Thousands of migrants could still be in the United Kingdom illegally despite efforts to check overstaying, according to UK's National Audit Office (NAO).
The UK Border Agency (UKBA) figures suggest that there could be as many as 181,000 people in UK with expired dated visas.
Since the introduction of the new Point-based Immigration System in Dec 2008, migrants from outside the European Economic Area have been allowed to enter UK for work, but the UKBA did not do enough to check overstaying, NAO said.
The point-based system, introduced by the UKBA, was for the most part designed well and provides an adaptable means of meeting the UK's work-related immigration policy objectives.
However, according to NAO, the system is not yet delivering its full potential for value for money. Its processes and systems are not efficient and customer service could be improved.
The agency can also provide little assurance that it is effectively managing the risk of non-compliance with immigration rules by migrants and their sponsors.
NAO observed that the system scored migrants against a number of assessment criteria, including their skills and it appeared to have attracted skilled applications, although the evidence was not robust.
The system has so far worked effectively to meet needs of employers although a third of sponsoring employers surveyed wanted to recruit more skilled foreign workers than they were able to. Sponsors and migrants often struggle to get the information and assistance they need.
According to NAO, the UKBA lacks the ability to identify easily individuals whose visas have expired and it does not do enough to check that migrants leave the UK if they have no right to remain.
Since 2009, the UKBA has contacted failed applicants and encouraged around 2,000 to leave voluntarily. But, while it has some contact details for an estimated 181,000 failed applicants overall, it cannot be sure how many have left the UK.
Poor information systems are also undermining the ability of the agency to manage the risk that sponsors are failing to comply with the immigration rules. It rates as compliant some 96 per cent of its 22,000 sponsoring employers but is unable to say how many it has visited to confirm this.
Hinting clampdown Immigration Minister Damian Green said radical reforms were being brought in and abuses would be clamped down upon.
News Source: BDNews24