Thousands of foreign prisoners due for deportation have been released
into the community without being tagged, Theresa May has admitted,
leaving the door wide open for their abscondment. In a letter sent
while she was Home Secretary, Mrs May admitted that fewer than one in
ten were being monitored.


The letter, sent last month to Keith Vaz, chair of the Home Affairs
Select Committee while Mrs May was still Home Secretary, revealed that
all of the offenders were "subject to ongoing deportation action." Mrs
May added: "We do not give up trying to deport these
individuals."


However, she confirmed that just 493 out of 5,789 "foreign national
offenders" released from prisons into the community had been issued
with "radio-frequency tags" to enable police to monitor them, the
Telegraph has reported.


In 2007 the government was forced to hand out compensation to foreign
prisoners who were held beyond the end of their sentence while
deportation orders were considered. Consequently the authorities now
release the prisoners back into the community to await deportation
proceeds.


But the pace of deportations is currently laboriously slow, with as
few as 102 foreign nationals being deported over the 16 months between
February 2015 and June 2016, down from a peak rate of 5,613 in
2008/09. There are currently around 10,000 foreign national prisoners
in British jails.


Mrs May said she hoped the rate would improve "as new practices and
procedures become established across Europe".


The figures hark back to a 2006 scandal in which it emerged that 1,013
foreign national prisoners had been released into the community
without efforts made to keep tabs on them. The scale of outcry over
that revelation caused the then Home Secretary Charles Clarke to lose
his job.


But in her letter, Mrs May

admitted that ten years on, 26 of the
original 1,013 foreign offenders were still unaccounted for.


Mr Vaz said: "The utter failure to improve the management and removal
of foreign national offenders has been lamentable.


"Despite firm commitments to improve, and a massive ten-fold increase
in resources, the system appears to be totally dysfunctional.


"It is simply unacceptable that our allies in Europe and elsewhere are
seemingly obstructing the transfer of their citizens, who have
committed serious offences, back to their own countries.


"Regardless of Brexit, until the UK leaves the EU, the commitments
made by Member-states must be honoured.


He added that with fewer than 10 percent of offenders tagged, there
was a "clear risk of absconding.
"Given that 26 of the foreign national offenders who went missing when
Charles Clarke was Home Secretary are still missing, one can only fear
that the Home Office has not learnt any lessons from its past
failures," he concluded.


In January last year, the Committee of Public Accounts found that
close to £1 billion had been spend on thousands of foreign criminals
in the UK in the year between April 2013 and March 2015.


It noted findings by the National Audit Office that One in six – or
760 out of 4,200 – foreign national offenders (FNOs) living in the
community had absconded. The figure included 58 "high harm"
individuals missing since 2010.


It was also revealed that the Home Office had been forced to pay out
£6.2 million in compensation payments to 229 foreign national
offenders, thanks to delays in dealing with cases since April 2012.
The offenders were handed an average of £27,000 each. V.1672

One of the highlighted topics: Critical Skills Visa.

- Key Insight: Is your profession on the Critical Skills List? This visa is your fast track to working in South Afr...
- This matter relates to critical skills visa and its broader implications.
- Individuals are advised to seek professional guidance.

Is your profession on the Critical Skills List? This visa is your fast trac V.6139
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One of the applicants, Phindile Mazibuko, became a victim of identity theft in 2012 when fraudulent transactions occurred, using her personal details.

-The Pretoria High Court found that the department of home affairs had violated constitutional rights without due process.
-Only half of Lawyers for Human Rights` test group has been unblocked, while 385 000 identities remain blocked nationwide.
-LHR appeals extension, urges affected people to seek help now.

Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) are intensifying pressure on the department of home affairs over the national ID-blocking crisis, accusing the state of acting too slowly to unblock qualifying individuals despite a landmark court ruling.

In January last year, the Pretoria High Court found that the department`s practice of blocking IDs without due process was unlawful and unconstitutional. One of the applicants, Phindile Mazibuko, a Swati citizen and South African permanent resident since 1998, fell victim to identity theft in 2012 when fraudsters used her personal details.

 V.6133
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The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

What does this mean for travelers? V.6128
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The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

What does this mean for travelers? V.6129
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A Washington state mother and her 6-year-old son have been released after spending more than three weeks in US immigration detention due to a brief trip to Canada and a small paperwork mistake, her attorney told CNN on Saturday.

Sarah Shaw, a New Zealand citizen who has lived legally in the US since she arrived in 2021, was detained at the Blaine, Washington, Customs and Border Protection checkpoint when returning home after dropping her two oldest children off at the Vancouver airport for a flight to visit their grandparents in New Zealand. Shaw, 33, chose the flight out of Vancouver because it was direct and she didn`t want her children to have to navigate a layover alone, her attorney Minda Thorward, told CNN.

 V.6130
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On 22 July 2025, the Gauteng High Court dismissed Sitrusrand Boerdery`s review of the Department of Employment and Labour`s refusal to issue a Working Conditions and Salary Benchmarking Certificate, an essential precondition for obtaining corporate visas under the Immigration Act.

Acting Judge Kekana AJ held that the Department`s decision was lawful, rational and procedurally fair. This judgment illustrates how businesses can - and must - structure their corporate visa applications to meet statutory requirements, and how legal practitioners should prepare robust review challenges when administrative authorities decline to recommend foreign-work permits.

 V.6131
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The United States could forfeit an estimated 9.4 billion dollars in visitor spending over the next three years following the introduction of a new 250 dollars `visa integrity fee,` according to industry groups, who warn the policy risks undermining tourism and costing thousands of jobs.
The United States’ decision to introduce a 250 dollars `visa integrity fee` on international visitors has triggered sharp criticism from the global tourism industry, with officials warning that the measure could deter millions of travellers and cost the U.S. economy billions.
The 250dollar `visa integrity fee,` part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed on July 4, 2025, will take effect later this year. According to immigration law firm Envoy Global, it applies to all nonimmigrant visa holders which include students, tourists, temporary workers, and business visitors particularly from African countries. V.6132
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The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

What does this mean for travelers? V.6127
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1. Right to Legal Representation•You have the right to consult with a legal representative.•Contact an immigration practitioner, legal aid clinic, or attorney urgently.•Do not sign any documents without understanding them fully. 2. Section 34 of the Immigration Act•You must be brought to court with 48 hours to confirm arrest but you can remain locked up very long as courts figure out what to do with you •If you`re found to be illegally in South Africa, you may be detained for up to 30 days (extendable by a magistrate) pending deportation.•BUT this cannot happen arbitrarily. You must be informed of your rights, and Home Affairs must follow due process.- becomes a nightmare , you could lose your job , business , place to stay V.6121
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Driving for Bolt, Uber, Mr D, or Checkers Sixty60?If you`re undocumented, you`re risking more than just your income.The Risks if You`re Not Legal: - Vehicle impoundment - Heavy fines - Arrest & deportation - Permanent bans from working in SA V.6122
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