UKBA not doing enough to make sure migrants go home

The Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Margaret Hodge, said that “The UKBA has not got a grip on making sure that migrant workers whose visas have expired actually leave the UK. It estimates that 181,000 such workers are staying on without permission, but it can\’t even verify the figures, and does not try to enforce the employers\’ duty to ensure that people leave when they are required to do so. The fundamental point is that the agency lacks the management information needed to manage migrant numbers and ensure that the rules are complied with.\”

Damian Green, the Immigration Minister, went on to say that \”This government has already introduced an annual limit on economic migrants, including a significant tightening of the ICT rules, and sweeping changes to the student visa system. Later this year we will propose a shake-up of the family and settlement route. I want enforcement and compliance to be the cornerstone of our immigration system and we are making it more difficult for people to live in the UK illegally by taking action against employers that flout our rules. Any employers found to be abusing our immigration system risk losing their licence to sponsor any migrant workers.\”

During the General Election campaign the Conservatives where keen to promote reducing net migration to the UK from ‘hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands per year’. Although they have introduced a permanent immigration cap, scrapped the highly popular Tier 1 General visa and tightened the rules surrounding the Tier 4 Student category it is believed that net migration will not fall by the required level, but by around 80,000.  Over the coming months we may see the Government soften the tough talk which has surrounded the Immigration Cap as achieving the goal may end up being detrimental to the UK economy.

Commonwealth Contractors

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