UK and Philippine governments tackle visa fraud

A deal signed this week by the British Ambassador to the Philippines Stephen Lillie in conjunction with the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) will enact a system that aims to eliminate the ongoing issue of fraud that it associated with UK visa applications.

The agreement will see staff at the British Embassy now able to access bank records via an automated verification system to confirm whether the bank account details provided by applicants are in fact authentic. The automated system, currently employed by the technology firm Philippines Online, utilises four layers of information verification in addition to two separate firewalls.

International group executive for the UK Border Agency Ed Mackie claimed that the new system will allow greater detection of people seeking to cheat the immigration system through providing false bank account details. The UKBA has argued that the practice of fraudulent documentation in visa applications received in the Philippines has been on the increase of late.

Statistics show a slightly different story, with last year’s fraudulent applications numbering 575 compared to a high of 657 in 2007, although the ongoing crackdown on immigration to the UK is thought to be the main reason for the decline.

An Embassy spokesperson in Manila has said that in 2009 there have been 700 cases of fraud found, with 175 of them linked to false bank records. This year has also seen a record number of applications for UK visas in the Philippines with over 4,500 received so far.