Another story of out of control immigration

The BBC report fairly quietly a story about out of control immigration that deserves wider coverage but I suspect will fairly quickly will disappear. The story is simply entitled "Bogus student checks 'don't work'", although I am not sure why 'don't work' is in between quotation marks.

The story for 5Live's Donal MacIntyre show reveals that:

"Immigration officers have warned bosses that new rules designed to stop bogus students entering the UK are not working, the BBC has learned.

Non-EU students are supposed to apply to registered institutions, and must prove they can support themselves.

But claims are now verified in the students' home countries, and UK staff say they have limited ability to challenge those they suspect."

Anyone who has worked in Central London near some of these 'educational institutions' has known for years that many are scams. The hours of 'learning' are short and many require daily registration but not attendance at 'lessons'.

The piece continues:

"One Heathrow Airport immigration officer - speaking on condition of anonymity - told BBC Radio 5 live's Donal MacIntyre programme that UK staff were overwhelmed by the volume of student arrivals:

"Student season has extended now to virtually the whole year," he said.

"We are looking at upwards of 500 to 1,000 stuck in the hall, queues stretching for hundreds of yards down the terminal.

"On occasions we've had to shut the hall as we couldn't cope.

"That has led to planes being backed up... to not allow them to proceed into Heathrow until we could clear what we've got." "

Do the BBC and Border Control not realise that the 'student season' runs the whole year because many of the people coming on student visas are not students they are using the student visa scheme to enter the country to work illegally. "upwards of 500 to 1,000" a day, that's 180,000+ a year on just student visas. Would classifying this influx as 'an invasion' be going too far? Do other European airports have similar problems? If so how are they dealing with it? If not, why not? What is so special about the UK that people will do anything to gain entry? Is the UK really 'the land of milk and honey' for those that can gain entry? The desperation of those in 'the Jungle' near Calais to get to the UK does seem to lend credence to the view that once entry has been gained to the UK, regardless of what the Labour government say, money is available for all.

The quoted immigration officer continues:

"If someone presents a case like that to a chief immigration officer, they take a look at the size and the number of people in the hall, and they turn around and say, 'Look, because of the pressure of work, they've got a visa, get them into the country'.

"It would take two officers off the desk hours just to present a case to send them to a detention centre."

And he believes this means people who have been denied entry to the UK on other grounds are able to enter the UK on bogus student visas:

"We have an awful lot of students who have been refused five, six, even up to nine visas to come here to this country, whether it be for working holidays or student applications," he said. "And they're now coming here."

So the sheer volume of numbers means that 'students' are being allowed into the UK because there is not the manpower or time to stop them. Is this what the Labour government calls having control of immigration?

The article moves on to discuss courses and candidates and the BBC seem to think that this is news:

"Under the new system, colleges which offer courses to students from outside the European Economic Area must be accredited by the Home Office.

But the Heathrow immigration officer alleges that the list of approved institutions contains colleges which he and his colleagues know to have a history of awarding fake qualifications:

"It beggars belief that these places can be graded the way they are, when we know for a fact that we've proved and got signatures from the passengers that they paid for their certificates," he said.

The immigration officer told BBC Radio 5 live about a recent case of an Indian woman in her 50s who presented herself as a student enrolling on an advanced course, despite the fact that she could barely speak English.

"She was going to do an ACCA accounting course, of which when asked in Hindi what ACCA meant, she didn't have a clue," he said.

"She wasn't even able to say in her own language what the course was going to entail." "

So the accreditation scheme is faulty and 'students' are presenting themselves for courses that they clearly are not going to take. This is an example that immigration officers were able to catch, how many did they miss because of the pressure of queues in the immigration hall?

The BBC piece continues:

"These concerns are echoed on an internal UK Border Agency online message board, seen by the BBC.

One officer wrote: "I can no longer feel proud of my role, given that I am forced on a daily basis to allow entry to passengers who clearly hold no ability or intention to follow any course of study in the United Kingdom".

Another commented: "The introduction of the appallingly thought-out points based system for students has, in one fell swoop, failed the UK taxpayer who expects us to do a good job in tackling illegal immigration".

The website quotes an acknowledgement from chief executive Lin Homer that the Border Agency had "not got it right" on student visas."

One has to wonder bearing in mind the David Teather revelations whether the Labour government have deliberately designed a new immigration system that is not fit for purpose. In other words are the Labour government incompetent as most believe or actually evil?

The article ends with the case for the defence that is as poor as I can remember:

" Jeremy Oppenheim, head of the points-based system at the UK Border Agency, insisted that the rules were working:

"The points based system means that only those colleges and schools who provide quality education and take responsibility for their students will be licensed to bring in foreign students," he told Radio 5 live.

"Schools and colleges are inspected by accreditation bodies and the UK Border Agency to ensure they are genuine. Before we tightened controls, around 4,000 UK institutions were bringing in international students,. This currently stands at around 2,000.

"Anyone coming in to the UK must satisfy the Border Force officer that they meet the immigration rules and will comply with any conditions attached to their visa. If they cannot the officer can and will refuse entry." "

Some questions spring to mind:
How is the quality of education measured?
How are the 'accreditation bodies' themselves accredited and by whom?
The fact that the number of educational institutions has halved does not mean that the number of students have halved, what has happened to the total number of students across all institutions?
Officers 'can and will refuse entry', what about the pressure of numbers, does that stop them refusing entry?

"This story will be broadcast on the Donal MacIntyre programme on BBC Radio 5 live on Sunday 1 November 2009 at 1930 GMT. Or download the free podcast. You can contact the programme by emailing donal@bbc.co.uk. "

I will not be around at 19:30 today but I will try and listen to the podcast later in the week. I would be interested to hear how the programme pans out if anyone does listen to it today.