Visa system changes

The UK visa system will be changed in several ways this year

The British government’s immigration minister Liam Byrne said that his department could now check the fingerprints of anyone around the world, when they apply for a visa for the UK. He added that the new system was the first of 10 key changes to the UK’s border control system which would be implemented during 2008.
He said that the department had already discovered around 500 cases where potential visitors to Britain did not supply their correct identity.
The government is also to change the immigration system so that employers that hire illegal immigrants will be fined up to £10.0000 for each illegal migrant worker that they employ.
The shadow (Conservative) home secretary David Davis welcomed the new controls but warned that the UK’s borders would remain `seriously vulnerable’ until a special border police service was formed.
The UK Independence party leader, Nigel Farage, said that the government was controlling immigration more than it had done in the past but added that despite this 450 million people in the EU (European Union) still had a legal right to live and work in Britain and be entitled to claim state benefits, use British schools and the national health service.