SOFT-TOUCH ASYLUM AS 144,000 GET ‘BACK-DOOR AMNESTY’

AT least 144,000 asylum seekers are to be allowed to remain in Britain in a desperate attempt to reduce a massive backlog of applications, figures revealed yesterday.

The Home Office decision means many suspected border cheats are effectively being given an amnesty from deportation.

Officials fear that many have been in the country for so long that forced removal could infringe human rights laws.

But the move ignited another storm of criticism over Labour’s soft-touch border controls last night.

Critics accused the Home Office of “incompetence” and argued that the figures confirmed that the asylum system remained in chaos.

Tory immigration spokesman Damian Green described the move as effectively “a back-door amnesty”.

Sir Andrew Green, of the think tank Migrationwatch, said: “This is an appalling outcome from ­unbelievable incompetence that allowed files to stack up in a warehouse for years.

“Nor is it the end of the matter. A lot of these people will be able to bring over their families and acquire full access to the welfare state.

“This will cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of pounds for people whose asylum applications were almost certainly bogus.”

Officials have been working through a mass of so-called “legacy cases” for three years under an ­initiative known as the Case Resolution Programme.

In 2006, a backlog of 450,000 asylum applications came to light. Many are claimants who should have been deported as far back as the mid-1990s.

Ministers have pledged that the backlog will be cleared by 2011, although officials will also have to deal with tens of thousands of new claims every year.

Lin Homer, the chief executive of the UK Border Agency, told MPs that 197,500 of the outstanding cases had now been dealt with.

Around 63,000 had been given permission to stay, with human rights understood to be the main reason.

If the current rate of around a third of the “legacy cases” getting approval is applied to the entire backlog, at least 144,000 are likely to be allowed to stay.

Officials claimed the 144,000 figure was “speculative” but confirmed an approval rate of 32 per cent in the legacy cases.

The list includes 5,150 from Zimbabwe, 4,900 from Pakistan and 4,500 from Somalia.

Miss Homer also revealed that at least 7,000 of those on the list may never be traced.

A recent report suggested that granting an amnesty to up to a million “irregular” migrants could cost £6billion in housing costs alone. continues here

HOW MIGRANTS EXPLOIT OUR LAX VISA CONTROLS

IMMIGRATION officials are not carrying out proper checks on thousands of visa applications by visitors from high-risk countries including Pakistan and Iran, a Whitehall watchdog has warned.

Border control staff at visa issuing offices overseas were understaffed and “under strain”.

They were frequently at risk of not spotting immigration cheats, said the watchdog report.

Last night, the Tories warned that the blunders mean illegal immigrants and potential terrorists may be going undetected.

A catalogue of failings was uncovered in a report from Linda Costelloe Baker, the Independent Monitor for Entry Clearance.

She warned that UK Border Agency staff did not have “enough time to go through applications carefully”.

Officials were under pressure coping with the visa processing system in countries including Pakistan, Iran and Bangladesh. All have a recent history of political violence and instability, and are thought to harbour militants who are a threat to Britain.

She said staff numbers in visa processing offices were often far below official levels – in one case fewer than half that reported.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: “The more we learn about the way the Government has been running the immigration system for the past few years, the clearer it becomes that it has been chaotic.

“What we need is tight controls on who can come here and a proper process to investigate dodgy applications.”

The report warned that a rule banning the award of visas to applicants who have previously broken British immigration rules was not consistently applied. In one example “the visit visa ­applicant had overstayed in the UK, used a state school and the NHS – all in contravention of the visa conditions – and, allegedly, lied to an Immigration Office.”

Ms Costelloe Baker wrote: “Material evidence is, increasingly, misread or overlooked.

“Officers tell me that they do not have enough time to go through applications carefully.continues here

Man who ran over girl freed

An asylum seeker who knocked down a 12-year-old girl in Lancashire and left her to die while banned from driving has been freed from detention pending an appeal.
Aso Mohammed Ibrahim, 31, was due to be deported after he was taken into the custody of the UK Borders Agency last October.

