New measures to counter UK visa fraud in Philippines
December 16 2009 by Liam Clifford
The UK Border Agency and Filipino banking officials are working together to help to track and prevent fraudulent UK visa applications.
The crackdown will involve working with the Bankers Association of the
Philippines (BAP) to try to identify false banking documentation that
is used successfully by many fraudulent immigrants wishing to move to
the UK.
A new system, which will allow banking documentation to be checked for
validity more quickly, accurately and efficiently by officials processing UK visas is being introduced.
The agreement to use the system was signed by British Ambassador Steven
Lillie and BAP operations committee chairman Ricardo Balbido. It was
also signed by Ed Mackie, the north east Asia and Australasia UK Border
Agency regional manager.
Steven Lillie explained how the system will work, “the UK Border Agency
has already provided the BAP with the hardware and we are covering the
software development costs. The BAP are covering the maintenance and
running costs of the system."
He added, “the new system will enable us to detect even more quickly
those who seek to cheat our UK visa system by providing false banking
documents.”
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