'Back-door amnesty' may let immigrants stay By Ben Leapman, Home Affairs Correspondent, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 2:13am BST 06/08/2007
Hundreds of thousands of failed asylum seekers may be allowed to settle
permanently in Britain under a "back-door amnesty" scheme.
Cardinal Cormack Murphy O'Connor and The Bishop of Southwark
support an amnesty for illegal migrants
The Government is striving to clear a backlog of 450,000 "legacy" cases
of immigrants who were turned down for refugee status but were never expelled.
A 1,000-strong Home Office team has been set up to work through the list,
giving priority to individuals and families who may now qualify for UK
residency rights because such a long time has passed since their initial
rejection.
Without publicity, the first 6,000 families on the list were sent
questionnaires last month asking about their current circumstances. Insiders
close to the scheme said those who gave the "right" answers would be granted
"leave to remain".
Asylum seekers who cannot be traced are expected to be simply struck off
the "legacy" list, giving the impression that officials have made progress in
tackling the backlog. They would no longer be sought actively for removal, even
though they would remain illegal immigrants - liable for deportation if ever
caught.
A campaign for an amnesty for illegal migrants has won backing from many
Labour MPs and Church leaders.
But David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said: "Senior members of this
Government, including Harriet Harman [Labour deputy leader] and Alan Johnson
[Health Secretary], may have publicly endorsed an amnesty for people entering
the UK illegally, but now the Government is effectively offering an amnesty via
the back door."
The Borders and Immigration Agency (BIA), a branch of the Home Office,
aims to consider all "legacy" cases by 2011. It will not say how many of the
450,000 it expects to be allowed to remain.
Those granted leave-to-remain status will be able to live and work freely
in the UK, and claim benefits. After five years they can apply for a British
passport. This would normally be granted unless an applicant commits serious
crimes or is considered a national security threat.
Officials have been told to give priority to cases in four categories:
those likely to qualify for leave to remain; those receiving financial support
from the Home Office pending appeal against refusal of asylum; those who can be
removed easily; and those who pose a risk to the public.
One member of a Home Office advisory panel that has discussed the legacy
exercise said: "They are upping the pace quite a lot now. By the end of this
year, they ought to be progressing a lot of cases."
Liam Clifford, a former immigration officer and head of the consultancy
globalvisas.com, said: "While the Home Office talks tough, it is preparing for
one of the biggest mass grants of residency rights to asylum seekers in
history.
"The word is out at street level that completing the questionnaire will
result in the right to stay in the UK. The BIA simply does not have the
resources to investigate each case properly, so it will grant all the
applications it can in order to clear the backlog."
Ministers insist the scheme does not amount to an amnesty because
decisions are being taken on a case-by-case basis. Liam Byrne, the immigration
minister, said: "We have no plans for an amnesty, which I have condemned as
wrong. This has always been our position and remains the case."
The move to clear up the asylum backlog follows the biggest wave of legal
migration in history, with more than 600,000 eastern Europeans moving to the UK
since the 2004 EU expansion.
Only about 18,000 failed asylum seekers were removed last year. Efforts
by the Home Office to increase the rate of removals have met with limited
success.
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