Saturday, July 28th, 2007
The UK’s largest visa and immigration company, www.globalvisas.com, is fundamentally challenging Gordon Brown’s anti-terrorist strategy, branding it as “inconvenient, highly questionable and not thought through in the slightest”.
The prime minister has made it clear that biometrics will be collected from all people in the UK, or coming to the UK in future, when applying for a passport or visa. In addition, UK Visas and a department within Customs and Excise will join the Immigration Nationality Directorate under the newly renamed Borders & Immigration Agency as a supposed effective measure against terrorism. However, the company believes that no terror attack would have been prevented had the UK held biometric data on the perpetrators.
Director Liam Clifford says: “This is yet another inconvenience to law-abiding British citizens, and genuine business travellers and tourists coming to our country.”
He continues: “The war on terror must be intelligence-led, not an excuse to impose such infringements on people’s liberties just because the government is not capable of addressing the terrorist directly and firmly.”
Mr Clifford believes that even the name ‘Borders & Immigration Agency’ was ill-thought through to the point that B.I.A also stands for Birmingham International Airport. Home Office staff at the Borders and Immigration Agency have been warned not to use the abbreviation B.I.A in any correspondence, instead typing it out in full when referring to it. Ironically this warning came via an email address that was xxxxxxx@bia.gov.uk. It has become an inside joke and highlights how poorly thought through the current immigration strategy is.
According to Mr Clifford, a few major holes in the latest headline grabbers include:-
1. Biometric data collection in India and Pakistan will be managed by an Indian company on behalf of the UK government. The people working for this company are civilian employees, not government officials, yet have considerable powers. To save money, Mr Brown’s biggest weapon on terror has been moved offshore to a private business.
2. Law-abiding citizens travelling legitimately for business or pleasure are to be penalised and delayed, yet to claim asylum in the UK a person does not need any form of ID and can stay in the UK for long periods under the provisions of the Human Rights Act.
3. Biometrics are to be gathered and stored as computer data, which is itself highly vulnerable to tampering and exploitation, and maybe more so if held by private, offshore companies. Credit Card companies are the first to confirm that any system used will provide loopholes to be exploited.
4. Immigration into the UK for respectable visitors is hard enough already, without the new anti-terror measures. Far from preventing terrorism, the measures will simply restrict the opportunities for people to take a last minute break in the UK.
Liam Clifford adds: “In my 18 years of working in the service of our country, I have never heard of a terror attack being put off by a need for the right paperwork.”
Liam Clifford started life with UK Immigration, working for years under the Official Secrets Act.
He now runs the UK’s largest visa and immigration business with over 4,000 requests for help per week from people wishing to leave the UK or come to the UK to work. The company only deals with highly skilled individuals and employers who require overseas skills to provide a competitive advantage.
The company does not agree with the way the UK immigration strategy seems to admit low skilled people and refugees while at every step it hinders the movement of those highly educated and hard working people the UK needs.
Liam Clifford has become a leading figure in UK Immigration and Visas worldwide. He has even sat on the Government UK Work Permit User Panels and UK Visas panels and has met over a dozen Home Secretaries.
Once he was even arrested and thrown in the cells of the Old Bailey due to his previous government job of keeping people outside the UK. During his time in the Old Bailey cells he realised his country needs help and people who work for HM Government. UK Plc should never have to spend time in the cells for a job well done.
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Biometrics Slammed by UK’s Largest Visa and Immigration Company
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