Rise in Iranian minors seeking UK asylum

The number of unaccompanied children from Iran applying for asylum in the UK has increased six-fold in two years, annual asylum figures have revealed.

The number rose from 75 in 2003 to 450 in 2005, while applications from unaccompanied Afghan children almost doubled in the same period, from 275 to 530.

East European Immigrants: The facts

600,000 people from eastern Europe have successfully applied for the right to work in the United Kingdom over the past two years. This means that they now account for 2 per cent of the country's 30 million strong workforce

62 per cent of the new workers have come from Poland

£2.54bn is contributed to the economy annually by eastern European immigrants in the UK

0.5-1 per cent of economic growth in the United Kingdom in 2005 and 2006 has been contributed by migrants

70,000 migrant workers help with harvesting farms, according to the National Farmers Union
10 per cent of employees on Britain's building sites are from overseas - making a total labour force of up to 100,000 workers

80 per cent of new migrants are working people between the ages of 18 and 35. This offsets the tendency for the country's population to age, addressing the difficulties in providing for an ageing population. There is evidence that National Insurance contributions would have to be higher under lower migration scenarios

250,000 jobs a year are created by the UK economy. The economy continues to grow only because there is the population to carry such continued growth

31 per cent of doctors working in hospitals and general practices throughout the UK are migrants

13 per cent of nurses who are working in the UK were born abroad

12.5 cent of teaching staff working in schools across the UK are non-British

70 per cent of catering jobs in London are filled by migrant workers

13 per cent higher average wages earned by migrant workers (compared to workers who are not migrants) suggests that migrant workers are more highly skilled and more productive

Business leaders seek 'unlimited immigration' from new EU states

The leaders of Britain's biggest businesses employing millions of people have called on the Government to allow unlimited immigration from Bulgaria and Romania when the two former Eastern Bloc states join the European Union next year.

Five of the group's advisory council, including the UK heads of Sainsbury, the supermarket giant, Centrica, which owns British Gas, and Merrill Lynch, the Wall Street investment bank, have put their names to the letter.

The leaders criticised Government ministers for "equivocating" in the face of "scare stories" in the right-wing media about a flood of Romanian and Bulgarian migrants. "The simple fact is that workers from other European countries come to the UK because there are jobs," the business leaders said. "It is a cause for support, not retrenchment.

UK warned over child trafficking

The government is not doing enough to prevent the trafficking of young people into Britain, a report by two children's charities has claimed.

Many are smuggled in from south-eastern Europe to be used in the sex trade, slavery or for begging, it says.

Unicef UK claims ministers need to do more to help victims once they arrive.

But the Home Office says it is committed to combating the "appalling" trade and has made trafficking punishable by up to 14 years in jail.

In the UK, between 1999 and 2003, some 250 children were rescued from trafficking.

Andrew Radford, deputy executive director of Unicef UK, says: "There are a lot of children falling through the net.

"If a child is picked up who is being trafficked, they might end up in a detention centre with asylum-seekers or a foster home.

Extremist cleared of ricin charges can be deported

AN ALGERIAN terrorist who was acquitted of involvement in the al-Qaeda ricin plot can be deported from Britain, a special court ruled yesterday.

The 35-year-old man, who can be named only as Y, was described by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission as “an Islamist extremist of long standing who has significant terrorist-group connections”.

Mr Justice Ouseley, the commission chairman, said that a key factor in his ruling was the changing political situation in Algeria, which has embarked on a reconciliation process at the end of a bloody civil war.

A Charter of Peace and Reconciliation was signed this year and a decree passed granting an amnesty to thousands of terrorists and Islamist extremists. More than 2,000 people have been freed from jail since March.

Tony Blair met President Bouteflika of Algeria in London last month and they discussed the return of suspected terrorists. Britain has received assurances from Algeria that they will not be ill-treated but no “memorandum of understanding” has been signed.

