US Tops France As No. 1 Destination For Asylum Seekers -UN

The U.S. has overtaken France as the country with the highest number of asylum applications, the U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday. Some 25,500 people filed asylum requests in the U.S. during the first half of 2006, which represents one-fifth of the total number of applications in industrialized countries, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said in its quarterly report on asylum figures. The figures were only for asylum requests, not for approvals. France had the most applications last year, but its asylum requests dropped by 41% from the same period in 2005, to 16,400.

The U.S. and France are followed by the U.K., Germany and Canada in the number of asylum requests.

Most of the applicants to industrialized countries in the first half of 2006 came from China, with 8,800, followed by Iraq with 8,500, Serbia and Montenegro with 8,000, and Russia with 6,900.

Refugee found dead at bridge

AN asylum seeker found hanged from a bridge had had his application to stay in the UK rejected just a month earlier, friends have claimed.

The body of Congolese refugee Paul Kiese was discovered by police under a bridge over the River Spodden near Rooley Moor Road on 3 September.

Fellow asylum seeker Andy Ngongo, of the same address, said Paul, aged 31, had spoken about killing himself on numerous occasions.

Asylum-seeker killed himself so son could stay

The psychological effects of Britain's policy of locking up asylum-seekers were demonstrated yesterday at an inquest into the death of an Angolan man who took his life so that his teenage son might stay in Britain.

The inquest jury hearing the case of Manuel Bravo watched images from CCTV cameras at the Yarl's Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire that showed him leaving his room and hanging himself in a stairwell. His last words to his 13-year-old son Antonio, who shared his room at Yarl's Wood where they had been moved together 12 hours earlier, had been: "Be brave. Work hard. Do well at school."

In what is known in immigration service parlance as a "pastoral visit", a Leeds immigration officer, Dave Baker, called at the Bravos' Leeds terrace on 13 September last year to check on their presence. Mr Baker gave no hint of the Bravos' imminent fate and even offered to help with the missing appeal result. But the following day at 6.10am he was back with five police officers, who secured entry to the house with a battering ram.

Antonio has been granted five years' leave to remain in Britain and been placed with a foster family in Leeds.

Mentally ill asylum seeker left destitute leaps to her death

Zamira Sadigova, an Azerbaijani woman who came to Scotland with her teenage son four years ago, jumped to her death from her eleventh-floor flat in Knightswood, Glasgow, as health officers and police were breaking down her door in an attempt to section her for treatment

The 51-year-old's death last month, which went unreported, came after Glasgow City Council claimed she did not require help for her condition. This was despite repeated warnings by health officials that Ms Sadigova – who had been diagnosed as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and had been hospitalised twice because of her condition – was a suicide risk and would be likely to suffer from a serious relapse if benefits and housing were withdrawn from her.

Ms Sadigova, a history graduate who came to the UK after studying for a PhD at Moscow State University, claimed she fled Russia because she had suffered persecution because of being Azerbaijani and her Jehovah's Witness faith. However, her asylum claim and a subsequent appeal were rejected and her benefits were withdrawn in April 2005. The council then began legal proceedings to evict her from her flat but eventually postponed this pending the results of a judicial review into her case. Ms Sadigova first came to the attention of health services in 2003 when she was found jumping in front of cars on a busy Glasgow street and subsequently sectioned for treatment.

A report by her GP and consultant psychiatrist warned that she was "extremely vulnerable to social stress" and that withdrawing benefits could lead to a further episode of psychosis. However, a later report by the council's social work department, carried out in January 2006, found she was "currently mentally well" and her only difficulties were due to stress caused by her uncertain immigration status. A report carried out two months later by an independent social worker contradicted this, stating that Ms Sadigova was "a vulnerable adult who needs support in respect of her diagnosed serious mental illness and deplorable social situation".

Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants to be restricted

Entry to the UK by Romanians and Bulgarians is likely to be restricted if they join the European Union next year, Home Secretary John Reid said today.

Mr Reid said immigration from the two countries would need to be "carefully managed".

It was the strongest indication so far from the Government that nationals of the two Eastern European states will not be granted the same unrestricted access as residents of other former Communist states which joined the EU in May 2004.

Introduction of a new category to the existing Training and Work Experience Scheme (TWES)

From the 11 September 2006, a new category to the existing Training and Work Experience Scheme (TWES) within the work permit arrangements: Medical Training Initiatives (MTI) has been introduced.

'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.

Important information regarding Certificate of Approval (COA) for marriage or civil partnership applications

Following a judgment in the High Court on 10 April 2006, the Home Office suspended decisions on some Certificate of Approval applications. A further judgment considering the effect of the provisions on those here unlawfully was handed down on 16 June.

In order to comply with the judgments, the Home Office has revised the guidance for considering Certificate of Approval applications and, with immediate effect, will resume consideration of suspended applications. This guidance is interim guidance, pending the outcome of the appeal and may be changed in light of the Judgment of the Court of Appeal.
Applications from individuals who previously did not meet the criteria for a Certificate of Approval but who have valid leave to enter or remain at the time of their application will now be considered in line with revised guidance, a copy of which is attached. The Immigration Directorate Instructions (IDIs) will be amended in due course.

Applications from those individuals who do not have valid leave to enter or remain will continue to be refused unless there are exceptional compassionate circumstances for granting a Certificate of Approval.

Applicants who were previously refused and had valid leave at the time of their application can submit a request for reconsideration of their application. These requests will be considered in accordance with the revised guidance.

Legal challenge blocks deportations

Court orders have been obtained to block the removal of five Iraqi asylum seekers.

Last November, an attempt to deport more than 70 Iraqi Kurds ended with only 20 being flown out because of the launch of last-minute legal challenges.

Later the Home Office stressed that all those being deported had had their asylum claims properly dealt with and dismissed. As failed asylum seekers they had no right to remain in the UK.