News

Local immigration teams to be introduced across the UK

The Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, has announced that new local immigration teams are being introduced across the UK, alongside Local Crime Partnerships with police, as part of a major refocus of the work of the UK Border Agency (UKBA). Around 7,500 UKBA officers and staff up and down the UK will be reorganized into 70-80 Local Immigration Teams and given a clear mission to focus on local immigration crime.

The Government's plans, set out in 'Enforcing the Deal', set a clear focus for the UKBA's work in Britain to target the removal from the UK of the most harmful people first. Reforms set out in 'Enforcing the Deal' include:

• from June this year, the UK Border Agency is naming and shaming employers who hire illegal immigrants;
  
• from summer this year the most serious business offenders will be targeted jointly by UKBA and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in a new intelligence sharing and joint targeting partnership which will come into force from July;
  
• employers having to apply for carefully policed sponsor licences to hire migrants;
  
• the creation of a joint investment and business plan between UKBA and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA);
  
• watch-lists of immigration offenders being shared with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), HMRC and the Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance System (CIFAS).

Dyne Solicitors Limited - 01829 773100, info@dynesolicitors.co.uk