Certain migrants wishing to enter the UK must have prior ‘entry clearance’ to do so. Entry clearance normally consists of a vignette placed in a person’s passport and issued by the British Embassy abroad. This provides evidence of an individual’s eligibility under immigration rules to enter the UK. Nationals of certain countries will always require a visa to enter the UK, irrespective of the reasons for their journey.

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Certain migrants wishing to enter the UK must have prior ‘entry clearance’ to do so. Entry clearance normally consists of a vignette placed in a person’s passport and issued by the British Embassy abroad. This provides evidence of an individual’s eligibility under immigration rules to enter the UK. Nationals of certain countries will always require a visa to enter the UK, irrespective of the reasons for their journey. The countries whose nationals always require visas are contained in a ‘visa list’ set out in the Immigration Rules, which currently lists 111 nationals of states or territories.

Entry clearance certificates will include the conditions on which an individual is given leave to enter the UK, such as ‘no recourse to public funds’ - a condition attached to all visas where entry is permitted for a limited period of time, such as for students or migrant workers. People traveling on passports or documents from the former Soviet Union or Republic of Yugoslavia, and stateless persons are also required to obtain entry clearance before traveling. In addition to nationals from visa list countries, prior entry clearance is also mandatory for those coming for family reunion, work or long-term business reasons.

The UK visas system is complemented by various other forms of external border controls to check passengers coming to the UK either prior to or on entry. These controls are carried out by a number of agencies including the police, Security Services, and immigration officers. The UK Parliament, in 1999, authorised the Home Secretary to extend border controls overseas through Immigration Rules under the Immigration Act (1971). Section 3(2) allows the Home Secretary to make the necessary rules for the administration of the Act to be followed by immigration officers. For example, externally the UK has set up joint immigration controls with France and Belgium are to check persons seeking to enter the country and prevent them from doing so, for example if they are unauthorised or may pose a security risk. Detection technology, such as X/gamma ray scanners and heartbeat sensors, is also in place at the entry points of the Channel Tunnel to prevent unauthorised persons entering into concealed areas of trains and lorries. [1] This technology is being extended to other ports in France Belgium and the Netherlands. Airline Liaison Officers (ALOs), who are Chief Immigration Officers, are stationed in third countries by the UK government to provide advice for airlines on who is authorised and properly documented to travel to the UK and examine those documents and prevent entry of inadequately documented individuals. A pre-clearance system was put in place in the Czech Republic in July 2001 to allow British immigration officers to check passengers wishing to travel to the UK with the. This system was challenged in the High Court and Court of Appeal in 2002 and 2003 respectively, the appeals of the European Roma Rights Centre against the measure were not granted although the Court of Appeal granted permission to appeal to the House of Lords (see 8.1- Fundamental rights). The Home Secretary stated during the hearing that the objective of the measures was to prevent asylum seekers from entering the UK.

The UK is also at present implementing Eurodac, the EU system for the comparison of fingerprints of asylum seekers and irregular migrants, to enable the Dublin Convention and its replacement Regulation on the allocation of responsibility for asylum applications to be more effective.

[1] See Statewatch News online

Analysis provided by: Anisa Niaz LLM (Public Law), United Kingdom.

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