There were more than 300,000 grants of family visas and permits in the past year (a huge rise of 116,000 compared with the total seen just before the pandemic).

Within this, the latest immigration figuresfrom the Home Office suggest a large rise in chain immigration to the UK, with the number of people coming as dependants of those entering on other visas nearly tripling since the previous year (rising from 75,000 to 206,000).

This included:

• Nearly 50,000 more relatives of those coming on study visas
• Nearly 50,000 more relatives of those coming on work visas
• 34,000 dependants of those coming on the pathway to citizenship visa from Hong Kong

Dependants are spouses, partners, children and the application is linked to that of the main applicant They have near full access to UK labour market, can work in any skill level (no salary or skill test) and can engage in study. There is no English language test. Children are entitled to state education. Dependants must pay the immigration health surcharge. 

Figure 1 below shows what happened to grants of entry for dependants (family members) of those given permission to come here on work, study or other visas since 2005.

The Home Office table below the line graph depicts the increases in the various categories of visas granted to dependants on other visas, in the years ending March 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Figure 1: Dependants of migrants coming to UK on other visas, 2005 to Year Ending March 2022, Home Office.

However, there were also particularly large increases in grants to dependants of Sponsored study visa holders (from 23,765 in the year ending March 2021 to 72,554 in the year ending March 2022), and dependants of Skilled workers (up from 37,764 to 83,400).

This will be linked with the fact that controls on both study and work visas have been substantially weakened as part of the post-Brexit immigration system, which came online on 1 January 2021.

Figure 2: Dependants of those on other visas by category of the person being accompanied. Year ending March 2022.

Figure 3 below shows that nationals of just five countries made up 70% of 205,889 dependants.

There was a significant rise in dependants from Nigeria, the number of whom nearly quadrupled from just under 9,000 in year ending March 2021 to 34,800 in year ending March 2022. Nearly 80% of Nigerian dependants accompanied those coming to the UK on sponsored study visas.

Those from China / Hong Kong came in as dependants under the B(NO) scheme of which there were a total of 35,752. 

Figure 3: Dependants of those on other visas. Five of the top nationalities in year ending March 2022.

For more on these statistics, see the full Home Office data here.

1. The total number of migrants entering the UK clandestinely each year is not known. However, our analysis suggests that there have been at least 320,000 attempts to come to the UK without prior permission from Northern France since 2014. This number does not include attempted but unsuccessful attempts to come via lorry from 2020 to 2022 so the total may be significantly higher.

2. Meanwhile, there have been at least 110,000 detected and reported irregular arrivals from Northern France via dinghy and lorry since 2014, including approximately 70,000 arrivals by those hiding in the back of lorries or in containers.

3. The government do not regularly apprise the tax-paying public of statistics on the scale of detected illegal arrivals by lorry or container. They now also intend to restrict publication of statistics on irregular small boats arrivals. However, Migration Watch UK research – based on official sources – suggests that lorry detections have averaged just under 9,000 per year since 2014.

4. When those arriving in boats are included, the estimated number of detected illegal arrivals from Northern Europe has more than quadrupled from just under 9,000 to 37,400 since 2018. Of the total of the nearly 75,000 coming since then, just over half (40,400) were reported coming by boat, and the remainder, 35,600, by lorry.

Figure 1: Estimate of detected illegal arrivals in boats / lorries, 2018-2021 (Migration Watch UK analysis of Home Office figures, statistics released by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration and media reports).

5. The authorities have suggested that the boat route was only used sporadically until 2018 when arrivals increased. For example, only 15 people were reported as being detected during 2014.

6. However, Home Office information shows that 150,000 migrants were encountered at Calais, Coquelles and Dunkirk attempting to pass clandestinely through the juxtaposed border controls between 2016 and 2019, with just over half of these (or 81,000) attempting to access the UK via Calais. This will include many people attempting to come here via lorry.

Table 1: Reproduced from Independent Chief Inspector of Borders report, Nov. 2020. Totals of migrants encountered trying to breach juxtaposed controls.

7. Those who come without permission by lorry enter concealed in or on a heavy goods vehicle and are then either detected at a UK port or are subsequently discovered later on in-country, having left the vehicle at its first stopping-point. In 2016/17, three in four clandestines who were detected at a southern port were found at Dover.

