Author: Robert Verkaik
Publication: The Independent
Date: September 10, 2009
URL: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/failure-to-vet-immigrants-from-pakistan-a-threat-to-security-1784491.html
Ministers were last night accused of a major
security lapse after it emerged that British immigration officers based in
Pakistan had interviewed just 29 of the 66,000 people applying for British
visas in nine months.
The shockingly small number of checks carried
out between October and June this year led to claims last night that visas
may have been issued to terror suspects and illegal immigrants trying to cheat
the system.
In April, 12 Pakistani men were arrested during
police raids in Manchester, Liverpool and elsewhere in Lancashire acting on
intelligence concerning a possible terror plot. Nearly all the men had obtained
student visas in Pakistan.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said:
"This is a quite extraordinary situation. There are very real concerns
that the system is being abused by people who have no right to come to the
UK. And more importantly there are clear security issues, too. Yet it's clear
that the checks in our immigration system are wholly inadequate."
In a written answer to a parliamentary question
by the Conservatives, the Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, also admitted that
no telephone interviews had been conducted with visa applicants by staff in
Pakistan or Abu Dhabi, where final checks are made, between 27 October 2008,
when a new visa system came into force, and the end of May.
There was outrage after the anti-terror raids
in the North-west when the Government suggested that in cases where concerns
had been raised over applications, interviews by staff based in Abu Dhabi
and the post in Islamabad were being carried out over the telephone rather
than via face-to-face meetings.
The Government introduced the new "hub-and-spoke"
system in October last year. Under the system, visa applications from Pakistan
and Afghanistan are lodged at local offices that applicants must attend to
have their fingerprints taken. Some files are are sent on to the visa "hub"
based in Abu Dhabi for a final decision. At this point some applicants may
be called for an interview. Ministers have said that all applications are
security checked for fraud or forgery by entry clearance officers within Pakistan
before being sent for a decision.
According to the new figures, 66,415 visa
applications have been lodged in Pakistan between the "hub" coming
into force on 27 October 2008 and 31 May this year. It is not known how many
of these people came to the UK.
But Mr Grayling said it was clear there were
too few staff to undertake vital fraud and forgery checks on passports, bank
statements, university degrees and letters from employers.
He said since the hub-and-spoke came into
force, entry-clearance officers only checked supporting documents for fraud
and forgery in 80 per cent of cases. That meant that more than 13,000 visa
applicants from those "high-risk posts" have not had the documents
supporting their application verified.
But the Government disputed the Conservatives
allegations of a lax security system.
Phil Woolas, Minister for Borders and Immigration,
said: "Every application for a visa to the UK from Pakistan is scrutinised
by highly trained staff, who are experts in detecting fraud and forgery. Every
applicant is required to attend in person so fingerprints can be taken and
their details are subsequently checked against a range of watch lists. If
there is still any doubt, we can conduct face-to-face interviews."
He added: "There are around 200 staff
who deal with applications from Pakistan and trained officers check 100 per
cent of passports submitted with applications in Pakistan. No visa would be
issued without the application being checked for fraud and forgery."
Mr Woolas said that ministers worked with
the Pakistani authorities to conduct risk assessments of immigrants to Britain.
"These tough visa controls have lead
to an increase in refusal rates for Pakistani nationals. This is proof that
all applications pass through a vigorous assessment process."
The investigation into alleged al-Q'aida activity
in the North-west involved police raids on 14 properties in Manchester, Liverpool
and Clitheroe, Lancashire.
