The Home Office minister for immigration and asylum, Liam Byrne, recently announced a new points-based system for immigrants that will come in to effect some time during 2008. This is the start of a five-year plan announced by the previous home secretary Charles Clarke and follows a massive restructuring of the Home Office and formation of a new Ministry of Justice following current Home Secretary John Reid’s assertion that the Home Office was not “fit for purpose”.
The new system is intended to kill two birds with one stone. Firstly, it is intended to simplify the number of possible routes of entry into the UK. Secondly, it is intended to make the tracking (or at least recording initial entry) of immigrants less of a lottery.