8. The vast majority of those discovered by the authorities after entering in the back of lorries or containers are encountered in-country subsequent to their clandestine entry, with only about 10% to 13% detected in Border Force-controlled areas of UK ports.

9. During the period 2016-2019 most of the migrants encountered attempting to by-pass border controls clandestinely were males under the age of 30.

10. And over three quarters (77%, or 120,000 out of 155,200 in total) of those encountered trying to pass clandestinely through the juxtaposed controls claimed to be either Eritrean, Iraqi or Afghan nationals.

11. The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders, the main immigration watchdog, has said that more than 90% of detected clandestine entrants in 2014 and 2015 claimed asylum after being detected. This is similar to boat migrants. Home Office figures released for migrants arriving by dinghy during the first half or so of 2020 suggested that 98% claim asylum.

1. A freedom of information release shows that nearly 2,000 fraudulent identity documents are presented to Border Force staff per year (totalling 21,256 between 2010 and 2020)^[1] – see Figure 1 below for the trend during the period. The number in 2019 was the 4th highest in the period (after 2014-2016) with 2,134 such documents presented before a drop in the midst of plummeting air arrivals during the pandemic. It was reported that the Liverpool bomber Emad Al Swealmeen, who blew himself up outside a women’s hospital on 14 November 2021, deceived officials during an asylum interview after using a fake Jordanian passport to come here. More recently, however, it was reported that Al Swealmeen had travelled into the UK on a genuine Jordanian passport that he falsely claimed to be a fake in a bid to bolster his case.

Figure 1: Fraudulent identity documents presented to Border Force officials, 2010-20Number of fraudulent identity documents presented to Border Force201020112012201320142015201620172018201920205001,0001,5002,0002,5003,000

2. According to Home Office (HO) guidance^[2], a “False Document” is defined in paragraph 6 of the Immigration Rules as including any of the following:

• a document which has been altered or tampered with
• a counterfeit document
• a document which is being used by an imposter
• a document which has been fraudulently obtained or issued
• a document which contains a falsified or counterfeit entry clearance, visa or endorsement

3. In most cases where a passenger is suspected of having used a false document or having destroyed a travel document, Border Force has discretion to deal with the individual by seeking to remove them rather than referring the case for potential criminal investigation (Independent Chief Inspector of Borders report). ^[3] Those found to be using false documents may be prosecuted under the Identity Documents Act 2010, or other provisions. Section 6 of the 2010 Act applies to possession of false documents etc., without reasonable excuse (maximum sentence of two years in prison). Section 4 deals with possession of false documents with improper intention. There is a maximum prison sentence of 10 years. ^[4] Figure 2 below shows the number of prosecutions and convictions per year (2013-20) for possession of false documents (both indictable only and triable either way).

Figure 2: Prosecutions / convictions; possession of false documents (Min. of Justice).^[5]Prosecutions / convictions; possession of false documentsMin. of JusticeProsecutedConvicted2013201420152016201720182019202002505007501,0001,250

4. “Passports and other forms of ID are becoming increasingly difficult to forge thanks to state-of-the-art security features such as complex laser perforations or microchips with photos / fingerprints” (says EU border force Frontex). “But criminals never stop improving their game. New methods include obtaining authentic travel documents under false pretences, using such documents as fake birth or marriage certificates to obtain real documents or using authentic documents of look-alikes.”^[6]

5. The Covid period has been a period of much added pressure for Border Force officials, including extra concerns about false documentation connected with travel restrictions and quarantine, with one officer saying: “We’ve been clobbered with a huge increase in workload. It puts immigration control at risk.”^[7] (see media report).

