UK Immigration News

The United Kingdom's Immigration Minister, Damian Green, has denied that the government intends to recruit 1,100 new staff in its immigration and passport service, as claimed by Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union. On Wednesday, Mr Serwotka, said that the government was planning to recruit the staff and that this had influenced his decision to call off the 24 hour strike planned for Thursday 26th July. The strike would have affected Britain's airports on the eve of the London Olympic Games.

UK immigration officers have called off their 24-hour strike planned for 26 July. Immigration staff had threatened to strike this week on the eve of the Olympic Games in a dispute over pay and job losses. The strike would have included border staff who man passport and visa check desks at Heathrow airport and could have possibly created a massive delay as Olympic visitors come to London.

Foreign students currently living in the UK on Tier 4 visas are upset that they are stuck without their passports for extended periods of time while the UKBA processes their Tier 1 Post Study visa applications. This leaves them in a legal limbo, unsure of their right to stay in the UK, but unable to go back home. These are Tier 4 visa students who have recently graduated from a UK institution and wish to stay in the UK on another visa.

The UK Home Office announced immigration rule changes after a recent supreme court ruling threatened to render illegal thousands of decisions made under the UK's skilled migrant programme.The supreme court declared that recent changes to the UK Border Agency's points-based system of skilled migration, visitor's visas and family migration rules were unlawful because they had not been directly approved by parliament.

Border officials at British airports are threatening to strike on 26 July, the day before the London Olympics begin, possibly creating massive delay at major airports like London Heathrow. Members of the Public and Commercial Services Union voted for the 24-hour strike in a dispute over pay and job losses. However, even without the strike, London's Heathrow Airport has seen long lines and delays at passport and immigration checks over the past few months. The union has blamed these delays on government spending cuts.

The UK Border Agency's new £385 million Immigration Case Work (ICW) system is one year behind schedule and has exceeded its original budget by £28m, according to the National Audit Office (NAO).