to the applicable legislation. Nevertheless, the process as recommended by Mr Vine leaves very little room for officials to exercise discretion or to take due account of the circumstances and past record of certain nationalities. MW has estimated that there are up to 200,000 illegal Pakistani immigrants in the UK (MW Briefing paper 11.16) and there are very few GCC country nationals in the UK illegally, are these not relevant facts with a bearing on visa applications from these countries? Migration Watch has held the view since their introduction that the Points Based System, as it stood, was an ineffective means of controlling immigration and that Hub and Spoke (launched in January 2007) was an inefficient way of handling visa applications. PBS and H&S simply do not lend themselves to the degree of control of immigration needed, has been sought by the public and which has been promised by the government; most recently by the Home Secretary in her speech on 5 November. The report seems to bear out another MW view; that the default position for visa applications following the introduction of the PBS was to issue, thus making it extremely difficult for border officials at a port of arrival, when a visa holder comes face to face with an official for the first time, to refuse entry. The idea behind H&S, brought in by the previous government, was that it would “move work to staff rather than the other way round”. In reality H&S came into being in order to cut costs, particularly after biometric data became a necessary part of the process. In Pakistan’s case, there were of course also security considerations. The Chief inspector’s report strongly indicates that whatever the intention, the model is seriously defective. PBS was introduced, also by the previous government, with a claim that it would ensure only those with the right skills and talent would come to the UK to work or study and to enable the UKBA to control migration more effectively and tackle abuse. With regard to Pakistan, not only has it failed to live up to its billing but it has upset more people than it has satisfied. Migration Watch believes that where PBS and H&S have obviously failed, entry clearance officers should return (security conditions permitting) and revert to face to face interviews, drawing on the knowledge and skills acquired through dealing with visa applicants in their countries of origin. 8th November, 2010 Sir Andrew said that "Nearly 100,000 work related visas were issued last year, a significant number compared to net immigration of about 200,000." "We must, of course, continue to admit key people but economic migration must take a share of the necessary reduction in immigration if our population growth is to be brought under control," he added.A selection of recent media reports
THE UK Border Agency is to axe another 5,000 jobs over the next four years as it faces 20%.
Daily Star (Wesley Johnson) (10-Nov-2010)
Foreign criminals are being offered cash bribes of up to £1,500 to return home a year...
Telegraph.co.uk (10-Nov-2010)
FOR London s diversity officers Lavinia Olmazu must have seemed a...
Express.co.uk (By Ross Clark, Political commentator) (10-Nov-2010)
Help Germany is in the throes of an intense debate about immigration and...
BBC News Europe (09-Nov-2010)
Cash incentives to get foreign prisoners serving jail sentences to return to their home countries tripled from last month, the UK Border Agency revealed today.
Daily Mail (09-Nov-2010)
Tony Blairs article in the Wall Street Journal today takes further the bluntness that is..
Independent Blogs (By John Rentoul) (09-Nov-2010)
The UK Border Agency is using more electronic passport checks Continue reading the main...
Zim Diaspora (Editor) (09-Nov-2010)
For concise and recent immigration information watch our news.
Work Permit (09-Nov-2010)
A Nigerian woman, who lived in south London, who took part in a sham marriage in an...
Sunderland Echo (09-Nov-2010)
By Ian...
Politics.co.uk (09-Nov-2010)
Pakistan wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider plans to seek political asylum in Britain...
London Evening Standard (09-Nov-2010)
Former minister loses first part of court battle Sally Bercow urges husband to be...
The Mail On Sunday (Jason Groves) (09-Nov-2010)
For several weeks there has been a heated debate going on in Germany on the issue of...
Independent Blogs (By Johannes Richardt) (09-Nov-2010)
The legal aid bill for asylum seekers is set to top £4 million a year, official...
The Scotsman (09-Nov-2010)
FEARS of a new wave of back-door immigration to the UK grew yesterday as the EU dropped...
Express.co.uk (By Anil Dawar) (09-Nov-2010)
A CHURCH diocese has given its vicars a vigilance check-list for weddings over fears it is.
Daily Express (Daily Express Reporter) (09-Nov-2010)
A mother-of-one who exploited members of the Roma community she claimed to be helping was jailed for her part in a multimillion-pound benefits scam today.
Daily Mail (08-Nov-2010)
POSSIBLE plans to allow multi-national companies to bypass immigration laws would...
Coventry Telegraph.net (08-Nov-2010)
Four men have been found working illegally in an abattoir after a raid, says the UK Border.
BBC News UK (08-Nov-2010)
The Speaker has suggestered there will not yet be a by-election in Oldham East after the...
Sky News (Ruth Barnett, Sky News Online) (08-Nov-2010)Comments
Response to the Home Affairs Committee Report on an immigration cap
4 November, 2010
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
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