It's a back-handed way of taking money from illegal migrants, the visa over-stayers. There's probably way more visa-overstayers than there are channel-crossers.
But it's not dog whistle headlines, like channel crossings in small boats.
As Migration Watch admits, the government do not make an estimate because the figures would shame them into oblivion.
Potentially Hundreds of thousands over stay there visa each year:
" That is because tens (or even hundreds) of thousands of people overstay their visas each year – which is another form of immigration abuse (see our papers here¹. Indeed, the Home Office just disclosed that more than 20,500 people of Indian nationality overstayed their visa in 2020 alone.
Meanwhile, the latest estimates by Pew Research suggest the number of illegals in the UK could be as high as 1.2 million (the largest illegal immigrant population in Europe). Meanwhile the government refuses to make an estimate of the number, knowing that the truth would shame them into oblivion."
Whereas the total number of channel crossers is about 45,000 in 2022.
90% of channel crossers claim asylum.
No figures are given for visa-overstayers claiming asylum. Probably too small to register.
1. The number of foreign nationals who need a visa but who the Home Office did not record as departing the UK on time
nearly doubled from 50,000 in 2016/17 to nearly 92,000 in 2019/20. Additionally, the most recent investigation into the number of visitors from more than 50 countries who do not need a visitor visa to come here for a stay of six months, but who were not recorded as departing on time, found that they could number 250,000 a year. The Home Office (HO) previously rejected a recommendation to improve analysis of this data on what may be the largest tranche of potential overstaying. They have since evaded parliamentary questions aimed at establishing an updated figure. We have serious questions about why the HO has failed to follow recommendations from the independent borders watchdog to analyse and better understand the huge amount of data it possesses on possible overstaying by non-visa national visitors, and on whether effective action is being taken to close this large gap in immigration control, alongside effective enforcement action.
Analysis of the official statistics on irregular migration show that more than 135,000 people have been detected attempting to enter the UK illegally since 1 January 2018. The total quadrupled – from just over 13,000 in 2018 to more than 52,000 in 2022. Just under 60% of total attempts were by...
www.migrationwatchuk.org
www.telegraph.co.uk
