UK Immigration News

The UK’s Home Secretary, Priti Patel, has been accused of ‘misleading’ the public over the UK immigration crisis in the Channel. According to an MP, Patel has wrongly been labelling migrant Channel crossings as ‘illegal’. In December 2021, several judges ruled that refugees attempting to reach a British port or rescued at sea had not committed a crime.

 

House of Lords peer, Lord Wallace of Saltaire, has called for the so-called UK golden visa to be scrapped. Wallace has tabled an amendment to a bill, which is currently passing through parliament, that seeks to abolish the UK Tier 1 investor visa (golden visa) over fears that it is facilitating money laundering and corruption.

 

The Home Office has rejected police watchdog advice to equip UK immigration officers with bodycams during raids. Ministers refused to provide body-worn cameras to immigration enforcement agents, despite an Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) recommendation after an asylum seeker died while being pursued by officers.

 

The Home Office has announced a new digital identity checking system for use by landlords and employers to prevent abuse of the UK immigration system. According to a press release published on the UK government’s official website, the technology will ‘make it quicker, safer and more convenient for landlords and employers to carry out right to rent and work checks’.

 

According to data obtained via Freedom of Information (FOI) laws by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), the Home Office continued to carry out UK immigration raids on care homes during the pandemic. The findings have sparked concerns that ministers were pursuing hostile environment policies over protecting public health.

 

According to a report published by The Big Issue, Home Office staff ‘celebrated’ the launch of a new UK immigration policy with ‘prosecco and crisps’ during lockdown. The revelations come amid the fallout from Prime Minister, Boris Johnson’s, admission that he was present at an ‘event’ at Downing Street during lockdown when COVID restrictions were at their peak.