Visas checked 'in minutes'

Published on Saturday 4 July 2009 19:54

OFFICIALS are spending an average of just 11 minutes checking visa applications from Afghanistan and Pakistan, it was claimed yesterday.

A new system for handling visas means only 11 entry clearance officers have processed more than 66,000 requests over seven months, the Conservatives said. That amounts to 43 applications each every day – or one every 11 minutes.

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said the revelations showed the system was "wholly inadequate". But the Home Office said the calculations were "totally wrong".

Grayling said: "We've had endless rhetoric from ministers about how they've dramatically tightened the rules for visa applicants from countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"Now we discover the system is riddled with holes and the checks are wholly inadequate. It's just not good enough."

Between October last year and 31 May, some 66,415 applications were processed through the Pakistan office by 11 entry clearance officers and two managers. They are tasked with carrying out fraud checks on supporting documents to ensure applicants are genuine.

Home Office answers to parliamentary questions also revealed no telephone interviews with applicants were carried out over an eight-month period.