Attempt at Immigration Harmony in the UK

In an attempt to harmonize European Union immigration policy issues, Spain and France met today to discuss policy proposal.

A series of measures to control clandestine immigration have been drawn up and are being revised according to Diego Lopez Garrido, Spain's new Secretary of State for the EU. Miguel Angel Moratinos, Spanish Foreign Minister, reportedly unveiled the existence of such talks Wednesday in an interview with the French daily newspaper Le Monde.

Moratinos says that Spain and France are working together to propose a European pact on immigration covering controls, influx management and policies aimed at eliminating the structural causes of irregular immigration.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has spoken out against broad amnesties being declared unilaterally by EU countries such as Spain. He argues that the bloc's open borders mean a single state's policy affects it as a whole.

After being re-elected in a general election last month, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero granted amnesty for approximately 600,000 illegal immigrants in 2005 and is currently facing pressure to restrict such actions as the economy cools.

In related news, UK Border Agency manages 146 visa sections around the world in UK embassies, high commissions and consulates. The visa operation is self-funding through the collection of visa fees.

Reported total income from visa fees in 2006/7 was £190 million.

In 2006/7 the UK Border Agency handled 2.75 million applications, 8% more than in 2005/6. Of these 66% were processed within 24 hours.

The agency extended the coverage of the website visa4UK, their on-line application system to 80 countries. The service is currently available in all countries.