New border control agency launches

The new Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) has gone live today promising "greater public accountability".

Although the BIA will remain part of the Home Office, the revamped agency is said to have "greater operational freedom to deliver" its services.

Changes to the system include a visible presence of uniformed immigration officers at all ports as well as the introduction of an individual case-owner managing asylum cases from start to finish.

The BIA will also now have a regional focus with a new director announced for each of the six geographical areas of the UK.

Speaking about the changes, chief executive Lin Homer said the regional focus will mean the new agency is "more responsive to the communities it serves".

"It will engage with a whole range of partners from police, local councils and agencies to deliver the sort of service that the public expects," she added.

"It will be more open and accountable with clear, published targets so the public can see whether it is delivering - putting us in a stronger position to deliver the transformation we have promised."

Home Office minister Liam Byrne stressed the new freedoms given to the BIA will help move the immigration service forward.

"We want to give the BIA freedom not only to work globally delivering border security but act locally tackling local immigration policing priorities," he said.

The changes come after a string of Home Office blunders earlier this year including the failure to record 27,500 crimes committed by Britons abroad.

Foreign students to get graduate work permits

International students who graduate from UK universities will be permitted to stay on for an extra year to work, the government has announced.

From May 1, students who pass a bachelors degree or earn a postgraduate qualification in any subject can apply to extend their visas in a move that the Department for Education and Skills hopes will "cement the UK's status as a top study destination for international students".

The International Graduates Scheme replaces one that had previously only been open to science and engineering graduates in England.

The higher education minister, Bill Rammell, said the year-long visas will "allow UK employers to benefit from skilled people who have gained UK qualifications and have experience of living in the UK."

The offer comes as overseas fees for the price of student visas rose from £85 to £99 yesterday. Work permits applied for overseas also went up, from £85 to £200.

The National Union of Students welcomed the move, saying it could cushion the blow of the visa charges.

"Visa cost rises are being widely criticised as a disincentive for international students applying to the UK," said NUS officer Issahaku Kotomah. "The policy of allowing international students an extra year's stay to attract more applicants is probably aimed at keeping up numbers to meet ambitions for attracting a lucrative market."

Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, has often been critical of the government's decision to raise visa costs, fearing it will force students to study elsewhere. But a spokesman said this scheme was "good news for the UK higher education sector".

"UUK has been calling for some time for a more coordinated and consistent approach to international student employment opportunities in the UK post graduation," he said.

However, the UUK spokesman warned against complacency, saying other countries were taking similar steps to attract top international students.

The immigration minister, Liam Byrne, said international students in higher education contribute more than £3bn a year to the economy and should have the opportunity to be a factor in Britain's prosperity.

However, he warned: "At the end of their year working in the UK they will be expected to return home, or apply for leave to remain under an appropriate skilled workers scheme in the same way that anyone who wants to come here to take up skilled employment has to."

In 2005, seven percent of a total of nearly 150,000 foreign students who applied for visa extensions were rejected, according to the Home Office.

Marriage visa age to rise as part of tougher immigration controls

HOME Secretary John Reid today announced plans to "strengthen" UK immigration controls, including stricter rules on those coming in to the country to marry.

He is to raise the minimum age at which foreigners can receive marriage visas from 18 to 21.

His officials calculate this will mean about 3000 fewer people - mainly women from the Indian sub-continent - will come to the UK.

The government, which recently shelved plans to outlaw forced marriages, will also bring in confidential interviews for fiancees and spouses entering Britain to check they have been not forced into a wedding.

Mr Reid also promised tougher identity checks on people entering Britain to make sure that people are who they say they are.

This will be linked to the "next step" in using electronic data such as fingerprints and iris recognition - on UK passports and entry documents.

But the plans provoked an angry reaction from Habib Rahman, the chief executive of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants.

He said: "The new rules could effectively deny UK settlement and citizenship to children in these families indeterminately, while the fees relative to these groups' lower incomes are swingeing."

200,000 'lost' asylum seekers may stay

More than 200,000 failed asylum seekers may stay in Britain indefinitely because they cannot be traced.

Officials have conceded that nearly half of the 450,000 "legacy cases" in which the applicants are left in limbo may never be cleared.

Ministers have flatly ruled out an amnesty and have pledged to remove everyone not entitled to be here within five years.

Some "legacy" cases date back 15 years and experts believe the Government will not be able to fulfil its pledge to clear the backlog by July 2011. Officials attending a recent meeting to discuss the legacy policy were told that half of the 450,000 are "untraceable".

They were also told that 18,000 foreign nationals who have committed crimes in Britain were earmarked for deportation, the first time an official figure has been given.

Damian Green, the Conservative immigration spokesman, said: "It is concerning that there may be such a large number of foreign criminals possibly at large and that the Government is admitting defeat by writing off up to 200,000 lost asylum seekers."

Sir Andrew Green, the chairman of Migration Watch, said: "It is time they [the Government] came clean to the public about the possibly serious implication for the asylum system."

A Home Office spokesman said: "We remain confident that we will be able to clear the entire current legacy of cases by July 2011."

The Home Office is already reviewing the cases of 4,000 failed asylum seekers in Scotland after pressure from the executive in Edinburgh.

As immigration is not a devolved matter, this move could be significant for policy in England, where most of the unsuccessful asylum seekers live.

Many countries, including America, have regularisation programmes for failed asylum seekers or illegal immigrants. Spain has just completed its fifth amnesty.

But a Commons committee last year said an amnesty in Britain would encourage the view that breaches of the immigration rules may be rewarded and undermine confidence in the system.

Last week's Whitehall shake-up left immigration in the hands of the Home Office but day-to-day policy will be handed over to a new Borders agency which comes into being today.

Also from today, any foreign national wanting to settle here will be required to take tests in the English language and the British way of life. This brings long-term immigrants into line with people who seek UK citizenship, who already have to sit the tests.

Last year 180,000 people were granted settlement to stay. Some go on to seek British nationality but others may choose to retain their own while staying permanently.

The Government believes migrants wishing to live in the UK permanently should properly integrate and understand the society they are joining.

Applicants who already possess a good standard of English will take the existing Life in the UK exam. Immigrants with poorer English can take a specially developed English for Speakers of Other Languages course with a simplified citizenship course.

The Life in the UK test is aimed at those with a good grasp of English and their pass mark will be at least 75 per cent. Each applicant sits a 45-minute exam of 24 questions to show a basic knowledge of national culture.

Those less accomplished in English can attend a combined language and citizenship class instead. They will be expected to complete the course "successfully" but do not have to pass the exam to gain citizenship.

A government handbook, Life in the UK, contains much of the information that will feature in the tests, including what to do if you spill someone's pint in a pub (offer to buy another).

Some immigrants and asylum seekers have cheated their way to UK citizenship by buying answers to the Home Office "Britishness" test.

Mandarin-speaking Chinese have paid £150 for the list in London's Soho, so they know which boxes to tick when they take the exam.

Now the Home Office has changed the questions, although applicants who studied the previous handbook are still allowed to take an exam based on the old questions.