A woman was allowed into the UK to live with a partner she claimed she had met on the internet despite being unable to prove she had ever spoken with them, a new report into UK border control has revealed.
The woman's case is one of a number of examples in a report published today into the UK Border Agency.
The report specifies the case of the woman as an example of the regularity with which decisions are overturned without going to an appeal.
The report says the woman's application to settle in the UK with her partner was initially refused when she was unable to show any contact or communication between the pair.
She was allowed to settle in the UK despite inspectors saying similar applications had been refused and describing the case's credibility as "very weak".
The report also criticised the level of checks performed on UK-based sponsors.
It cited the case of a man who, having overstayed already on one student visa, made a second application to join his spouse in the UK.
In his application he included a character reference from a police officer purporting to be a “detective constable inspector”.
The man was granted permission to settle in the UK by UKBA staff apparently unaware that the rank of the ‘police officer’ cited in his reference does not exist.
Overall the report found that more than three in five decisions to refuse family visas to those wanting to come to the UK from New York were overturned by managers before going to appeal.
John Vine, the chief inspector of the UK Border Agency, said he had "concerns about the lack of transparency in the Agency's inconsistent approach to evidential requirements".
"It is imperative that the agency ensures its staff adopts a 'right first time' approach and makes correct and robust decisions" he said.
"I found a high percentage of cases where the original decisions were overturned before cases were allowed to proceed to appeal.
"This concerned me, as the agency had not conducted any analysis to establish whether or not the original decision had been correctly made".