Gareth Peirce, Y’s solicitor, said that he faced being returned to a country where he had been tortured. She claimed that the ruling had “terrifying implications” for all refugees in Britain who had fled inhumane treatment. She said: “In one fell swoop the UK has undermined its binding obligations to oppose torture on the basis of a diplomatic nod and a wink.”

Three jurors who helped to acquit Y issued a statement expressing their disappointment at the decision. They said: “We, as a jury, acquitted him of all charges and expected that on his release he could begin to rebuild his life in this country. We have had our eyes opened to such an unfair and unjust sequence of events orchestrated by the authorities that we feel compelled to speak out. This is contrary to anything we thought could be possible in a democratic, free society.”

Y is expected to appeal against the commission ruling.

'Nearly 600,000' new EU migrants

About 600,000 people have come to the UK from the eight countries which joined the European Union in 2004, says Home Office minister Tony McNulty.

New figures show that 447,000 people from Poland and the seven other new EU states have applied to work in the UK.

But Mr McNulty said the figure would be nearer 600,000 if self-employed workers - such as builders - were included.

• 447,000 workers from eight EU accession states successfully applied for work in UK
• Over half (62%) are Polish
• 82% are aged 18-34
• 56% work in factories
• Anglia region has highest proportion of workers (15%)

There is litte sign of a slowdown in the migration flow, with more than 50,000 of the eastern and central European migrants came to Britain between March and June this year.

• Under 18: 0.5%
• 18-24: 43%
• 25-34: 39%
• 35-44: 10%
• 45-54: 6%
• 55+: 1%
• Unknown: 0.5%

Number 10 says no decision has yet been taken on whether to curb the rights of Romanians and Bulgarians to work in the UK once the countries join the

Number 10 says no decision has yet been taken on whether to curb the rights of Romanians and Bulgarians to work in the UK once the countries join the EU.

Tony Blair's official spokeswoman said a decision would be made "at the appropriate time" later this year.

The European Commission will issue a report on Bulgaria and Romania in the autumn, which will indicate whether they should join the EU on 1 January or whether there should be a delay.

Existing EU member countries can block Romanians' and Bulgarians' work rights for up to seven years.

UK Fears Serbian, Albanian Traffickers if Bulgaria Joins EU

Police in the UK fear that Serbian and Albanian drug traffickers may find their way to their neighbourhood once Bulgaria and Romania join the EU.

Such concerns could prop the EU to block the next round of enlargement until a time when the two countries are better prepared to fight organized crime and corruption. UK's government should be quick in placing the restrictions, so that uncertainty is removed as soon as possible, Damian Green, Conservative spokesman on immigration has said.

Romanians and Bulgarians face immigration curbs

· EU entry will not mean open door, minister says
· Restrictions on workers opposed by Foreign Office

Restrictions will be placed on the rights of immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria to work in Britain when those countries join the EU next year, despite objections from the Foreign Office and Labour backbenchers, senior ministers signalled yesterday.

The government does not want to see a repeat of the freedoms allowed to workers from Poland when it joined the EU in 2004. John Reid, the home secretary, believes a hardening of public opinion on immigration, combined with a new push by the Conservatives on immigration, is reinforcing the case for restrictions. Officially the Home Office held the line yesterday that a decision would be taken later this year.

Petty criminal told: You can stay in UK

A petty criminal from Leeds has won his fight to stay in the UK after the Home Office backed down over plans to deport him to Australia.

Cain Staple, 31, was told he will now be allowed to hold a British passport despite being held as an illegal immigrant in Armley jail.

Home Office chiefs had refused to release him at the end of a 54-day sentence for car theft and were planning to deport him despite having a British mother and only living in Australia for the first four years of his life.

Restrictions on immigrant workers from Bulgaria & Romania

The Tories are calling for restrictions on immigrant workers from Bulgaria and Romania ahead of them joining the EU.

Party immigration spokesman Damian Green said ministers had to learn from the "unprecedented numbers" who arrived in the UK after the last EU expansion.

