259
Immigration
[Mr. Whitelaw.]
4 DECEMBER 1979
Where those relatives would otherwise be uncared for, that is another matter. Parents and grandparents under 65, and more distant relatives, will not qualify for entry save in the most exceptional com- passionate circumstances.
Mr. Douglas-Mann: Will the Home Secretary give way?
Mr. Whitelaw: No. I have given way. I am trying to get on. The hon. Mem- ber for Mitcham and Morden (Mr. Douglas-Mann) can raise his point in debate and it will be answered by the Minister of State.
Mrs. Renée Short (Wolverhampton, North-East): The right hon. Gentleman is dodging.
Mr. Whitelaw: I am not dodging any- thing. I have said that I shall not give way.
A number of other changes in the rules are designed to make it more diffi- cult for people who come here for tem- porary purposes to prolong their stay with the object of achieving settlement or of going to ground and evading the con- trol altogether. Anyone who has been concerned with the operation of the immi- gration control knows that there is a con- stant and massive pressure against that control by people, not just from the Indian Sub-Continent but from all over the world, who wish to work and settle here. We cannot ignore the possibility that changing circumstances in any part of the world may create new pressures, or encourage people here on a temporary footing to put off their departure. This requires, and receives, our constant vigilance.
Evasion of the control may take the form of illegal entry or of overstaying, but the rules are very relevant to the problem of overstaying, to which the right hon. Member for Leeds, South (Mr. Rees) rightly drew attention after my statement on 14 November.
Under the previous Administration a special survey
was authorised in an attempt to discover the extent of over- staying.
I understand that the survey ran into serious difficultics. Briefly, the problems in accurately matching the very large num- ber of landing and embarkation cards
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261
Immigration made it impossible to arrive at estimates of overstaying which were subject to acceptable margins of error. Because of the margins of error, the survey does not enable any reliable estimate to be made of the number of overstayers, as defined for the purpose of the survey.
The previous Government announced in their White Paper last year that plans to provide computer support for the system of checking on departures were brought to completion and should do well advanced. Those plans will be much to meet the problems. Meanwhile, some useful general conclusions can be drawn.
Secondly,
First, the survey shows that we have reason to be concerned about the effective- ness of our present measures. The survey indicates that overstaying occurs to an extent which justifies the further develop- ment of means to tackle it. the survey shows that it is unrealistic to expect every potential overstayer to be identified on examination at ports of remains a prerequisite for effective con- entry. While an effective control on entry trol as a whole, for those who enter and overstay effective after-entry measures are necessary. To the extent that its re- sources allow, the Home Office-with the immigration service-is improving the means of following up cases of overstay- ing, frequently with the help and co- operation of the police.
Thirdly, important lessons have been learned about the use and handling of landing and embarkation cards. barkation of passengers as effective as To make the selective checks on the em- possible the number of cards which are currently being collected is being reduced. Fourthly, we have been able to take account of the problems of overstaying Immigration Rules. when preparing the proposed
new
A frequent abuse is by the passenger who claims to be coming here for a temporary purpose when his real inten- tion is to prepare the way for settlement. The new rules will make this much more difficult. Visitors and students will not be able to remain for another temporary of eventual settlement. purpose if this carries with it the prospect prohibited from taking employment. Visitors will be There will be a time limit of one year on any visit. It follows that in future
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