UK Immigration News

A former UK deputy Prime Minister has called for foreign students to be excluded from the UK government's immigration figures, explaining that students are 'not the sort of people causing the anxiety about immigration.'

In an interview aired on BBC radio 4 in August 2014, Lord Heseltine, former Deputy Prime Minister under John Major, and now a Conservative life peer, spoke about his concerns that including foreign students in plans to reduce non-EU migration will risk damaging the UK's reputation abroad.

New records were set for the numbers of Filipino visitors traveling to the UK. In the 12 months prior to March 2014, 49,000 visas were issued to Filipinos. There was a 27% increase in the number of tourist and business visitors over the previous year.

There are still nine months until the UK's next general election. The main parties are preparing for a lengthy campaign and have already hinted at details of some of their policies, although their full manifestos will not be published for another few months. It has become clear that immigration will be a key issue on which all the parties will attempt to differentiate themselves.

The UK's Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, says that the UK coalition government has scrapped plans to reduce annual immigration to below 100,000 annually.

Mr Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrat Party which is the junior partner in the UK Coalition government with David Cameron's Conservatives, said that the Conservatives had been 'fixated' on meeting the commitment to reduce immigration to below 100,000 annually and that this had made it harder for the government to tackle problems in the UK's immigration system.

John Vine, the independent chief inspector of the UK's borders and immigration services, has announced that he will leave his post on 31st December this year, six months before the end of his current contract.

Mr Vine has said that he is leaving his position because he wants to move on. He said 'Leaving at the end of the year and before the next general election, rather than in July 2015 when my term is due to end, makes sense.'

A group of 35 illegal immigrants were found inside a shipping container last month, at Tilbury Dock, Essex, in the UK after dock workers heard screaming and banging from inside.

When the container was opened up it was discovered that one man had unfortunately died, and the rest of the group, which included 13 children, required medical treatment for dehydration and hyperthermia. Two adults and two children were admitted to Southend Hospital, but have now been released. It is understood the group are now seeking asylum in the UK.