From The Economist print Edition
IN 2002 Britain received more asylum applications than any other rich country. More than 84,000 people, plus their dependants, requested sanctuary. Like other Western countries, Britain responded by making it harder to apply: border guards now lie in wait at European ports to intercept would-be asylum-seekers before they can reach British soil, and people from countries such as Zimbabwe may no longer fly to Britain without a visa. The clampdown has worked: last year only 26,000 applications were made.
The dip has provided breathing space for the Home Office, which has been battling a build-up of up to 450,000 unresolved asylum cases, some dating back more than a decade. As well as being inhumane to the applicants, such delays are expensive for the taxpayer: in the year to April 2008, these “legacy” cases cost the Treasury £600m. The bulk of this was spent on providing miserly welfare to asylum-seekers, who are forbidden from working until their cases are decided.
A report by the parliamentary public-accounts committee on June 16th showed that officials are making progress with the old backlog, and shed light on the parlous state of the asylum database. Duplicate entries, missing details and a chaos of crumpled faxes and incompatible IT systems featured large. Nonetheless, last year 155,000 “legacy” cases were polished off. The Home Office hopes to have them all done by 2011, though it suspects that a fifth of them may prove insoluble.
New cases are being handled by a revamped system, which the MPs praised. A single caseworker now handles each application from start to finish, reducing Chinese whispers. Things have speeded up: in 1997 it took an average of 22 months to decide whether to offer someone leave to remain; in 2007 it took seven months.
Yet even at this faster pace, and with applications low, the new system is falling behind. Following a modest increase in applications in 2007, the backlog of new cases (excluding the old “legacy” lump) more than doubled in 12 months, to nearly 9,000 by last summer. Another backlog is forming of people who have not been removed even though their applications were turned down. In January a report by the National Audit Office, a spending watchdog, showed that the number of refused applications was consistently higher than the number being deported (see chart). The ranks of failed asylum-seekers in limbo are swelling.
The Home Office says this is because it is focusing on removing foreign prisoners whose jail term is up. While their cases are pondered they are held in the same immigration removal centres where many failed asylum-seekers are detained before they are shipped out. There are not enough beds for both. The MPs suggested that foreign prisoners could be assessed for deportation while they are still in jail. Refugee charities add that detaining failed asylum- seekers (including children) should only be done as a last resort. Instead, the government is building more detention facilities, and plans to have another 1,626 new places (a 64% increase) by 2013.
The system must smarten up before the quiet period ends. Applications have risen in the past two years following violence in Zimbabwe and Iraq. And a self-imposed bundle of extra work is on the way. Since 2005 refugee status has been awarded on a temporary basis, renewable after five years. Next autumn the first 8,000 people in this category are up for renewal.
Source: www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk
The UK Border Agency has published revised application forms for tier 4 of the points-based system (PBS) and for PBS dependants with effect from )1 June 2009.
| Form |
Current version |
New version |
| Tier 4 (General) student |
03/09 |
06/09 |
| Tier 4 (Child) student |
03/09 |
06/09 |
| Points-based system dependant |
04/09 |
06/09 |
Please note that these forms are only to be used if you are applying from within the United Kingdom. The new versions of these forms should be used for applications made on or after Monday 1 June 2009.
The forms for applications from overseas are available on the visa services website.
Points-based system: Revised policy guidance for tier 4 of the points-based system and for PBS dependants
Revised versions of the policy guidance for tier 4 of the points-based system, and of the PBS dependants policy guidance, have now been published.
The key changes that are included in the revised guidance are highlighted below:
| Issue |
Changes from 1 June |
| Proof of availability of finances – transitional arrangements |
There are transitional arrangements in place that allow applicants to show they have the money needed to meet the maintenance requirements of tier 4, on the day that they apply, rather than for a period of 28 days prior to their application.
These transitional arrangements have been extended and will remain available to applicants until 30 September 2009. |
| Proof of availability of finances – loan documentation |
The policy guidance allows applicants to provide a letter from an appropriately regulated financial institution confirming availability of funds in the form of a loan.