But the Iraqi Kurd claims it is too dangerous to return to his homeland and won a court appeal against being detained ahead of a final ruling on whether he can stay in Britain.

Amy Houston, of Darwen, was trapped beneath the wheels of Ibrahim's vehicle in November 2003 and died later in hospital.

Ibrahim, who ran off from the accident scene, was jailed for four months by Blackburn magistrates for driving while disqualified and failing to stop after an accident.

Amy's family have campaigned for his deportation since her death but Ibrahim has fought a lengthy appeals process to stay.

A UK Border Agency spokesman said: "We are extremely disappointed at the court's decision -- the UK Border Agency vigorously opposed bail for this man.

"Individuals with no right to remain in the UK will sometimes attempt to frustrate the removals process, but the public can rest assured that we will continue to work towards their removal as quickly as possible, presenting our position strongly at any appeals to ensure the appropriate outcome." continues here

IMMIGRATION AGENCY 'WASTED £8M'

AN OFFICIAL agency charged with tackling illegal immigration spent nearly £8million of taxpayers’ cash on public relations last year, it was revealed yesterday.

The big spend by the Government’s UK Border Agency was revealed in figures uncovered by the Tories.

A spokesman for UKBA said publicity was an important way of stopping illegal immigration. But critics said the cash could have been much better employed tackling the problem head-on.

The UKBA budget for publicity and promotion of £7.8million included £2million for marketing and £3.3million for advertising and promotion. It would have paid the salaries of 260 immigration officers, the Conservatives said.

And they criticised plans to hire a “campaign team” including a manager earning up to £59,708 and a senior marketing manager earning up to£44,201 a year.

Shadow immigration minister Damian Green said: “In a crisis you can guarantee that New Labour will put spin before substance. So at a time when our borders are open and confidence in the immigration system is low, what do they do?

“They spend millions on advertising, and increase the size of what they call the ‘professional communications community’.

“One of the new roles will have ‘responsibility for brand guardianship’.

Wouldn’t it be better to have more people responsible for keeping Britain’s borders safe?”

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of campaign group Migration Watch UK, said the money would be better used deporting “thousands of bogus students”.

And Matthew Elliott, chief executive at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “If the UK Borders Agency spent more time doing their job and less time talking about it we would have far less of an illegal immigration problem in this country.

“Taxpayers want the agency to crack down on the problem at hand, not to splash their hard-earned cash on snazzy marketing and self-promotion.”

More than 500,000 foreigners came to live in Britain last year, helping to push the population to nearly 61million. continues here

Two Afghan refugees sneak into Britain... hiding in a bus carrying returning soldiers

Two Afghans smuggled themselves into Britain - in a coach bringing soldiers back to the country.

The stowaways found themselves in the middle of a high security barracks when they made their escape.

They had been hiding in the hold of a busload of troops returning from a training exercise in the Alps.

The man and teenager were found after the coach arrived at Hammersley Barracks, Hampshire, in the early hours of Friday, March 20.

They were Afghans fleeing the war against the Taliban and wanted to claim asylum in Britain, according to the UK Border Agency.

'As I understand it, the bus pulled up, people went to get their bags and these two guys just sort of popped out of the luggage hold,' said Army spokesman Rebecca Clark.

Security at the Hampshire barracks, which is home to the Army Physical Training Corps, is high, with armed guards at the entrance.

The Afghans were apprehended by security staff and taken to Aldershot Police Station.

UK Border Agency officers went to the police station, discovered one of the refugees was under 18, and placed him in the care of social services.

The older man, whose age is not known, applied for asylum after he was caught and was released on bail to accommodation in the Leeds area while his application is processed.

Asylum applications typically take at least 56 days to process but Sian Freestone-Walker of the UK Border Agency said the time it takes varies greatly.

'Each application is very different and we have to take time to consider its merits,' she said.

'It also depends on things like whether they appeal the decision.

'The man is in Leeds because applicants go to wherever there's a bed available.' 

