UK Heightens Offshore Border Controls

More people will face checks before entering the UK to further tighten the UK’s borders, Immigration Minister Liam Byrne has announced.

Through the introduction of a U.S.-style visa waiver program, the Government will create a strengthened border control to screen people it wants to enter the UK and to deny entry to those it does not, even before they get here.

This border builds on the success of exporting cross channel border controls to France and Belgium, which has resulted in an 88 per cent fall in the number of clandestine entrants detected in Kent in 2006 compared to the same period in 2002.

‘Securing the UK Border’, published last week, also sets out how the UK will overhaul visitor visas, including consulting on tougher sanctions for sponsors of family visas, consulting on requiring English for spouses as well as installing technology at UK ports to record biometrics of non-EEA citizens without visas.

By the end of 2008 half the countries in the world, covering three quarters of the world’s population will all need biometric visas with their fingerprints checked against the UK Government database, before traveling to the UK.

The government is also establishing a new Migration Impacts Forum (MIF), jointly chaired by Immigration Minister Liam Byrne and Communities Minister Phil Woolas. It will provide information on the wider impacts of migration on local communities and how best to ensure public services can respond and community cohesion retained.