The UK Government will introduce new passport fees for all applications on 2 February 2023, the first time in 5 years that the cost of applying for a passport has increased.
The proposals, which are subject to Parliamentary scrutiny, will include the following:
the fee for a standard online application made from within the UK will rise from £75.50 to £82.50 for adults and £49 to £53.50 for children
postal applications will increase from £85 to £93 for adults and £58.50 to £64 for children
priority service fees are being aligned so all customers will pay the same
The new fees will help the Home Office move towards a system that meets its costs through those who use it, reducing reliance on funding from general taxation. The government does not make any profit from the cost of passport applications.
The fees will also contribute to the cost of processing passport applications, consular support overseas, including for lost or stolen passports, and the cost of processing British citizens at UK borders. The increase will also help enable the government to continue improving its services.
The new fees include those newly applying or renewing their passport.
Since January last year, over 95% of standard applications have been processed within 10 weeks and customers are advised that they should apply in good time before travelling.
Two people have been sentenced for recruiting drivers to smuggle migrants in vans
Two men who dangerously smuggled 31 illegal migrants into the UK, including seven children and a pregnant woman, have been sentenced to a combined 14 years in prison.
Akan Brayan, of Nottingham, and Dylan Shwani, of Lincoln, were found guilty of recruiting drivers to hide migrants in hired vans containing various goods before smuggling them into the UK.
The defendants, both aged 37, were sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court yesterday (7 June, 2022) following a five-year investigation by the Home Office’s Criminal and Financial Investigations (CFI) unit.
They were each sentenced to seven years in prison.
Between 2016 and 2018, Brayan and Shwani, paid six drivers from the Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire areas to bring 31 Iraqi migrants, on six separate occasions, into the country.
Although the majority of the migrants were men, children as young as one and a pregnant woman were also found in the vans.
People were crammed into the vehicles among stacks of tyres, second-hand furniture and household goods being transported to the UK. Photos show in one of the vans a woman cradling a small child, with other children sat around her in the tightly enclosed space.
CFI teams found boxes of goods deliberately placed to hide people as well as paprika on the floor of one of the vans in an attempt to confuse sniffer dogs from detecting the migrants’ scents.
Minister for Justice and Tackling Illegal Migration, Tom Pursglove MP said: “These brazen attempts to smuggle illegal migrants, including very young children, into the UK in tiny, air-tight spaces with room to barely move, are despicable.
“Our expertly trained officers continue to work round the clock to prevent this illegal activity, which puts lives in extreme danger.
“The Nationality and Borders Act will make it easier to prosecute people smugglers and, by making it a criminal offence to arrive in the UK illegally, we can truly break the business models of these callous criminals.”
Ben Thomas, Deputy Director for Immigration Enforcement’s Criminal and Financial Investigations, said: “My team work tirelessly to bring to justice anyone attempting to smuggle people unlawfully into the country.
“These two evil men endangered the lives of people, including children, to line their pockets without a care in the world for their safety. I hope these sentencings send a powerful message that breaking the law and putting individuals’ lives at risk will not go unpunished.”
Eleven people have been arrested in relation to illegally facilitating migrant crossings of the Channel
Eleven people have been arrested in relation to illegally facilitating migrant crossings of the Channel.
The joint operation took place in a number of locations last week (Tuesday 21 July) and was led by Immigration Enforcement Criminal and Financial Investigations. The operation, which was conducted in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police, the National Crime Agency (NCA), Border Force and French law enforcement counterparts, was into organised immigration crime.
During the searches £150,000 cash was discovered and 2 vehicles were seized from the premises.
Those arrested are suspected of being members of an organised crime group that are enabling the facilitation of illegal migrants using small boats between France and the UK.
They were allegedly engaged in the movement of funds to support the illegal crossings and promoting the illegal entry of migrants into the UK, these arrests will significantly disrupt this activity.
Ten individuals arrested on Tuesday 21 July were taken to Wembley Police Station and released under investigation pending further enquiries. Another individual was arrested on Thursday 23 July. 12 properties were raided, 11 of which were in London and one in Sheffield.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “I will not tolerate ruthless criminals looking to break to law by smuggling people into the UK illegally.
