There has been much publicity over the announcement by Theresa
May that the UKBA is to be no more. The agency is being split in
two parts, one focusing on enforcement and the other on,
essentially, deciding applications by existing and prospective
migrants. Both will be brought back under ministerial control,
ostensibly to make our immigration institutions more accountable.
Can we hear the creak of furniture being moved around or are these
the rumblings of tectonic plates moving towards a more
effective and sustainable basis for the UK's immigration
policy?
The answer, of course, will only be apparent in a number of
years' time. It takes a long time for the effects of
immigration policy to filter down. The decision in the mid nineties
to freeze recruitment in what was then the Immigration and
Nationality Directorate arguably led to the huge backlog in
undecided cases at the beginning of the 2000's. This is a
backlog which has never been properly resolved to date.
