UK visa appeals cost the taxpayer 50 million
January 04 2010 by Liam Clifford
The cost to British taxpayers, who help to fund appeals from immigrant families whose relatives are refused UK visas, totals as much as £50 million each year.
The new
figures, taken from a report by the Migrationwatch think tank, show that many
immigrant families living in the UK have appealed decisions on whether their
relatives are able to join them and move to the UK also.
More than 1,000
such appeals are lodged every week, with the number soaring by eight times,
after the government scrapped fees for family visitor visas in 2002. The number
of applications for UK visas that allow relatives to join their loved ones
living in the UK for a period of six months, has reached 400,000 a year. The
number of appeals when these applications are turned down has increased to
64,669 in the year 2007-2008.
The main reason they may be turned down for
a visitors visa is if there is suspicion that they may want to remain living in
the UK for more than six months or if they are suspected of wanting to work in
the UK.
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