Latest news with #NationalityandBordersAct2022
BBC News
24-03-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Guernsey could introduce UK digital travel scheme
Guernsey could introduce a new electronic travel scheme, if proposals from the island's government are and Resources (P&R) and Home Affairs have published a policy letter recommending the bailiwick introduces new rules to align it with the adopted, part of the UK's Nationality and Borders Act 2022 would be applied to Guernsey, including introducing an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme for people entering the Rob Prow, president of Home Affairs, said updating immigration legislation would "ensure the safety and security of our borders". British and Irish citizens as well as people with limited or indefinite leave to remain would not need an ETA, the States new legislation would also introduce fines for travel companies carrying passengers without correct documentation, as well as visa penalties for citizens of certain agreed the scheme would come in towards the end of the year, the States said.
Telegraph
19-03-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Man Utd and Man City academy players at centre of age-fraud claims
Manchester United and Manchester City are facing questions over a potential age-fraud scandal involving some of their foreign-born academy players. Evidence has emerged casting doubt on the stated ages of six footballers to have moved to the UK in the last several years – three of whom have played for England at youth level – and raising the prospect some may even be adults. It includes photographs indicating each of the six had played in much older year groups back in their homelands than the age they purportedly would have been at the time. Telegraph Sport is not naming the players involved because the photographs and other records do not prove their stated ages are false and because some or all may still be vulnerable minors. There is also no suggestion United or City have knowingly enabled age-cheating at their academies. But the evidence – of which both clubs are aware – does raise questions about whether they could do more to ensure it and other related offences are not occurring. Problem throws up safeguarding issue Parents whose own sons have attended United or City's academies told Telegraph Sport concerns had been raised with staff about the players under suspicion before the latest evidence emerged. Some of those parents also said the matter had previously been reported to the safeguarding teams at the Football Association and Premier League. The players subsequently continued to represent United and City and remained eligible to represent England on the basis of their stated ages. At least half have been educated in the UK in the corresponding year groups. All this raises questions about whether enough has been done to verify the ages of the six players. Telegraph Sport has been told none of them have undergone scientific testing that can provide an indication of how old a child is or whether someone is over 18. Under the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, such tests can be carried out on those 'subject to immigration control' upon entry into the UK. According to guidance published by the Home Office in November, that includes those who 'do not have sufficient evidence to demonstrate their age, and either their claim to be children is doubted or they claim to be adults but are suspected to be children'. Such testing has long been carried out on young footballers in countries with a history of age fraud and the parents who spoke to Telegraph Sport said it should be used on all foreign-born players recruited by Premier League academies. Any age-cheating scandal involving young players at English clubs would also raise the prospect of children having been 'trafficked' into the UK. Under Fifa rules, teams are all but banned from signing children who have moved countries unless their parents or legal guardians have relocated for non-footballing reasons. The falsification of a young player's age would raise questions about the motive behind such a course of action. United, City, the FA, Premier League and Home Office declined to comment when asked if they had taken any action, or would do so, in light of the evidence to emerge about six of the clubs' players. United said in a statement: 'We are committed to operating all aspects of our academy within the rules and regulations laid down by our governing bodies, including in the recruitment and registration of players. We take our responsibilities for player wellbeing and safeguarding very seriously. Indeed, we take pride in the reputation we have developed for considering the participants in our programmes as first and foremost children, rather than players. Our recruitment process is focused firmly on future potential rather than current performance or physical development.' Telegraph Sport has been told City are confident they have followed all the legal and regulatory obligations set by statutory agencies. One source said it was not unusual for the best and biggest young players to compete several years above their own age group and that it would not be acceptable to age-test children based on geographic origin, as well as impractical to test all academy players. Another source said the FA and Premier League relied on a Home Office determination in respect of an academy player's age when reviewing registration applications. The source added that it was not appropriate for the FA or the league to require academy players that had been subject to immigration controls to undergo any additional age assessment, as to do so would undermine the Home Office's determination. The six players had already been in the UK for a number of years before the evidence to have emerged came to light. However, the Home Office can take action against anyone suspected of committing historic immigration fraud. Telegraph Sport has been told that, in some countries, it is possible to bribe corrupt officials into providing false identity documents. The Home Office would not comment on whether it would look into the photographs and records relating to the players in question. Agent blames smear campaign A contract with a Premier League club would be the ultimate prize for anyone looking to commit age fraud given the riches on offer for the few youngsters deemed good enough to play for one. Being placed into a year group with significantly younger players would afford an older child or adult an unfair advantage over his supposed peers when trying to win a first professional deal. Three of the six aforementioned players have links to a football agent who agreed to answer questions about the evidence to have emerged. FA rules prevent agents signing anyone under the age of 16 and he said he had not entered into any such arrangement with the players. He also said none of the trio had been brought to the UK under false pretences. Asked about photographs indicating they had played football in their homeland in a much older year group than the age they purportedly would have been at the time, he suggested they had been genuinely playing at that level at an early age. However, he twice got two of the players' purported ages wrong when stating how old they were at the time the photographs were taken and how old they would turn on their next birthday. He argued that age-testing was not '100 per cent' accurate and claimed there had been a smear campaign against the players by rival agents they had refused to sign for. 'There is a kind of mafia happening behind the players,' he said. 