Slight revisions have been made to the required content of these loan letters, to allow for the fact that they will not always include an applicant’s account number. |
| Official financial sponsorship |
Prior to 1 June 2009, there was no provision for a tier 4 migrant’s official financial sponsor to extend their financial sponsorship to the family members of the tier 4 migrant.
From 1 June 2009 a tier 4 migrant’s official financial sponsor will be permitted to extend their financial sponsorship to cover the tier 4 migrant’s dependants. |
| Electronic signatures on visa letters |
Visa letters must be signed and dated by an authorised official (original or electronic signature).
The policy guidance has been revised to clarify that either a digital signature or a scanned signature will be accepted as an ‘electronic signature’ for these purposes. |
| Maintenance requirements – inner and outer London |
Applicants who will be studying in inner London are required to show a higher level of funds to cover their living costs than those who will be studying outside London.
The definition of who the higher maintenance requirements apply to has not changed. The guidance has however been altered to clarify the fact that the higher maintenance requirements apply only to those who will be studying in inner London and that applicants who will be studying in outer London or elsewhere in the United Kingdom, will be assessed against the lower requirements. |
| Date of application |
The date of your application will be taken to be the following:
For applications made in the United Kingdom:
- where the application form is sent by post, the date of posting; or
- where the application form is sent by courier, the date on which it is delivered to the UK Border Agency of the Home Office;
For applications made outside the United Kingdom:
- the date that the fee associated with the application is paid. This means the date shown on your payment receipt, which depends on how you paid for your visa application, for example, at a British Diplomatic Post, visa application centre or online.
|
By Free Movement
There are reports that the Home Office just conceded a judicial review against the maintenance requirements under the Points Based System (PBS). This could be a very important development, and more post will follow as details become available.
The challenge appears to have been based on the argument that very strict, pedantic maintenance requirements of the PBS bear little or no relation to the avowed purpose of those requirements. The purpose is to make sure successful applicants have enough money to look after themselves and their dependants and not to become a burden on public funds. An applicant has to show a certain bank balance using certain very specific documents, which some banks are proving unwilling to supply, for a period of three months. The application is rejected if the balance falls below the specified amount for any length of time and by any amount during the three month period – even £1 below for 1 day is enough to trigger refusal. However, even people with very substantial income and with no history or future danger of having recourse to public funds may not be able to meet the rigid requirements, whereas even the profoundly impecunious can borrow the necessary amount for the necessary amount of time.
The Home Office not only conceded the case but also arranged for the challenger to be readmitted to the UK and paid their costs. It was a Tier 1 case but the same principles apply to other tiers.
This could well herald the end of the current daft approach to maintenance that is causing so many silly refusals at the moment. For those with current appeals based on a maintenance refusal, they have a very strong argument that their refusal was not in accordance with the law in the general sense. See the page on finding a lawyer for advice on that subject.
The UK Border Agency is changing the way that it processes applications by European nationals and their families for registration certificates, residence cards, family member residence stamps or confirmation of permanent residence in the United Kingdom.
From 1 June 2009, we will check all applications as soon as we receive them. Unless you have completed the application form correctly and provided the necessary supporting evidence, we will not accept your application as valid under the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006.
Applications submitted from families will be rejected in their entirety unless the necessary supporting evidence has been provided for all of the named applicants.
To make sure that your application is complete, you must:
- submit your application on the current appropriate application form;
- provide all the required photographs of yourself and any family members included in your application, as specified on the application form;
- provide all the original documents specified on the application form – each application form has a section entitled ‘Documents and photographs’, which lists all the supporting evidence that you must provide;
- complete all sections of the application form as required; and
- sign and date the declaration on the application form.
If you do not make your application in this way, with the correct supporting documentation, we will refuse your application and return your application form to you.
If your passport is already with the Home Office, you must provide full details of this – including your Home Office reference number. If you do not provide these details, we will refuse your application and return your application form to you as noted above.
For more information about these types of application, see the Applying under European law page.
