THE TELEGRAPH: Millions of illegal immigrants could be in the UK after a visa watchdog revealed 300,000 people are allowed in every year who should not be.
In a staggering admission, Linda Costelloe-Baker, who monitors visa refusals, told MPs around 15 per cent of short-term visas are wrongly approved because it is easier to let them in than reject applications.
She said officials were "under pressure" to issue visas rather than reject them to help hit productivity targets.
It means hundreds of thousands of people arriving in the UK each year who should not be here.
And if they are a potential risk then it means they are more likely to overstay the visa and slip under the radar as an illegal immigrant.
The Government has previously estimated there could be as many as 570,000 illegal immigrants here but with so many visas being incorrectly issued over the years, that figure could now run in to the millions.
Ms Costelloe-Baker, the independent monitor for entry clearance refusals, told the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee officials considering visa applications found it much easier to approve than reject them because it was a "much faster" process.
"I don't think there has been adequate scrutiny of decisions to issue," she said. "I think there is pressure to issue visas because it helps people hit their productivity targets."
Committee member and Tory MP David Davies asked if it was reasonable to assume that 15 per cent of approval notices were "incorrectly approved".
"I think that's a reasonable supposition," Ms Costelloe-Baker said.
He continued: "I'm trying to make an assumption here which is reasonable based on the evidence and that is that a large number of visa applications have been incorrectly approved in the country where they were requested."
She said: "I think that's a reasonable assumption."
Nearly two million visas are approved each year, giving foreign nationals the right to come to the UK for six months.
Embassies and consulates examine 2.4 million applications each year from tourists, businessmen and people visiting relatives to check if they intend to leave after their visa expires, that they have enough money to live in the country and are not looking for a job, she said. Around 80 per cent are approved. >>> By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor | November 18, 2008
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