“I will put whatever resource is necessary to dismantle these gangs and stop these dangerous crossings, including going after the groups financing these criminal operations.
“This is a clear message to those behind these reckless crossings. We will find you and we will stop at nothing to put you behind bars and strip you of your ill-gotten gains”.
Minister for Immigration Compliance and the Courts Chris Philp, who attended the raid, said: “This action shows that we have the intelligence and capability to track down anyone involved in people trafficking. Through this operation we have hit them where it hurts – their pockets.
“We will stop at nothing to stop these dangerous and illegal Channel crossings and to make sure the criminals behind them are locked up and their assets are stripped.”
The arrests mark the culmination of months of intelligence sharing and collaborative working between UK and French law enforcement agencies into the organised criminal gangs facilitating immigration crime.
Matthew Long, NCA Deputy Director, said: “People smuggling gangs treat migrants as a commodity to be profited from, with no thought for their safety and security. This can have tragic consequences as we’ve sadly seen.
“Tackling this crime type and protecting life are priorities for us. We are working as one team with partners such as Immigration Enforcement, Border Force and policing. NCA officers in the UK deployed on this operation and our teams based in France also contributed. This is how we need to tackle this threat, using our international network, day in, day out.
“We have a shared determination to disrupt and dismantle organised immigration crime networks, and this operation is an example of that co-operation in action. Those who profit from misery should be ready to be brought to justice.”
Priti Patel met the new French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin on Sunday 12 July to discuss how the French and UK governments can do more to tackle illegally-facilitated Channel crossings by small boats.
Through a Declaration of Intent, it was agreed that a Franco-British Operational Research Unit to combat migrant smuggling will be established.
The new unit will collate, centralise and analyse operational intelligence to prevent crossings from taking place and to dismantle the gangs behind them.
The Home Office has announced that there have been more than 135,000 applications to the EU Settlement Scheme from Scotland.
According to newly released official statistics up to the end of December 2019,
The top four nationalities in Scotland are Polish (47,160), Italian (11,000), Romanian (10,850) and Spanish (9,210).
The EU Settlement Scheme is designed to make it straightforward for EU citizens and their family members to stay after the UK leaves the EU – guaranteeing their rights in UK law.
To apply they only need to complete three key steps – prove their identity, show that they live in the UK and declare any criminal convictions.
Security Minister Brandon Lewis said: “It’s brilliant that there have been more than 135,000 applications to the EU Settlement Scheme from Scotland.
“EU citizens are an integral part of our society, culture and community and the scheme guarantees their rights in UK law. It’s free, straightforward and I encourage all EU citizens living in Scotland to apply today.”
Internal figures show that there have been more than three million applications to the scheme less than a year since it was fully launched to the public.
A wide range of support is available online, over the phone and in person to help EU citizens apply. There are more than 1,500 Home Office staff working on the EU Settlement Scheme with 250 based in Liverpool at the Settlement Resolution Centre supporting applicants with any questions about the scheme or who need help applying.
There are also more than 50 voluntary and community sector organisations – funded by the Home Office – which have helped hundreds of thousands of vulnerable EU citizens including the homeless, the elderly and victims of domestic abuse. This includes Community Renewal Trust, Simon Community Scotland and the Scottish Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux based in Scotland.
One of these organisations is PKAVS, who are supporting EU citizens in Perth and Kinross to apply to the scheme. On Thursday 6 February 2020, PKAVS are hosting a community event where representatives from the Home Office, Perth & Kinross Council, Perth Citizens Advice Bureau and the Ethnic Minorities Law Centre can answer the local community’s questions about the scheme.
Paul Graham, Chief Executive of PKAVS said: “We are pleased to be working with the Home Office to support vulnerable people in Perth and Kinross with their applications to the EU Settlement Scheme.
“We have helped approximately 900 people since Summer 2019 through our free helpline, our events programme, and individual support for those who need it most.”
The tweet alerts travellers to bring birth or adoption certificates to the airport or ferry terminal if they children have a different surname to the adults they are travelling with.Continue reading Home Office travel tweet causes outrage