Trade Secretary Alistair Darling said migration would be "properly managed."
He said no date had yet been set for Bulgaria and Romania's accession but that when it was there would be no "open door" policy.

It comes as a poll for the Sunday Times found 77% of people wanted the government to set a strict limit on the number of immigrants allowed into Britain each year.

In black and white

Home office to pay costs for illegal deportation

The Home Office was ordered to pay thousands of pounds of legal costs to an asylum seeker after flouting an injunction banning her from being deported.


The department was told it could face a judicial review hearing after admitting to being in contempt of court for illegally removing Fadile Parmaksiz, 33, an asylum seeker from Turkey.


Sitting at the High Court, Mr Justice Collins said the arrangements in the Home Office were "defective" and that the case was "yet another example of one department not knowing what the other was doing".


He condemned the behaviour of two immigration officials but said neither was singularly responsible for the illegal removal of the mother and her three children to Germany. She has since returned to Britain where she is still seeking asylum.


He ordered the Home Office to pay the costs of the legal proceedings, thought to be thousands of pounds.

Bogus Transylvanians

Fortress Europe

Net legal immigration to the UK - 1910 - 2004

500 children face forcible repatriation

The Home Office is drawing up plans to forcibly repatriate up to 500 children to Vietnam as part of a programme that could see thousands of minors sent back to an uncertain future in the countries where they were born.

The Immigration and Nationality Directorate is planning to remove failed asylum seeking children who have no family in Britain, beginning with a trial run of Vietnamese children.

Under the plans, which would be a reversal of policies in place since the late 1990s, there will be occasions when children are removed for the purposes of "immigration control", even if returning them to their country of origin is against their best interests. Many of the Vietnamese children to be considered for forced removal are believed to be girls in their early teens smuggled into this country by human traffickers to work in nail parlours, brothels and cannabis factories.

Immigration officials are thought to have visited Vietnam at least twice in preparation for the "unaccompanied asylum seeking children returns programme". They are understood to have visited several potential reception centres including a state-run orphanage, which was deemed unsuitable. Officials are now assessing the possibility of directly funding care organisations in host countries.

Illegal worker claims 'are ignored'

A lack of resources is preventing the Immigration Service from investigating possible illegal workers, employment agencies have claimed.

Last month Home Secretary John Reid urged the public to inform on companies who take on people who do not have the right to work in the UK.

But half of employment agencies surveyed for the BBC who say they have raised concerns about illegal workers claim the Immigration Service did not take decisive action.

An online survey of 425 recruitment agencies conducted by the industry body the Recruitment and Employment Confederation suggested three quarters of agencies had spotted suspect documents.

A quarter did not even contact the Immigration Service, with a third saying UKIS were "unhelpful" when they reported someone with suspect documents trying to get work. Almost half said the Immigration Service did not take decisive action.

In a statement, the Home Office said it was doubling enforcement resources and activity by 2009/10 and introducing an "integrated cross-Government approach to stamp out illegal working".

SA nurses face tough new UK restrictions

Thousands of South African nurses working in the UK could be forced to return home because of new immigration rules introduced by the British Government this week.

Under the new regime, employers in the UK will only be granted a work permit for a foreign nurse if they can prove they were unable to find a suitable candidate in Britain or the European Union. Previously nursing was exempt from this requirement as one of the "shortage occupations" where there weren't enough qualified people locally to meet the demand.

Arab doctors protest UK immigration laws

New United Kingdom immigration laws governing post-graduate study are causing widespread consternation among Arab medical students seeking a British placement.

Under new rules and changes, which favour European Union and home-grown UK doctors, non-EEA (European Economic Area) graduates hoping to continue their training in the UK will have to apply for work permits rather than, as previously allowed, enter with a student visa. Foreign-born students who graduate from UK medical universities are also strongly favoured under the recent rules changes.

Under work permit rules, Arab students will only be offered a training placement if the hospital cannot find an EU doctor to fill the post. An announcement was made on 07 March of this year that a key exemption allowing foreign-born medical students to work without obtaining a work permit while training in approved programs would be rescinded, effective 03 April, 2006.

