All Articles: ICIBI
Home Office complaints handling targets “routinely missed”
Home Office targets for handling complaints within 20 working days are “routinely missed”, according to a report published today by the immigration inspector, David Bolt. Mr Bolt also says that the department has failed to keep up improvem ...
8th July 2020Home Office inefficiency “frustrates the purpose” of internal review
Reports by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, David Bolt, now follow a familiar pattern. Mr Bolt and his team carry out an inspection of a certain area of Home Office activity. A report on possible areas of improvement is draw ...
22nd May 2020Chief Inspector blasts Home Office operation of Adults at Risk policy
David Bolt, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, has published his first report into the operation of the Adults at Risk policy. It makes fascinating reading for anyone involved in helping vulnerable adults secure release from d ...
30th April 2020Government hiding key Settlement Scheme data, inspection report suggests
The Home Office has been concealing important data about the EU Settlement Scheme, an independent inspection report suggests. While the department refuses to release the number of “disguised refusals”, or to disclose gender breakdowns rele ...
28th February 2020Public must be told how controversial visa streaming tool works, immigration inspector says
The Home Office should release more details about a “cryptic” computer programme that scores visa applicants as high, medium and low risk, the immigration inspector has recommended. David Bolt says that while applicants labelled high risk ...
6th February 2020Immigration inspector: Home Office lacks a clue on illegal working
Government attempts to tackle illegal working are halting, aimless and ill-adapted to the post-Windrush dispensation, an independent inspection report has found. David Bolt’s latest report says that “the Home Office’s efforts are not rea ...
10th May 2019Immigration and nationality fees lack “basic fairness”
Consistently the most popular article on Free Movement, somewhat depressingly, is the list of immigration and nationality fees. The fees charged by the Home Office for processing visa, settlement and nationality applications are high, set far above th ...
4th April 2019What is the Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration?
The government has proposed the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration as the interim monitoring body for the EU citizen settled status scheme. This briefing examines the powers, remit and impact of the Chief Inspector. The Chief Inspe ...
8th March 2019Probe of Home Office data sharing reveals plans for new migrant database
A new report from the independent immigration inspector shines new light on how enforcement officials get their hands on data about migrants from other government departments. David Bolt, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, als ...
31st January 2019Home Office fails to carry out nearly half the immigration inspector’s recommendations
Almost half the recommendations made by the independent immigration inspector over the last three years have not been followed by the Home Office, the inspector’s annual report shows. David Bolt’s survey of the 2017/18 financial year says ...
14th June 2018Immigration inspector: Right to Rent scheme not being properly monitored or evaluated
Government measures aimed at stopping irregular migrants from renting a home are not being properly evaluated, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration has found. The controversial Right to Rent scheme is “yet to demonstrate it ...
28th March 2018Refugees with criminal records are being told it’s safe to go home
Countries are being declared safe for refugees to return to, but only if they have criminal records, a new report by the government’s immigration inspector suggests. The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, David Bolt, found t ...
31st January 2018Fundamental problems with asylum country of origin information, Chief Inspector Bolt finds
The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration has urged the Home Office to fundamentally overhaul the country of origin information it gives to officials making asylum decisions. David Bolt’s latest report, published today, says tha ...
30th January 2018Hostile environment backfiring on the Home Office, Chief Inspector finds
The hostile environment policy is making it more difficult for the Home Office to keep track of foreign national offenders and could even push up crime, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration has said. David Bolt’s inspection ...
2nd November 2017Home Office inspectors release series of reports: highlights for lawyers
For some reason the Home Office has just released a swathe of inspection reports into a wide range of Home Office operations. In practical terms, this makes it impossible for the press to pick out more than one or two stories from the reports and it t ...
14th July 2017Border Force needs to ‘up their game’ on slavery
According to estimates, there are 10,000-13,000 victims of modern slavery living in the UK. In order to tackle this problem, the UK government operates a Modern Slavery Strategy, and the Border Force plays its part by identifying potential victims, an ...
3rd February 2017Chief inspector criticises Home Office handling of sham marriage cases
The Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration has published a new report on the Home Office approach to sham marriages. The report is critical of the change in approach brought about by new powers conferred on officials by the Immigration Act 2014: T ...
21st December 2016Inspection report on “hostile environment” finds hundreds wrongly denied services
The Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, David Bolt, has published five new inspection reports. The most interesting is on the “hostile environment”, specifically the powers to deny driving licences and bank accounts to migrants unl ...
14th October 2016Chief Inspector highly critical of Home Office internal review process
The Immigration Act 2014 removed rights of appeal to an independent judge against refusal of many immigration decisions, replacing appeals with a system of internal review within the Home Office. It is called Administrative Review. The Chief Insp ...
26th May 2016The Drooling Hounds of Manchester Airport
If you are planning to return from the continent with a little illicit saucisson and brie, then beware of the dogs at Manchester Airport. According to David Bolt, the independent chief inspector of Borders and Immigration, the Border Force detector do ...
18th April 2016