Source: www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk
Greece has the fourth-highest number of asylum applications relative to its population among European Union countries, after Malta, Cyprus and Sweden, according to a report released on Friday by the European statistics agency Eurostat.
In terms of the absolute number of applications received, Greece ranked fifth with 19,900, with France at the top of the list with 41,800 and the UK second with 30,500 (though the UK figure covers only new applicants). – www.ana.gr
Eurostat said that EU countries turned down the majority of asylum applications submitted to them in 2008 with the exception of Malta, which approved more than half (1,410 out of 2,685).
In 2008, there were nearly 240,000 asylum applicants registered in the EU27, or 480 applicants per million inhabitants. The main countries of citizenship of these applicants were Iraq (29,000 or 12% of the total number of applicants), Russia (21,100 or 9%), Somalia (14,300 or 6%), Serbia (13,600 or 6%) and Afghanistan (12,600 or 5%).
In 2008, the EU27 made 193,690 first instance decisions on asylum applicants. There were 141,730 rejections (73% of decisions), 24,425 applicants (13%) were granted refugee status, 18,560 (10%) subsidiary protection and 8,970 (5%) were granted authorisation to stay for humanitarian reasons.
Greece received 19,885 asylum applications from immigrants in 2008. The largest numbers of these applicants were from Pakistan (35 percent), Afghanistan (11 percent) and Georgia (11 percent). In 2008, Greece considered 29,460 asylum applications in total, granted refugee status in 380 cases (1.3 percent) and rejected 29,080 cases.
The country with the largest number of asylum applications per million inhabitants was Malta (6,350), followed by Cyprus (4,370), Sweden (2,710), Greece (1,775), Austria (1,530) and Belgium (1,495).
The Eurostat report was released one day after the European Parliament passed a resolution proposing measures to protect the rights of asylum seekers and to simplify the system for granting refugee status in the member-states. – www.ana.gr
By Polly Curtis
Universities are considering establishing a new anti-fraud unit to identify falsified applications from overseas students, amid concerns that most of those arrested in the north-west of England this week over an alleged terror plot were Pakistanis who had come to the UK on student visas.
The plan, drawn up before this week’s anti-terror operation, was announced at a national admissions conference hosted by Ucas this week. The proposed unit would crack down on people getting student visas to come to the UK but never attending a college or university on arrival.
John Pinfold, a senior executive at Ucas which is leading the study, said the system was being designed to identify applicants who are lying about qualifications and using the system to gain entry to the UK. “If someone is fraudulent in their application the chances are they may well be involved in other criminal activities. It’s not for us to identify terrorists but hopefully we can aid the UK Borders Agency.”
It remains unclear which institutions the 11 people who were arrested this week applied to attend, or if they ever turned up after arriving in the UK. But it has raised concerns about the quality of vetting of overseas students, which the home office minister, Phil Woolas, called the “biggest loophole” in the immigration system.
From this month, the UK Borders Agency began licensing institutions to sponsor overseas students. They rejected more than 400 of the 2,100 institutions which applied for licences in a scheme they hope will weed out “bogus” colleges acting as a front for immigration scams.
The agency also checks applicants against all international immigration, terror and crime watchlists. But universities have been concerned that with many thousands of qualifications available in different languages, they have been unable to spot applicants who claim to have qualifications they don’t hold.
The government’s university funding agency has asked Ucas to assess the feasibility of a national anti-fraud office to vet applications. This would ease the load on admissions officers dealing with 100,000 new overseas students a year.
Pinfold said: “Some applicants have made up the whole of the information in their form and that can point towards a more serious issue.”
The study, which started before the arrests, suggests that under a national system, an anti-fraud office at Ucas would verify international students‘ qualifications prior to an application, so the university knows from the outset their credentials are genuine.
Last year, Ucas cancelled 834 applications and deemed 647 “suspect” from applicants within the UK alone.
Similar figures are not available for overseas students but a tightening up on fraudulent applications in the UK has triggered a four-year decline in the number of bogus applications identified. – Guardian
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