UK MPs say asylum system is 'under strain'

A committee of MPs has warned that the UK's asylum system is 'overburdened and under severe pressure'. The Home Affairs Committee scrutinises the work of the Home Office which employs immigration staff in the UK. It has said that there are unacceptable delays in the system.


Some people, the MPs say, have waited over 16 years for a decision in their case. The MPs say that it is 'wholly unacceptable that anyone should have to wait for longer than 6 months for an initial decision'.


The committee released a report on 11th October 2011 which deals with the working of the asylum system in 2013-14. The report says that decisions take too long which leaves people in limbo as asylum seekers in the UK are not allowed to work while they await a decision.

 

 

Professional people 'de-skilled' by inactivity

The committee says that many professional people 'have been de-skilled because they were not allowed to work for eight years'.


The committee chairman, Keith Vaz MP, said that a promise by UK immigration to eliminate a backlog of asylum cases by 2011 had been broken. He said that the backlog now contained 32,600 cases. Some people have been waiting for 16 years for a determination.


Recent applicants are also facing delays. Of 21,955 claims for asylum made in the year to September 2012, only 12, 632 were decided by 19th September. A further 5,791 had received an initial decision but 3,523 had not received any determination at all.

 

 

Sub-standard housing provided for asylum seekers

The Committee also expressed concern about the 'sub-standard level of housing provided to asylum applicants'. Housing is provided by three service companies SERCO, G4S and Clearel. The failure of the Home Office to decide asylum cases swiftly means that many people can languish in this sub-standard housing for many years.


The report also said that those claiming asylum were routinely disbelieved. It found that there was a 'culture of disbelief' among immigration staff who started their investigations into any claim with the assumption that the claimant was lying.


Conversely, the Committee was also concerned that investigators were failing to make investigations into the backgrounds of some applicants. This meant that some people who were granted asylum were later found to have been 'involved with terrorist activity'. The committee called on the Home Office routinely to check the names of applicants for asylum against international databases of war criminals and terrorists.

 

 

'Anomalies in process' must be addressed immediately

Mr Vaz told The Guardian newspaper 'The Home Secretary has to assure us that any anomalies in the process which have allowed decisions such as this to take place are addressed immediately'.


The report also says that the asylum system treats women particularly badly. The report says that the committee heard evidence that women wait longer for an initial decision than men. The Scottish Council of Refugees found that 49% of women waited two years for a determination whereas only 22% of men waited that long.


In addition, it found that women can be particularly badly affected by delays in the determination of their husbands' applications. Where the applications of men who abuse their wives are delayed, this leaves the wives 'stuck in abusive marriages unable to leave their husbands because they were the principal applicants and the women would not have had status or support alone'.

 

 

System is 'failing to treat asylum seekers with dignity'

The Chairman of the Refugee Council, Maurice Wren, said that the current system was creating great difficulties for genuine refugees. He told The Guardian 'Failing to treat asylum seekers with dignity and, simultaneously, failing to deal effectively and fairly with their claims has created an expensive and counter-productive bureaucratic nightmare that all too often denies vulnerable people the protection from persecution and oppression they desperately need'.


A Home Office spokesman said that the Home Office was committed to 'concluding all cases as quickly as possible' but added 'asylum cases are often complex and require full and thorough consideration'.


The spokesman added that the Home Office had carried out inspections of housing for asylum seekers and 'where necessary took action to ensure [the contractors] met the necessary standards'. He added that the Home Office would 'continue to monitor performance to ensure that standards are met'.


Global Visa Support offers a variety of programs in United Kingdom. Please visit our UK page for more information: http://www.globalvisasupport.com/uk.html

US immigration warns of fraudsters targeting immigrants

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued a warning about a phone scam being carried out in the US at the moment. The victims are people who are currently waiting for a response from USCIS. It has warned people expecting contact from USCIS never to make any payments to anyone claiming to be from USCIS over the phone.


