Fingerprinting for all visa applicants by 2008 |
|
|
|
Published
:
Fri, 24 Jun 2005 08:05
|
The government unveiled the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill on Wednesday in an effort to tighten immigration controls. According to this bill, parents who opt to hire foreign nannies illegally would be liable to be fined £2,000 on the spot.
Home Office Minister Tony McNulty said that this bill would primarily be focused on larger firms but householders who violate it would be brought to book. The government has also mooted plans to allow immigration officers to check biometric information, such as fingerprints. These would be made mandatory for all visa applicants by 2008.
The Bill seeks to empower security services MI5, MI6 and GCHQ by allowing them to share data about passengers and freight and crew movements to and from the UK. This would also apply to customs, immigration and police officers patrolling the UK borders.
The government says that latest statistics show that in the last year around 3,330 employees entered the UK without permission to work.
Mr. McNulty admitted that it would be harder to get at householders hiring illegal workers but national insurance could play a key role in this area, "If it is a full-time childminder living in the home and national insurance contributions are paid, then that is an employment contract clearly," he said.
The Bill states that an employer will be liable to the fines "if he employs an adult subject to immigration control who has not been granted leave to enter or remain in the UK or whose leave is invalid, has expired or is subject to a condition preventing him from accepting employment".
Criticizing the Bill, Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said the Government had just changed the wording around, "Despite soaring numbers and soaring costs, the Government still refuses to accept the need to set a limit on immigration. The election campaign showed that we need to restore confidence to the system. This can only be achieved by establishing a yearly limit," he pointed out.
Habib Rahman, the chief executive of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said, "This is asking employers to do the Home Office's dirty work. People migrate here because there is work which they are needed to do."
|
|
|
|
|
|
Print this Story