'The truth will always succeed. They will not stop those boys. They have the gift from God. No one will destroy their career. No one.' Parents lament impact on British talent Speak to the parents of Premier League academy players about suspected age fraud involving foreign-born youngsters and they will share some astonishing stories. They will talk about the England youth star who once got his date of birth mixed up when quizzed about it by his team-mates and who even turned up on his supposed birthday wearing a badge with the wrong age. They will mention the teenager who led his club to an under-11 tournament triumph before deleting his Instagram account and vanishing from public view. They will bring up the players using different surnames to those they went by in their homelands, as well as the supposed 10-year-olds whom local primary schools refused to enrol, and the players forced to sit out overseas trips because they did not have valid passports. Previously, such tales would have been easy to dismiss as gossip and hearsay, and certainly not enough evidence to indicate age cheating. But some of these stories have been thrown into a new light following the emergence of photographs and other records that cast doubt on the stated birthdates of six academy players signed by Manchester United and Manchester City. Parents of those players' current and former peers believe the evidence vindicates concerns they say had been raised with staff at the clubs, as well as with the safeguarding teams at the Football Association and Premier League. 'It's the biggest farce ever' Those concerns stem from what they say are years watching their own sons struggle to compete against players they deemed to be significantly bigger, stronger and quicker than UK-born youngsters in the same age groups. The evidence to have emerged has raised the prospect that some of those players may even be adults. 'There's a massive safeguarding issue,' said one parent, who claimed their son had faced two of the players in question and come up against others they suspected of being 'maybe four, five years' older. They said: 'Not only is it pretty unforgiving, it's also potentially dangerous as well. You're getting hit hard with a tackle or a challenge by a kid that you're giving a foot away to. Sometimes, you're giving away a foot in height and two or three stone in weight. If one of these guys hits you with a challenge, you know about it.' Drawing a comparison with the ongoing furore over transgender women being allowed to play in the female game, they added: 'It's just wrong. It's the biggest farce ever.' Another parent said they had been told that one of the six players had 'attacked another boy and physically three times hit him in the face' and that if any did turn out to be over 18, it would be 'putting a hell of a lot of lives of young boys at risk by letting them travel abroad, travel on buses, planes, in hotel rooms'. They added that some of them would have had access to 'young girls' at secondary school. A third parent said: 'When they come over here, they get put in the school system at that age. If the lad's 16 in a class of 11-12 year-olds, lads at 16 have got sexual urges etc.. with girls. Where does that take it then? You're going into whole new realms of things that could happen.' Another parent brought up football's child sex abuse scandal, warning that any 'men' pretending to be under 18 'could be predators'. They also raised the prospect of such players having been trafficked from their homelands, pointing out that this had happened to current United forward Amad Diallo. Days after Diallo's 2021 move from Atalanta, the Ivory Coast player was fined €48,000 (just over £42,000) by the Italian Football Federation, which ruled he had used false documents to enter Italy when he was just 12. Under Fifa rules, teams are all but banned from signing children who have moved countries unless their parents or legal guardians have relocated for non-footballing reasons. The falsification of a young player's age would raise questions about the motive behind such a course of action. There is no suggestion Diallo lied about his own age.
The Guardian
16-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Number of UK asylum seekers awaiting appeals up by nearly 500% in two years
The number of asylum seekers left in limbo as they appeal against a rejected asylum application has risen by nearly 500% over two years, putting renewed pressure on the taxpayer, an analysis by the Refugee Council has found. Figures released by the Ministry of Justice show that at the end of 2024 there were 41,987 asylum appeals in the tribunal courts' backlog, up from 7,133 at the start of 2023. In the last three months of 2024, there were 12,183 appeals lodged following steps taken by the Labour government to restart asylum decision-making when it arrived in office. The total number of asylum application appeals against decisions lodged at the first-tier tribunal in 2024 has increased by 71% year on year. It follows an increase in refusals as the grant rate for asylum applicants in 2024 fell to 47%. According to the charity, the Home Office's effort to clear the asylum backlog, by hiring new caseworkers and shortening initial interviews, has resulted in a rise in errors and omissions. Enver Solomon, the Refugee Council's chief executive, said more needed to be done to ensure correct first-time decision-making, so a new backlog was not created in a different part of the system. 'Resolving asylum cases well will help reduce costs and the number of people trapped in limbo, stuck in hotels unable to work or move on with their lives. The use of hotels in communities across the country has become a damaging symbol of government failure and a flashpoint for community tensions. There needs to be a clear plan to stopping the use of hotels by the end of this year,' he said. At the end of 2024, there were 38,079 people being accommodated in hotels by the Home Office, official figures show. The Refugee Council estimates that if those numbers were to remain the same throughout 2025, the annual cost could reach nearly £1.5bn. Asylum decision-makers have blamed rules introduced by Rishi Sunak for an increase in asylum appeals. In a rush to fulfil a pledge to clear 90,000 asylum claims by the end of 2023, the former prime minister introduced rules to shorten the training period for staff and gave them a two-hour limit for interviews. More claims are also being refused since the introduction by the previous Conservative government of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, which increased the standard of proof for refugee status. A shortage of immigration lawyers is adding to lengthy delays to the outcome of asylum appeals. This has led to many cases being adjourned or individuals deciding to represent themselves, which typically makes a hearing six times longer than one with legal representation. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Under Yvette Cooper's Home Office, the number of people receiving initial decisions in the latest quarter, October to December 2024, was more than double that of the previous three months. The MoJ is undertaking annual recruitment of about 1,000 judges and tribunal members across all courts and tribunals. The lord chancellor, Shabana Mahmood, announced in November a rise of a minimum of 10% in civil legal aid rates for those working in the immigration sector. A government spokesperson said asylum claims were considered on a case-by-case basis. 'The asylum system we inherited was not fit for purpose, which is why we are taking urgent action to restart asylum processing and clear the backlog of cases, which will save the taxpayer an estimated £4bn over the next two years, and we remain determined to end the use of asylum hotels over time to cut the unacceptably high costs of asylum accommodation.'
