Immigration news

Priti Patel’s UK immigration plans suffered a major blow recently as EU countries snubbed bilateral agreements with Britain to facilitate the deportation of refugees to Europe. New plans unveiled by the Home Secretary in March would see refugees arriving in the UK legally denied the automatic right to asylum.

 

Instead, the new measures would see those seeking asylum forcibly removed to safe countries that they had passed through on route to Britain, nations that are often in the European Union. 

The Home Office broke its own UK immigration rules when deporting Vietnamese migrants, according to a report published by The Guardian. The report claims that six of 14 enforced removals did not spend the minimum of five working days in UK immigration removal prior to boarding a deportation flight, breaching the Home Office’s own rules.

 

27 Vietnamese nationals were removed from the UK on 21 April on a flight leaving from Birmingham. It is believed the flight was booked with holiday airline, Tui. However, Tui has refused to confirm or deny this. Of the 27 deportations, 14 were enforced and 13 were voluntary.

The Biden administration has increased the number of US visas made available to seasonal workers by 22,000. The extra seasonal guest-worker visas will become available ahead of the busy summer season, according to a statement issued by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). 

 

Joe Biden has officially ordered US immigration agencies to end the use of derogatory terms such as ‘illegal alien’ and ‘assimilation’, when referring to migrants. US immigration advocates have branded the terms ‘dehumanizing’. US Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs & Border Protection (CBP) have each issued new guidance to staff.

 

The so-called independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), which makes recommendations to the government on UK immigration, has issued a call for evidence seeking the views of stakeholders on the operation and effectiveness of the intra-company transfer (ICT) immigration route. The deadline for replies is 15 June 2021.

 

UK immigration staff are reporting that more than 100 people a day are trying to enter Britain with fake COVID-test certificates, according to the UK Immigration Services Union (ISU). During a parliamentary evidence session, UK Border Force personnel warned that it is ‘very easy’ to forge the documents – currently needed to enter the UK.