UK visa biometric checks ahead of schedule
The UK’s worldwide programme to check the fingerprints of all visa applicants is now complete according to Home Office Minister Liam Byrne.
Byrne announced that the global rollout of a programme requiring visa applicants to submit to fingerprint checks is in place months ahead of schedule and millions under budget.
Anyone applying for a visa from one of 133 countries (covering three-quarters of the world’s population) must now have their fingerprints checked against UK databases. So far, fingerprints have been taken from more than a million visa applicants, and 10,000 of those have been found to have previous immigration or asylum cases. The programme has also prevented 500 cases of identity fraud.
Byrne also confirmed that the Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) has exceeded the Prime Minister’s target of removing or deporting more than 4,000 foreign nationals who have committed crimes in the UK and thus lost their right to live here.
Byrne said that the immigration agency must focus on four themes: protection, prevention, accountability and compassion. “The public wants stronger borders. They want us to shut down the causes of illegal immigration, and hold newcomers to account - deporting rule-breakers where necessary,” he said. “They also want a compassionate system, which makes and enforces decisions quickly when we have obligations to honour. The public is right to demand a new system. We have listened, and we will act.”
Source:Security Document World
January 17, 2008
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January 17, 2008
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