Keir Starmer's visa crackdown will ‘fail to dent' asylum claim abuse
Plans to restrict visas from nationalities most likely to overstay and claim asylum will have only a 'small' impact on numbers, experts have said.
The government's immigration white paper is due to clamp down on asylum abuse by rejecting visa applicants who fit the profile of someone who will go on to claim asylum. It will be aimed at migrants from countries with high rates of such applicants, including Pakistan, Nigeria and Sri Lanka.
Jonathan Portes, a professor of economics at King's College London, said there were clear signs of abuse from these nationalities but that the measure was unlikely to reduce the overall numbers of people coming to the UK.
He said: 'There clearly is abuse. While some people legitimately come here on visas
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
34 minutes ago
- BBC News
Newshour Hundreds arrested amid unrest in Los Angeles
As protests against raids targeting illegal immigrants continue in Los Angeles, we hear the latest from the city and speak to a former director of the US border agency ICE, Ronald Vitiello. Also in the programme: the role of rare earth minerals in an apparent warming of trade relations between the US and China; and reflections of former Palestinian foreign minister Nasser al-Kidwa on finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And memories of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys band, who has died at the age of eighty-two. (Photo: Members of California National Guard speak to a man outside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building, after days of protests against federal immigration sweeps in Los Angeles, 11 June 2025. Credit: REUTERS/David Ryder)
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Trump administration hit with second lawsuit over restrictions on asylum access
Immigration advocates filed a class action lawsuit Wednesday over the Trump administration's use of a proclamation that effectively put an end to being able to seek asylum at ports of entry to the United States. The civil lawsuit was filed in a Southern California federal court by the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, the American Immigration Council, Democracy Forward, and the Center for Constitutional Rights. The lawsuit is asking the court to find the proclamation unlawful, set aside the policy ending asylum at ports of entry and restore access to the asylum process at ports of entry, including for those who had appointments that were canceled when President Donald Trump took office. Unlike a similar lawsuit filed in February in a Washington, D.C., federal court representing people who had already reached U.S. soil and sought asylum after crossing between ports of entry, Wednesday's lawsuit focuses on people who are not on U.S. soil and are seeking asylum at ports of entry. No response was immediately issued by the Department of Homeland Security or Customs and Border Protection, which were both among the defendants listed. Trump's sweeping proclamation issued on his first day in office changed asylum policies, effectively ending asylum at the border. The proclamation said the screening process created by Congress under the Immigration and Nationality Act 'can be wholly ineffective in the border environment' and was 'leading to the unauthorized entry of innumerable illegal aliens into the United States.' Immigrant advocates said that under the proclamation noncitizens seeking asylum at a port of entry are asked to present medical and criminal histories, a requirement for the visa process but not for migrants who are often fleeing from immediate danger. 'Nothing in the INA or any other source of law permits Defendants' actions,' the immigrant advocates wrote in their complaint. Thousands of people who sought asylum through the CBP One app, a system developed under President Joe Biden, had their appointments at ports of entry canceled on Trump's first day in office as part of the proclamation that declared an invasion at the border. 'The Trump administration has taken drastic steps to block access to the asylum process, in flagrant violation of U.S. law,' the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies stated in a news release Wednesday.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
The World Tonight Will voters feel better off from Chancellor's spending plans?
What would you do with a trillion pounds of public money over the next four years? The Chancellor says "renewing Britain" is at the heart of her plans. So when will voters start to feel better off? We ask a Treasury Minister. Also on the programme: After the US Ambassador to Israel told us that Muslim countries should give up their land to create a Palestinian state - we get reaction from a senior Palestinian official. And one of the most influential figures in the history of pop music, Brian Wilson - the creative genius behind the Beach Boys - has died. The veteran DJ Bob Harris - who knew him for more than five decades - pays tribute.