It seems that the scammers have somehow got hold of the names of people who are expecting a response from USCIS. This makes them exceptionally vulnerable to being conned.


A scammer will phone someone and claim to be a USCIS staff member. He or she will then request personal information such as social security number, passport number or 'A-number' (Alien registration number).

 

 

Scammer claims to have identified irregularities

The scammer will then claim to have identified irregularities in the petition or application submitted by his victim. He will request a fee to correct these irregularities.


USCIS warns that these scammers may use a technique known as 'Caller ID spoofing' which is a method of having false information appear in the caller ID area of the recipient's phone.
USCIS says that anyone receiving such a call should refuse to make any payment.

Hang up immediately

The USCIS blog The Beacon contains the following advice 'If you receive a call like that, USCIS urges you to hang up immediately. USCIS never asks for any form of payment or personal information over the phone. Do not give payment or personal information over the phone to anyone who claims to be a USCIS official.'


USCIS also requests that, if you have already fallen prey to such a scam, you should report it to the US Federal Trade Commission.


Global Visa Support offers a variety of programs in United States. Please visit our USA page for more information: http://www.globalvisasupport.com/usa.html

UK immigration introduce new visa application forms

The UK's immigration authority introduced new forms for many visas on 1st October 2013. Most of the new forms are to be used for applications for most visa applications made in the UK under the UK's five tier points-based visa application system.


The UK's Home Office said that it would allow applicants to use the old forms for a short transitional period but that period is nearly over. From 22nd October 2013, only the new forms will be accepted.


The relevant forms are


For applicants within the UK

• Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent)
• Tier 1 (Investor)
• Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur)
• Tier 1 (Entrepreneur)
• Tier 1 (General)
• Tier 2 (Priority)
• Tier 2 (Priority Dependant)
• Tier 2 (Main Applicant)
• Tier 4 (General)
• Tier 5 (Temporary Worker)
• PBS Dependant application form for dependants of Tier 1, 2 and 5 migrants
• PBS Dependant application form for dependants of Tier 4 migrants
• Guidance notes for settlement protection applications.

And, for applicants from abroad

• Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) Endorsement

Global Visa Support offers a variety of programs in United Kingdom. Please visit our UK page for more information: http://www.globalvisasupport.com/uk.html

UK MPs say asylum system is 'under strain'

A committee of MPs has warned that the UK's asylum system is 'overburdened and under severe pressure'. The Home Affairs Committee scrutinises the work of the Home Office which employs immigration staff in the UK. It has said that there are unacceptable delays in the system.


Some people, the MPs say, have waited over 16 years for a decision in their case. The MPs say that it is 'wholly unacceptable that anyone should have to wait for longer than 6 months for an initial decision'.


The committee released a report on 11th October 2011 which deals with the working of the asylum system in 2013-14. The report says that decisions take too long which leaves people in limbo as asylum seekers in the UK are not allowed to work while they await a decision.

 

 

Professional people 'de-skilled' by inactivity

The committee says that many professional people 'have been de-skilled because they were not allowed to work for eight years'.


The committee chairman, Keith Vaz MP, said that a promise by UK immigration to eliminate a backlog of asylum cases by 2011 had been broken. He said that the backlog now contained 32,600 cases. Some people have been waiting for 16 years for a determination.


Recent applicants are also facing delays. Of 21,955 claims for asylum made in the year to September 2012, only 12, 632 were decided by 19th September. A further 5,791 had received an initial decision but 3,523 had not received any determination at all.

 

 

Sub-standard housing provided for asylum seekers

The Committee also expressed concern about the 'sub-standard level of housing provided to asylum applicants'. Housing is provided by three service companies SERCO, G4S and Clearel. The failure of the Home Office to decide asylum cases swiftly means that many people can languish in this sub-standard housing for many years.


The report also said that those claiming asylum were routinely disbelieved. It found that there was a 'culture of disbelief' among immigration staff who started their investigations into any claim with the assumption that the claimant was lying.


