Shock at lack of vetting for immigrants from Pakistan

Ministers were accused of a major security lapse when it emerged that British immigration officers in Pakistan interviewed just 29 of the 66,000 people applying for British visas in nine months.

The shockingly small number of checks carried out between last October and June this year led to claims that visas may have been issued to terror suspects and illegal immigrants trying to cheat the system.

In April, 12 Pakistani men were arrested during police raids in in Lancashire acting on intelligence concerning a possible terror plot.

Nearly all the men had obtained student visas in Pakistan.

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said: "This is a quite extraordinary situation. There are very real concerns that the system is being abused by people who have no right to come to the UK.

"And more importantly there are clear security issues, too. Yet it's clear that the checks in our immigration system are wholly inadequate."

The Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, also admitted that no telephone interviews had been conducted with visa applicants by staff in Pakistan or Abu Dhabi, where final checks are made, between October 27 last year, when a new visa system came into force, and the end of May.

There was outrage after the anti-terror raids in the northwest when the Government suggested that in cases where concerns had been raised over applications, interviews by staff in Abu Dhabi and the post in Islamabad were being carried out over the telephone rather than via face-to-face meetings.

The Government introduced the new "hub-and-spoke" system in October last year. Under the system, visa applications from Pakistan and Afghanistan are lodged at local offices that applicants must attend to have their fingerprints taken. Some files are sent on to the visa "hub" in Abu Dhabi for a final decision.

At this point some applicants may be called for an interview. Ministers have said that all applications are security- checked for fraud or forgery by entry clearance officers within Pakistan before being sent for a decision.

According to the new figures, 66,415 visa applications were lodged in Pakistan between October and May 31. It is not known how many of these people came to the UK.

- INDEPENDENT