UK Govt Further Pressed to Shut the Door for Bulgarian, Romanian Workers

UK home secretary John Reid is under growing pressure to restrict access for workers from Bulgaria and Romania, when the two countries join the EU next year, EUobserver.com reported.

The article points out that the UK government hugely miscalculated the number of workers that took the opportunity to come and work in Britain, after the EU enlarged last time in 2004. It had expected up to 13,000 workers a year to move to the UK, but 600,000 have come since 2004.

Now British media have revealed that the government privately estimates between 60,000 and 140,000 Romanians and Bulgarians will arrive in Britain in the first year after the next EU enlargement.The figures prompted former Labour minister Frank Field to demand that the UK's borders should be closed to the new arrivals.

He said current immigration has serious effects on housing, healthcare and "the very nature of our community," according to media reports.

New category "Medical Training Initiatives"

Work Permits (UK) has introduced a new category to the existing Training and Work Experience Scheme (TWES) within the work permit arrangements: Medical Training Initiatives (MTI). 'Medical Training Initiatives' is the term given for training schemes for individuals who are sponsored by the Royal Colleges and other organisations within the medical field.

A key purpose of sponsorship is to train overseas medical professionals, doctors and dentists, in the UK's public health care sector before they return abroad to continue their medical practice with the new skills they have acquired.

This new category will come into effect from 01 September 2006 and from 29th August 2006 full guidance and a new application form (MTI1) will be available to support this new category from the Work Permits (UK) web site.

complete overhaul of the detention of children

Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers published a report on Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre, which heavily criticises the detention of children. Her call for "a complete overhaul of the detention of children" was supported by the No Place for a Child Coalition.
Yarl's Wood in Bedfordshire held 32 children at the time of the inspection, seven of whom had been there for more than 28 days. Inspectors carried out structured interviews with 13 detained children.

Key concerns were:

there was no evidence that children's welfare was taken into account when making detention decisions;

a social worker had been appointed to make independent assessments of children's welfare, though she later resigned. Her role was unclear and there were no systems to ensure that her

advice affected decisions; and

there were weaknesses in child protection arrangements.

Anne Owers said:

"Our interviews with detained children present a child's eye view of detention. They vividly illustrate the effect of sudden arrest and detention on the wellbeing of children, and the extent of their fears and anxieties for themselves and their parents.

"These are not matters that Yarl's Wood managers can deal with alone; though more could be done to improve child protection practices in the centre. They require a complete overhaul of the detention of children, informed by a proper understanding of the vulnerability of children and the safeguards required in domestic and international law."

Commenting on behalf of the No Place for a Child coalition, Jane Dykins, Head of the Children’s Section at the Refugee Council, said:

“The Government’s own Chief Inspector could not have said it more clearly: Yarl's Wood is no place for a child. Anne Owers confirms that their needs are not taken into account when making decisions - contrary to all good practice and the government’s policy of putting children’s needs first.

"It’s truly shocking to hear that nearly one quarter of the children had been locked up for over 28 days. The cost of detention is high for the state - but so much higher for children, who don’t know why they are locked up or for how long they will be there.”

Colette Marshall, UK director of Save the Children, said: "This report confirms what we already feared - that the welfare of children is being seriously neglected at Yarl's Wood. Handcuffing 13-year old children is a stark example of an immigration system that is using unnecessary force to detain children who have committed no crime. These children need protection not punishment."
Sarah Cutler, Assistant Director - Policy at Bail for Immigration Detainees said:"Anne Owers' findings confirm that existing safeguards, including the system of reviews of detention and welfare assessment, are completely inadequate to protect children in detention. Yarl's Wood was not even able to provide comprehensive data for the period since the last inspection about the number of children passing through the centre or how long they were there."

Refugee Council, Save the Children and Bail for Immigration Detainees are partners in the No Place for a Child campaign, to stop all detention of children for immigration purposes.