Britain may be home to 181,000 illegal migrants

The UK Border Agency estimate showed it does not do enough work to check that migrants leave the UK if they have no right to remain, the National Audit Office said.

But Immigration Minister Damian Green said the report showed exactly why radical reforms to the UK’s immigration system were needed.

The auditors found migrants and employers could exploit the points-based system for visas because the border agency failed to check the risks posed by key features of the process. They called for the agency to “give greater priority to ensuring that migrants leave when they should” and said it should set national targets to tackle those who overstay their visas.

“The agency estimates there may be up to 181,000 migrants in the UK of all visa types whose permission to remain has expired since December 2008,” the NAO said. Public Accounts Committee chairman Margaret Hodge said that after the agency refused extensions to visas it could not guarantee that people actually left the country.

It left it up to employers to police their own employees.