Conversely, the Committee was also concerned that investigators were failing to make investigations into the backgrounds of some applicants. This meant that some people who were granted asylum were later found to have been 'involved with terrorist activity'. The committee called on the Home Office routinely to check the names of applicants for asylum against international databases of war criminals and terrorists.

 

 

'Anomalies in process' must be addressed immediately

Mr Vaz told The Guardian newspaper 'The Home Secretary has to assure us that any anomalies in the process which have allowed decisions such as this to take place are addressed immediately'.


The report also says that the asylum system treats women particularly badly. The report says that the committee heard evidence that women wait longer for an initial decision than men. The Scottish Council of Refugees found that 49% of women waited two years for a determination whereas only 22% of men waited that long.


In addition, it found that women can be particularly badly affected by delays in the determination of their husbands' applications. Where the applications of men who abuse their wives are delayed, this leaves the wives 'stuck in abusive marriages unable to leave their husbands because they were the principal applicants and the women would not have had status or support alone'.

 

 

System is 'failing to treat asylum seekers with dignity'

The Chairman of the Refugee Council, Maurice Wren, said that the current system was creating great difficulties for genuine refugees. He told The Guardian 'Failing to treat asylum seekers with dignity and, simultaneously, failing to deal effectively and fairly with their claims has created an expensive and counter-productive bureaucratic nightmare that all too often denies vulnerable people the protection from persecution and oppression they desperately need'.


A Home Office spokesman said that the Home Office was committed to 'concluding all cases as quickly as possible' but added 'asylum cases are often complex and require full and thorough consideration'.


The spokesman added that the Home Office had carried out inspections of housing for asylum seekers and 'where necessary took action to ensure [the contractors] met the necessary standards'. He added that the Home Office would 'continue to monitor performance to ensure that standards are met'.


Global Visa Support offers a variety of programs in United Kingdom. Please visit our UK page for more information: http://www.globalvisasupport.com/uk.html

UK's chief immigration inspector says e-Borders has 'some way to go'

On Wednesday 9th October 2013, the UK's chief inspector of immigration and borders, John Vine, issued a highly critical report about the UK's e-Borders programme. The report says that the programme is not yet complete ten years after being announced and has 'yet to deliver many of [its] anticipated benefits'. The report has been censored by the UK's Home Secretary Theresa May on security grounds.


The e-Borders programme was announced in 2003 by the then Prime Minister Tony Blair. Mr Blair said that the details of all people entering and leaving the UK would be held on a computerised database by 2010.


Mr Blair predicted that the system would be invaluable in the 'war on terror' and in fighting crime. He also predicted that it would assist in the prevention of benefit fraud and tax evasion and said it could be used to gather immigration statistics. These could be used in the formulation of public policy once the numbers of people in the country were known.

 

 

System has been of great use to the police

Mr Vine's report says that the system is still not complete and is yet to deliver most of the benefits promised by Mr Blair. Mr Vine says that, to date, only 65% of air passenger movements are recorded and the system has yet to be extended to sea passengers. Nonetheless, even though much of the programme has not been completed, (indeed, much of it has yet to be commenced) it has been of great use to the police.


The contract for the e-Borders project was originally awarded to the 'Trusted Borders Consortium', a group of IT companies led by US IT provider Raytheon. Other companies involved in the consortium were Serco, Detica, Accenture and Qinetiq. In 2010, Raytheon's contract was terminated after numerous delays to the project. Legal action continues. Raytheon was replaced by IBM but progress with the project is still slow.
 

The new Coalition government which came to power in 2010 acted to ensure that e-Borders was operational at nine airports in time for the London Olympics in 2012. The contract for the rest of the programme has not yet been signed and no service providers have been named.

 

 

System has led to the arrest of thousands of individuals

Mr Vine's report said that e-Borders is delivering intelligence to the police and security services. He said that the project has led to 'the arrests of thousands of individuals wanted by the police in connection with various offences including murder and rape'.


However, Mr Vine said that the programme was seriously behind schedule. He said that this was in large part because the original timetable for the completion of the project had been unrealistic. He added that progress had been slowed further by contractual disputes with contractors.