6. An Albanian man who used false documents to enter the UK illegally from Ireland used the bogus papers to set up a construction company that allowed him to earn £4,000 a month. He used a range of false passports, driving licences and identity cards in different nationalities for more than seven years before being arrested. He was jailed for 32 months in July 2021.^[8] In another recent case, a Ghana-born man was jailed for four years, nine months for providing false documents in Sheffield to enable illegal immigrants to remain here.^[9]

7. From 1 October 2021, UK Border Force stopped accepting insecure ID cards from most EU, EEA and Swiss citizens, noting that ID cards are some of the most abused documents seen by Border Force officers. In 2020, almost half of all false documents detected at the border were EU, EEA or Swiss ID cards. “They can be easily abused by people attempting to come into the country illegally” (see HO press statement).^[10]

8. However, both the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and the Channel Threat Commander have said that those coming here without prior permission often destroy documentation prior to arrival. This poses a huge public safety risk since it makes it much harder to properly identify people for security purposes. Despite not having documentation, most irregular arrivals are then swiftly bailed to live in the community and, due to rapidly collapsing immigration enforcement, will likely be able to remain here even if their asylum claim fails.

9. We recently revealed that asylum age fraud (abetted by this destruction of documentation) has tripled in the year to September 2021 to the highest level since 2006. At least 40,000 people have come by dinghy without prior permission since the start of 2018. Many, if not most, arrivals destroy their documentation before arrival (see our December 2021 briefing paper).^[11]

10. Section 2 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants) Act 2004 means someone can be prosecuted if claiming asylum having destroyed documents, but prosecutions have fallen dramatically in recent years. The authorities, it seems, are increasingly unwilling to use laws that are already in place to secure the border and keep the public safe.

11. It is also notable that HO asylum guidance suggests falsehoods told by an asylum applicant will not necessarily reflect badly on their claim. The 2015 guidance says: “A claimant’s testimony may include lies or exaggerations for a variety of reasons, not all of which need reflect adversely on other areas… Falsehoods… do not mean that everything the claimant has said must be dismissed as unreliable.” (See HO Asylum policy instruction).^[12]

12. It should be added that materially fraudulent asylum claims made, for example, in a false identity or nationality, could render the claimant to prosecution under Section 24A of the Immigration Act 1971 (use of deception to obtain or seek to obtain leave to enter or remain or to secure avoidance, postponement or revocation of enforcement action). However, a study of Ministry of Justice prosecution statistics suggests that this provision is barely being used.^[13]

Footnotes

1. Freedom of Information response by Border Force, 16 November 2021.
2. Home Office guidance, ‘Suitability: false representations, deception, false documents, non- disclosure of relevant facts’, December 2020, URL: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/syste… y-false-representations-v2.0ext.pdf
3. Former independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, ‘An inspection of how the UK Border Agency and Border Force handle customs and immigration offences at ports’, 2012, URL: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/syste… tion-offences-at-ports-Jan_2013.pdf
4. Crown prosecution service, immigration offences: legal guidance, URL: https://www.cps.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/publications/Immigration-Offences-Annex.pdf
5. Criminal Justice System Statistics publication: Proceedings and Outcomes by Home Office Code 2013 to 2020.
6. Frontex, URL: https://frontex.europa.eu/we-support/document-and-identity-fraud/
7. The Guardian, ‘‘It’s pretty common’: fake documents add to Border Force officials’ Covid woes’, May 2021, URL: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/may/16/its-pretty-common… ls-of-spotting-fake-covid-documents
8. Yorkshire Evening Post, July 2021, URL: https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/crime/fraudster-arres… pany-earning-ps4000-a-month-3308864
9. The Star, December 2021, URL: https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/crime/man-jailed-for-providing-fal… ul-immigrants-to-stay-in-uk-3503506
10. See Home Office press statement, URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/insecure-id-cards-phased-out-a… l-document-to-strengthen-uk-borders
11. See our briefing paper, ‘Asylum abuse by adults pretending to be children’, December 2021, URL: https://migrationwatchuk.org/news/2021/12/27/asylum-abuse-by-adults-claiming-to-be-children
12. Asylum policy instruction, January 2015, pp.12-13, URL: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/syste… IBILITY_AND_REFUGEE_STATUS_V9_0.pdf
13. Statistics under Detailed offence: “Non-British citizen, by means including deception, obtaining or seeking leave to enter or remain in the UK or postponement, avoidance or revocation of enforcement action against him”, suggest that there were only 5 prosecutions for this offence in 2020 compared with 39 in 2014. Criminal Justice System Statistics publication: Proceedings and Outcomes by Home Office Code 2013 to 2020.