UK Immigration News

UK trade unions announced that they do not support the EU's new rules that allow firms to pay migrant workers poverty wages.

The TUC opposed the EU services directive that will enable migrant workers to be paid in their country of origin. This would allow companies to pay workers from Eastern Europe average wages in their own countries, far less than the British minimum wage. Unions fear this will trigger a "race to the bottom" for pay and conditions.

Britons applying for a passport from 12 September will be ordered not to smile and pose with a neutral expression so new biometric scanners can accurately read their facial features.

Britain's Home Office has introduced new regulations on passport photographs to bring British passports in line with internationally agreed standards that enable biometric facial recognition technology to work properly.

Facial recognition systems match key features on the holder's face and work best when the face has a neutral expression with the mouth closed.

The UK's Civil Partnership Act 2004 will come into force on 5 December 2005. Civil partnerships are a new legal relationship which can be registered by two people of the same sex and give the couples legal recognition for their relationship. For several years, gay couples have been able to immigrate to the UK based on one partner's long-term status there; however, it is anticipated the changes will make the process easier.

The UK Government has announced that it intends to begin an overseas screening programme for TB for people applying to enter the UK for more than six months. Phase 1 will be introduced by Autumn 2005 and will apply to people entering the UK from the following countries:

Bangladesh Thailand Tanzania Sudan

TB screening will be rolled out over the next year to also include other countries with the potential for a high number of migrants with infectious TB.

Immigration detainees in the UK have been forced to sleep on tables or plastic chairs because of sub-standard provisions, the country's prisons monitor has revealed.

Facilities at Gatwick Airport, London City Airport and Dover Asylum Centre were inappropriate for overnight stays, the chief inspector of prisons said. City Airport was "unsuitable" for holding children, the report said. The government said it takes detainees' welfare seriously but that facilities may need independent monitoring.

Some doctors in the UK are allegedly taking cash for issuing sponsorship certificates to foreign students.

The doctors are selling sponsorship letters for up to £100 each, a Sunday Times investigation has found. The letters are used to convince the Home Office to grant visitor visas in the belief that the students have enrolled for full-time courses in Britain.

The report claimed that many students leave the courses and disappear to join the growing pool of illegal immigrants in Britain.