The original intention was that 95% of travel data should be recorded by 2010. Problems with IT and the dispute with Raytheon meant that this deadline was missed. The Home Office imposed a new deadline in 2013 but this too has been missed.

 

 

Project delayed by inadequate IT equipment

At present, only 65% of data is recorded. Mr Vine said that the project has been delayed due to inadequate IT equipment and a lack of understanding of the systems by UK immigration staff.


Mr Vine says that one of the original aims of e-Borders was to 'allow foreign national passengers to be counted in and counted out of the UK, providing more reliable data for the purposes of immigration and population statistics and in planning the provision of public services'.


He says that 'the data set collected by e-Borders was not extensive enough for these purposes' and adds that there is no likelihood that this problem will be remedied until 2018 at the very earliest.

 

 

UK has failed to 'export the border'

Mr Vine told BBC Radio 4's PM news programme that the government had originally intended to 'export the border' so that undesirable people could be prevented from boarding planes, trains or boats to the UK, thereby stopping them from making asylum applications on arrival. The system still cannot do this, he said.


Instead, undesirable people are still boarding flights to the UK. Worse still, though the system generates warnings which would allow immigration staff to meet undesirables at UK airports, immigration staff at all UK airports other than Heathrow routinely ignore these warnings.


The report says that staff at Luton and Gatwick airports did not even know that they should meet undesirable passengers on arrival and so they are allowed to pass through the airport unchallenged.

 

 

EU data protection rules prevent UK receiving data

The report says that, although the system probably has the capacity to receive all general aviation passenger data, that data is not currently being received. There are various reasons for this, one reason being that the government failed to appreciate that the data protection rules in other EU countries prevents information being shared with the UK. Mr Vine's report also says that financial savings for the government stemming from the identification of benefits fraudsters and tax evaders have not materialised.


The immigration minister Mark Harper said that the system is working well. He said 'We have the best coverage of any country in Europe, but we are working to improve our coverage further. We will take the findings of the independent inspector into account as we continue to develop our advance passenger information policies and coverage'.


Global Visa Support offers a variety of programs in United Kingdom. Please visit our UK page for more information: http://www.globalvisasupport.com/uk.html

New Zealand allows students greater work rights

In an attempt to attract a greater share of the world's international students, New Zealand education minister Steven Joyce and immigration minister Michael Woodhouse have announced reforms of New Zealand's rules governing students' work rights while in New Zealand.


They also announced a new 'streamlined and prioritised visa processing' system which will make it easier for some students to apply for visas.


Mr Joyce said international education…contributes NZ$2.6bn a year to our economy and 28,000 jobs for New Zealanders plus it helps build strong linkages with the countries that are our trading future'. He added 'Competition for international students is intensifying around the world and it's important that we stay competitive'.

 

 

Students can work during all scheduled course breaks

The main changes are

• Students studying full-time will be allowed to work during all scheduled course breaks (previously they were only allowed to work in the summer holidays)
• Doctoral and masters students will be allowed to work full-time
• English language students will be allowed to work part-time

Mr Joyce said that the changes were expected to result in a net increase in the number of jobs available to New Zealanders. He said that, while students would take some jobs that might otherwise have been taken by New Zealanders, this would be 'more than offset by the growth in the international education industry and the jobs it provides'.


Mr Woodhouse announced that the lowest category of education college –Category 4 colleges, would no longer be allowed to teach overseas students. He said 'while we want more students to come to our shores to study, our focus has to be on providing them with the highest quality education New Zealand has to offer'.

 

 

New 'streamlined and prioritised visa service

But for those studying at selected universities and polytechnics, there will be the possibility of being issued a visa via a new 'streamlined and prioritised' visa service. There will be a pilot of the scheme in 2014 and, if it is successful, all top-quality Category 1 providers will be using the new system in 2015.


