Press Release - Visa Entry to the United Kingdom: The Entry
Clearance Operation
17 June 2004
Sir John Bourn, Head of the National Audit Office reported today
on the entry clearance operation run by UKvisas at British
Embassies, High Commissions and Consulates around the world. It is
government policy to facilitate the entry of those qualifying for
visas as quickly and simply as possible, while turning away
unqualified applicants. UKvisas faces a real challenge in balancing
these competing priorities of delivering an efficient visa service
whilst giving each application adequate consideration (see note 2).
The NAO found that despite increasing demand for visas and a
rapidly changing policy environment, UKvisas is improving its
efficiency and providing a high quality of service to applicants.
However, the use of better information on the application of
controls would assist UKvisas in making firm and fair entry
clearance decisions.
In 2002-03 UKvisas processed 1.94 million applications, an
increase of 33 per cent over the last five years. In response to
this increase, UKvisas has implemented a number of initiatives to
improve the efficient delivery of its visa service, including
changes to working practices and improvements to information
technology. These are resulting in demonstrable benefits and are
enabling visa-issuing posts to handle the increasing number of
applications. But there remains some variation in the performance
of posts and in the extent to which they have adopted efficiency
initiatives to-date. The NAO surveyed visa applicants at 12 posts
and found that 80 per cent were satisfied with the quality of
service they received. However, 35 out of 162 posts could not
consistently meet the daily demand for visa applications in 2003.
The increasing demand for visas and potential changes in
immigration policy mean that more posts could face such
difficulties in the future. In the light of this, there is a need
for UKvisas to explore further the options for managing demand.
UKvisas places a strong emphasis on applying robust immigration
control and carries out a range of checks on each application
though the implementation of this policy cannot be fully evaluated
since there is no means of knowing the extent to which those
receiving visas breach their conditions of entry eg, by overstaying
their allotted time in the UK. UKvisas has sought to enhance the
application of its controls by devoting more resources to forgery
detection, making better use of intelligence information and by
developing a more sophisticated approach to risk analysis. More
remains to be done, particularly in collecting and disseminating
information to visa sections to inform decision-making and to
provide better feedback on visa compliance. The high profile case
of the European Community Association Agreements in Bulgaria and
Romania illustrate the importance of co-ordination, guidance and
feedback in making decisions. UKvisas’ existing performance targets
focus primarily on efficiency and the establishment of indicators
to assess the effectiveness of controls would ensure that
sufficient emphasis is given to control issues. However, a full
assessment of whether the objectives of entry clearance are being
met would require better information on the actions of visa holders
after they enter the United Kingdom.
UKvisas seeks to encourage consistent decision-making through a
range of measures, including its staff training programme and the
provision of support and advice to staff at posts. The fact that
staff consider each application on its own merits and that there is
a degree of judgement involved makes it difficult for UKvisas to
measure whether firm and fair decisions are being made on a
consistent basis. In 2003, 50 per cent of appeals against entry
clearance decisions on family visit cases led to the original
decision being overturned although this represents only 5% of the
applications that UKvisas refused. While there are several
contributing factors, this does raise some questions over the
quality of decision-making. The Report identifies that stronger
quality review and additional focused training would give greater
assurance of consistent decision making and could therefore lead to
fewer borderline refusals reaching appeal.
Sir John Bourn said:
"It is government policy to facilitate entry of those
qualifying for visas as quickly and simply as possible while
turning away unqualified applicants. Entry clearance staff have
done much to achieve ease of entry. Adequacy of controls has been
more difficult to achieve because there is no comprehensive
feedback on whether visa entry conditions are obeyed by those
receiving them; nevertheless improvements are possible even so and
are recommended in this report."
Notes for Editors
- UKvisas is a joint body which was established in 2000 by the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Home Office to manage the
United Kingdom’s entry clearance operation.
- UKvisas' twin aims are to facilitate the entry of legitimate
travellers to the United Kingdom and to prevent the entry of those
who do not qualify under immigration rules. Staff consider
applications from nationals of 107 countries who require entry
clearance to come to the United Kingdom, whatever the purpose of
their journey, and from people of all nationalities who intend to
marry or settle in the United Kingdom. Each visa application is
considered on its own merits and includes an assessment of the
applicant’s credibility and intentions. Decision making involves a
degree of judgement as it is based on the balance of probabilities
that the applicant will comply with the terms of the visa once in
the United Kingdom. It also relies on the interpretation of complex
and changing immigration rules.
- Press notices and reports are available from the date of
publication on the NAO website at www.nao.org.uk.
Hard copies can be obtained from The Stationery Office on 0845 702
3474.
- The Comptroller and Auditor General, Sir John Bourn, is the
head of the National Audit Office which employs some 800 staff. He
and the NAO are totally independent of Government. He certifies the
accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other
public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to
Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which
departments and other bodies have used their resources.
Press Notice 45/04
All enquiries to Bill Schaper, NAO Press Office:
Tel: 020 7798 7335
Mobile: 07795 120838