UK Immigration News

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) has issued a statement warning people who want to work in the UK and students who are already studying in the UK to be aware of a number of frauds. The statement warns of websites that purport to link to or be operated by the UKBA and of fraudulent phone calls made by criminals claiming to work for the UK immigration authorities.

Whistle blowers have claimed that extra staff deployed by the UK Border Force during the London Olympic Games were responsible for a series of potentially serious errors. 500 extra staff were deployed during the Olympics to help full-time staff cope with high passenger volumes but insiders say that they had not been adequately trained.

The decision to deploy the extra immigration staff was taken in order to prevent a repeat of the chaos at Heathrow Airport in July 2012 when passengers had to wait for over two hours to have their passports checked.

From 30 July, UK immigration staff at visa offices around the world have had extended powers to reject visa applications if students do not have adequate English language capabilities. The rules are intended to weed out bogus UK visa applicants. This means it is more likely that student applicants for UK Tier 4 visas to study in the UK will be rejected if immigration officers feel that their English abilities are not at a high enough level.

The UKBA has announced that there will be a gradual rollout of pre-entry tuberculosis (TB) screening requirements in India, beginning with UK settlement visa applications from 16 August 2012. The screening requirement will be extended to applications for work visas under Tiers 1, 2 and 5 of the points-based system from 10 September 2012 and for those applying for Tier 4 student visas from 1 November 2012.

The UK's sponsorship licence system has been in place for nearly four years, which, is the same period of time as the validity of a sponsorship licence. As a result, organisations that registered to be sponsors when the UK Points Based System was first introduced will soon be required to renew their licence, if they wish to continue to employ migrants under the Tier 2 visa scheme.

The number of fake passports detected at UK ports and airports has nearly halved in the past five years, according to new statistics. UK border officials found 1,858 forgeries last year compared to 3,300 in 2007.The UK's border force explained that this was partly due to improved security measures and fraud checks.