EU loophole that lets migrants into the UK

THOUSANDS of migrants are exploiting lax EU rules to bring their families and spouses to Britain by the back door. Foreign nationals from outside Europe who would be unlikely to gain a visa to live or work in the UK are instead applying for citizenship elsewhere in the EU.

Under Brussels rules, they can then move to Britain and apply for permission to bring in their spouse or children.

Now a damning report by an immigration watchdog has found the system is suffering ‘significant abuse’ at the hands of migrants who falsely claim they are related or married to a non-European living in the UK. Yesterday, Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration John Vine called it a ‘ growing problem’. He said: ‘Our findings suggest the European citizenship route is becoming an increasingly important way into the UK for those whose origins lie outside the EEA [European Economic Area], particularly now that the immigration rules have been tightened.’

The report looked at more than 100 sample cases from the Home Office between April and September last year.

It found that more than a third of Western European nationals – 36 per cent – who were applying for citizenship for their partner were born in Africa, Asia or South America and had gained European citizenship before arriving in Britain.

In a quarter of cases the ‘sponsors’ – whose new nationalities included German, Italian and Spanish – were born in the same non-EU country as their partner. In one case, a migrant who acquired Italian nationality before then moving to the UK, received 97 per cent of his income from welfare handouts.

Some 60 per cent of those applying for citizenship for a so-called spouse last year failed because immigration officials feared the relationship was fake – but thousands still slip through the net. Some had taken part in a sham marriage while in the UK and others claimed they had been wed by proxy, where a couple remain in Britain and both are represented at an overseas wedding ceremony, usually by family members. Most proxy marriages were found to be invalid, the report found.

It found there is a problem with Eastern European women moving to the UK and applying for citizenship for men they supposedly married, mainly from Nigeria, Ghana and Pakistan.

Home Affairs Select Committee chairman Keith Vaz said he was ‘deeply concerned’ by the findings. A Home Office spokesman said it was taking ‘ever tougher action’ on those who try to cheat the system.