UK Immigration News

On 3 May, the UK Border Agency's main UK visa processing system crashed, forcing hundreds of people to be turned away.Applicants were already queueing at the UKBA's public inquiry office in Croydon, applying to extend or renew biometric residence permits, when they were told to go home on Thursday because the computer system had crashed. Although the system is now available again, it has imposed significant delays on biometric appointments.

The UK announced on 30 April that non-European Union citizens accused of serious human rights abuses would not be allowed to enter the UK. The new rule, included in the UK Foreign Office's annual Human Rights Report, states that in cases where there is "independent, reliable and credible evidence that an individual has committed human rights abuses, the individual will not normally be permitted to enter the UK".

Migration Watch UK, an anti-immigration independent think tank, has warned that the UK risks an increase in "health tourism" when it was announced that foreign nationals who arrive in the UK on a visitor's visa can receive free healthcare.

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) has told UK border staff at London's Heathrow Airport to stop apologising for UK immigration delays. UK immigration staff had been handing out leaflets to passengers waiting in queues apologizing for "very long delays" at immigration checks.In recent weeks, tensions have grown over increasingly long immigration check delays after security had been heightened following last year's border row when immigration border officials reduced passport and visa checks without ministerial approval.

A UK vice-chancellor has warned that UK universities may be compelled to use swipe cards that monitor foreign student attendance to comply with tough new UK immigration rules.Quintin McKellar, vice-chancellor of the University of Hertfordshire, said the university was considering introducing an electronic registration system that would allow the school to prove that its foreign students on Tier 4 visas were attending lectures.

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) announced that from 1 May 2012 they will introduce a priority visa service in the Philippines and South Korea.The priority visa service will be available to applicants who pay an additional fee to have their visa application placed at the front of the queue. Typically, those who pay for the priority service will have their visa applications processed within 2-3 working days.