The Telegraph
More than 170,000 immigrants refused leave to stay in Britain are to be tracked down by private-sector “bounty hunters”.
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It emerged that UKBA was quietly adding
to a list of all the workers and students who have been refused leave
to remain in Britain after their initial visas expired Photo: PA
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The support services firm Capita will earn up to £40million if it finds all of
the migrants identified by the UK Border Agency who may be living in the
country illegally.
But it was claimed by MPs that the company will be “laughing all the way to
the bank” as its four-year contract does not specify how many people it has
to remove.
Rob Whiteman, chief executive of UKBA, told the Home Affairs Select Committee:
“The contract is on payment by results, where they will make contact with
potential overstayers from our records.
“The potential value of the contract, if they performed very well over a
four-year period, would be around £40 million.”
“If nobody leaves, because they make contact with them, nobody will get paid.”
The existence of the group of potential overstayers – known as the Migrant Refusal Pool – was first disclosed by the immigration watchdog in July.
It emerged that UKBA was quietly adding to a list of all the workers and students who have been refused leave to remain in Britain after their initial visas expired, and who therefore may be living here illegally. They are meant to leave within 28 days but can apply for leave in another category or appeal against the decision.
The list does not include those who entered the country illegally or failed asylum seekers.
It was set up in 2008 and since then the number of people on the Migrant Refusal Pool rose steadily to reach 159,313 by December last year.
At the end of June, new documents show, it stood at 174,057.
UKBA insisted that the database merely showed records of cases where it lacked evidence that an individual had left the country or had been granted leave to remain under a new category, and did not constitute “a number of people yet to be removed from the UK”.
Its new deal with Capita, to be signed in the next month, follows a pilot project with Serco, another services provider, which found that 20 per cent of migrants contacted left the country within six months.
Capita will contact the people named on the list by writing to them, phoning them, emailing them and even sending them text messages, but will not visit them in person.
When it makes contact with them, it will try to help them get the correct travel documents and flights to return to their home countries.
If an overstayer refuses to leave, Capita will tell UKBA.
Capita, which provides services for Government including Criminal Records Bureau checks and TV Licensing, declined to comment as the contract has not yet been signed.
Source
The existence of the group of potential overstayers – known as the Migrant Refusal Pool – was first disclosed by the immigration watchdog in July.
It emerged that UKBA was quietly adding to a list of all the workers and students who have been refused leave to remain in Britain after their initial visas expired, and who therefore may be living here illegally. They are meant to leave within 28 days but can apply for leave in another category or appeal against the decision.
The list does not include those who entered the country illegally or failed asylum seekers.
It was set up in 2008 and since then the number of people on the Migrant Refusal Pool rose steadily to reach 159,313 by December last year.
At the end of June, new documents show, it stood at 174,057.
UKBA insisted that the database merely showed records of cases where it lacked evidence that an individual had left the country or had been granted leave to remain under a new category, and did not constitute “a number of people yet to be removed from the UK”.
Its new deal with Capita, to be signed in the next month, follows a pilot project with Serco, another services provider, which found that 20 per cent of migrants contacted left the country within six months.
Capita will contact the people named on the list by writing to them, phoning them, emailing them and even sending them text messages, but will not visit them in person.
When it makes contact with them, it will try to help them get the correct travel documents and flights to return to their home countries.
If an overstayer refuses to leave, Capita will tell UKBA.
Capita, which provides services for Government including Criminal Records Bureau checks and TV Licensing, declined to comment as the contract has not yet been signed.
Source
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