Tough new laws tackle UK visa cheats

LONDON – Starting April 1, 2008, visa cheats who try to access the UK by using false documents or deception will face an automatic ban. Applicants who have previously breached UK immigration laws by staying in the UK illegally or working without permission will also be banned from coming to the UK.

The visa service welcomes over two million people a year to the UK, and delivers first class customer service to genuine applicants. The tough new measures target the minority of individuals who try to abuse the rules.

All applicants for a UKvisa are required to provide fingerscans as part of the application process. This identifies if they have previously broken the rules in the UK or have made an application in a different name. Developments in risk assessment and forgery identification have also made it far easier to uncover the cheats.

Applicants who have used deception (used a false document, lied, withheld information) in a previous application will be banned from the UK for ten years.

Applicants who have breached immigration laws in the UK will be banned from coming back to the UK for a lengthy period. The length of time will depend on how individuals left the UK after their breach of the law – one year if they left voluntarily at their own expense, five years if they left voluntarily at public expense and 10 years if they were removed or deported.