The youth's exact age had not been determined but he was in his late teens and would be allowed to remain in the country until he turned 18.  continues here

Student visa to UK made easier

United Kingdom has introduced new arrangements for student visas, as part of Tier 4 of the points-based system.

These new arrangements, a statement issued by the British embassy said, will make the visa process simpler, more objective and more transparent for applicants and prevent abuse of the immigration system.

 “From today, all education providers that recruit international students in the UK need to be registered with the UK Border Agency. More than 2,100 universities, independent schools and colleges have applied to be licensed sponsors. The institutions are responsible for ensuring that international students comply with the conditions of their visas while they are in the UK,” the statement said.

“Before a student makes a visa application he needs to ensure that he has an unconditional offer of a study place from a licensed education provider.  continues here

FIRMS TOLD HOW TO EMPLOY FOREIGNERS

TAXPAYERS are footing the bill for a string of seminars teaching British companies how to legally recruit more foreign workers – as the number of unemployed in the UK rockets past two million.

Under an initiative branded “absurd” by critics, the Government is running a number of “free lessons” to encourage firms to legally employ non-EU workers.

Yesterday the Home Office defended the taxpayer-funded seminars, which allow bosses to quiz experts on how to legally bring in extra foreign labour.

On the same day the Royal Bank of Scotland confirmed some 2,700 jobs, more than two per cent of its workforce, are to be axed.

Costing a total of £20,000, the classes proclaim to show how employers can tap into potential resources that offer “new solutions to the labour and skills shortages being experienced in the UK today.”

The series of seminars – already held in East Lancashire, Liverpool, Dorset and next month to be staged in London – are being hosted by the UK Border Agency, part of the Home Office, and the British Chamber of Commerce.

Last night furious critics attacked the move, calling on companies to look to the rising number of skilled and professional British workers who are seeking jobs.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: “Of course Britain should not bring down the protectionist barriers in a recession, but this will deal a further blow to Gordon Brown’s credibility in the eyes of many people after his boasts about ‘British Jobs for British Workers’.”

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch, added: “This is an absurd use of Government money.

“The focus must be on up-skilling British workers and not employing foreign workers.

“With unemployment rising weekly it is inexcusable that British workers shouldn’t have a first crack at jobs as they come available.”

But a British Chamber of Commerce said: “The BCC is involved in these programmes to ensure businesses do not fall foul of the law by employing illegal migrants.”

A Home Office spokesman added: “We have always said that we would run our immigration system for the benefit of the UK, and that is why we introduced a flexible points system which allows the Government to control the numbers of people coming to the UK from outside Europe, ensuring that they have the skills this country needs. continues here

Thousands of foreign criminals 'at large in Britain' as inquiry exposes failures in police and customs checks

Poor border controls and inadequate police checks are making Britain vulnerable to foreign criminals, according to an official report.

Customs officials and police are investigating the backgrounds of only small numbers of arrivals and suspects, the study found.

Just 27 a day are checked to see if they have a criminal past.

And the identities of only 600 travellers a year are checked against an Interpol database of stolen passports.

French officials make 7.4million such checks, while those in Switzerland carry out 3.6million.

Illegally entering or overstaying a visa is also rarely recorded on the Police National Computer.

The report into the national and international use of criminal records was drawn up by former Whitehall mandarin Sir Ian Magee.

He said: 'Front line staff involved in public protection often lack awareness and understanding about international exchange of criminality information. Many police officers simply do not know what is available.'

The report found that the arrival of 2.5million foreigners a month 'was not always accompanied by a flow of information about criminal activities in different countries'. 

It said: 'Information needs to be shared between countries. However, the number of combined requests to Interpol and the UK Central Authority for the Exchange of Criminal Records is very low.'

The report said the UK Border Agency does not yet have an automatic link to Interpol's lost and stolen documents database.

Officials are also unable to access alerts on data from across the EU for wanted and missing persons, stolen and missing property or arrest warrants.

'From the perspective of public protection, this is unsatisfactory,' Sir Ian said. continues here