Posted: 10/9/2009 10:33:59 AM EDT
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Immigration rules relaxed to allow tens of thousands to stay, secret memo
"A leaked secret memo reveals Home Office officials have changed guidelines in order to grant indefinite leave to remain to 40,000 people because it is going to be too difficult to remove them. They are among the backlog of 450,000 historic asylum cases which ministers have pledged to clear by 2011, even though the individuals would have faced removal given time. The change means some who have been in the country for as little as four years will be allowed to stay because of the delays in processing claims. The note also reveals ten of thousands of migrants who should have left the UK as long as a decade ago could still be here because the Home Office has no idea where they are." "The memo, from Matthew Coats, the head of immigration for UK Border Agency, is headed "Restricted – Policy. Completion of the legacy exercise" and reveals ministers now want the backlog cleared by December 2010. He discusses how to deal with a cohort of 40,000 of the cases "which could not be granted indefinite leave to remain under he current parameters of the operational guidance... but which we will almost certainly not be able to conclude through removal". He says the main problem is difficulties in enforcing removals to certain countries and shows that Phil Woolas, the immigration minister, asked whether the cohort should be granted indefinite leave or some form of temporary leave. Mr Coats is "loathe to recommend" what would have constituted a specific amnesty for the group, similar to one given to some families in 2004, or country-specific exceptional leave because of the "high profile" of such an approach. Instead he suggests changing guidance on current immigration rules that effectively reduces the time individuals have to have been in the UK for them to have a strong case for indefinite leave – from 10-12 years to 6-8 years or even four to six in cases of difficult removal. " http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/6274662/Immigration-rules-relaxed-to-allow-tens-of-thousands-to-stay-secret-memo.html |
