30th
Oct 2015
In the six months that the ‘Right to Rent’ pilot scheme has been enforced throughout the West Midlands, it has uncovered over 100 illegal immigrants.
As reported widely across the media, the scheme has made it mandatory for landlords to check new and existing tenant’s documentation to prove their right to stay in the country. If landlords fail to comply then they will receive a fine of up to £3,000.
Figures released by the Home Office report that from the pilot 63 illegals were found to have unrecorded details, and another 46 who were discovered to have previously disappeared when found out by immigration teams.
In total the scheme has uncovered 109 people of which nine had been sent back to their native countries and a further five are currently in the process of being removed.
There are also 40 cases going through the various processes and a further 28 people had ‘outstanding cases such as asylum applications’.
From the total just nine people have been granted permission to live in the United Kingdom, six people manage to evade being dealt with because the scheme was not entirely understood by those officers.
Nine illegal immigrants failed to report immigration officers and are presumably living elsewhere.
The scheme is due to be rolled out across the UK from February 2016 and the Home Office still states that the scheme will not promote discrimination.
The Immigration minister, James Brokenshire, said: ‘This demonstrates the Government’s determination to control immigration in the interests of the whole country and in ensuring that people here unlawfully are not able to enjoy a settled life here in defiance of our laws.’
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