The ministers also announced a new regime to ensure that international students who are ripped off by dishonest agents or colleges are able to get redress quickly. Mr Joyce announced a new 'Code of Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students' to 'deal with bad apples in the system'.


Global Visa Support offers a variety of programs in New Zealand. Please visit our New Zealand page for more information: http://www.globalvisasupport.com/nz.html

UK government unveils new immigration bill

The UK's Home Secretary, Theresa May has revealed details of the Coalition government's immigration bill which should be passed this autumn. Mrs May appeared on various television and news programmes to publicise the bill which she says will 'make it harder for people who are here illegally to stay here'.


At the same time, Mrs May says that the UK will 'continue to welcome the brightest and best migrants who want to contribute to our economy and society and play by the rules'.


Mrs May has been the UK Home Secretary since the Coalition government came to power in 2010. She has overseen attempts to cut the amount of immigration into the UK, both legal and illegal.

 

 

Government pledges to cut legal immigration further

In 2010, before he was elected, Prime Minister David Cameron promised to cut net immigration to the UK to below 100,000 a year by 2015 from its then level of around 250,000 per year. The latest figures showed that the level of immigration in the year to December 2012 was 176,000. Mrs May says that the government will continue to cut the numbers of legal immigrants by various means.


Many of the provisions of the new immigration bill, however, are aimed not at legal immigrants but at those who are living in the UK illegally. No one knows how many people are in the UK illegally but most estimates put the figure somewhere between 600,000 and 1.1m.


Most of these came to the country legally, perhaps on visitor visas or Tier 4 student visas, but failed to leave when their visas expired. It should be noted that the vast majority of those entering the Country leave when their visas expire. It is only a small minority that do not do so.

 

 

Steps to discourage illegal immigration

The government proposes the following measures to make life harder for illegal residents;

• Requirement that landlords check the immigration status of prospective tenants
• Requirement that banks check that prospective account holders are not named on a government database of known immigration offenders before they can open an account
• Increase in level of penalties for those who enter into sham marriages in order to acquire UK residency/citizenship
• Remove thirteen of seventeen possible grounds of appeal against a decision to deport thereby making it much harder to overturn a decision. Mrs May hopes to halve the number of appeals against deportation from 70,000 to 35,000 annually
• Change the law so that some people will be deported before their appeal against deportation is heard. They will be entitled to appeal from elsewhere and return if successful

Mrs May told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme that the bill would create a 'hostile environment for illegal immigrants'.

 

 

Measures to cut down on health tourism

The bill will also introduce new measures aimed at ensuring that migrants pay for services that they use in the UK. The bill will provide for

• A health levy for people in the UK on temporary residence visas such as Tier 4 student visas and Tier 2 skilled worker visas
• Measures to crack down on 'health tourism'.Mrs May told The Today Programme that those in the country who are not resident in the UK will have to pay for their healthcare. She said that this was necessary because of the 'concern people have about people not contributing'.

 

 

A point of principle

When new Today Programme presenter Michelle Husain put it to her that health tourism accounted for only 0.06% of the UK's National Health Service budget and asked whether the system for collecting fees from foreign nationals might not cost more to implement than it would raise, Mrs May replied that it was 'a point of principle'.


But Dr Paquita de Zuluetta a GP who has worked in East London for over 30 years, said that the number of foreigners accessing healthcare was small. Most waited over three years to visit a doctor.
She said that to prevent them from seeing a GP would be likely to have negative impacts on public health because of the possibility that immigrants might transmit infectious diseases such as tuberculosis to the general population if they failed to get treatment.

 

 

Changes could cost money and endanger public health

She added that it would also be likely to cost the NHS money, not save it if, rather than getting treatment for minor complaints, immigrants allowed their symptoms to fester untreated before presenting themselves at an accident and emergency unit while gravely ill.


Professional medical associations have criticised the plans as has The Chartered Institute of Housing and the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants.


Global Visa Support offers a variety of programs in United Kingdom. Please visit our UK page for more information: http://www.globalvisasupport.com/uk.html