The British Embassy’s Charge d’ Affaires Colin Crorkin (left) with James Sharp, the UK Border Agency’s Regional Director for Asia Pacific and Alexander Ajit, VP and head of VFS Global North & South East Asia during the inauguration of the new office of the UK Visa Application Centre (UK VAC)
Filipino skilled workers in the United Kingdom who are applying for UK citizenship may be allowed to return to their home countries for a period of time without interfering with their path to citizenship, if the UK Government will implement an action plan for its migration policies.
The UK Government launched early this week a joint publication by the UK Border Agency and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office entitled “International Challenges, International solutions; Managing the movement of people and goods,” an international action plan to strengthen the UK’s partnerships with agencies of other countries to further improve its migration policies.
“We want our migration policies to benefit not only the UK but also the source countries, particularly the developing countries such as the Philippines. We have proposed a plan to allow the source countries a chance to benefit from its skilled workers through “circular migration” which will basically allow workers applying for citizenship to return to their source country and use their skills and expertise to benefit their source country. That way, they will have a chance to take what they learned while working in the UK and bring back their new skills to benefit their source country before they return to the UK to continue their path to citizenship,” explained James Sharp, the UK Border Agency’s Regional Director for Asia Pacific.
“There are between 200,000-300,000 Filipinos in the UK today, many of whom are employed in the health care sector. It would be beneficial for the Philippines if [Filipino] nurses and doctors working in the UK would be allowed to go back to the Philippines for a number of years without affecting their application for UK citizenship,” Sharp added.
The action plan launched in the UK early this week also seeks to strengthen data-sharing and intelligence with enforcement agencies abroad to fight international criminals and intensify the UK Government’s campaign against the submission of fraudulent and forged documents to support visa applications.
The UKBA reported that an increasing number of UK visa applicants from the Philippines who submit or are advised to submit fake or forged documents by unscrupulous agents and recruiters are already being intercepted and have been turned over to the local authorities.
The UK Government has an ongoing referral programme with the National Bureau of Investigation – Interpol Division to stop this illegal practice. “The Philippine authorities have already arrested many individuals who were caught submitting fraudulent and forged documents,” said Sharp. The UK Border Agency has just concluded its Philippine campaign against visa fraud and forgery.
Sharp added that the UKBA forged a partnership with the Bankers Association of the Philippines to make it easier to verify the authenticity of bank documents of visa applicants. Banking documentation fraud forms 21% of all fraud encountered with Philippine applications.
Sharp came to Manila yesterday to attend the opening of the new location of the UK Visa Application Centre (UK VAC), where he and British Embassy Chargé d’ Affaires Colin Crorkin were the guests of honour. The new UK VAC is located at Unit 606, 6th Floor, 2305 Chino Roces Avenue Extension, Makati City.
The newer, better-equipped UK VAC office is just one of the many changes that the UK Government has implemented primarily through the UK Border Agency (UKBA) and its partners in its efforts to streamline and improve its immigration policies and services, as well as handling the increased in visa applications.
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