VISA CHECKS 'INADEQUATE' - TORIES

The introduction of a new system for handling visas means only 11 entry clearance officers have processed more than 66,000 requests over seven months amounting to 43 applications each every day - or one every 11 minutes, the party said.

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said the revelations showed the system was "wholly inadequate" but the Home Office said the calculations were "totally wrong".

Mr Grayling said: "This is yet another extraordinary example of the gap between what the Government is saying and what's really happening on the ground.

"We've had endless rhetoric from ministers in recent months about how they've dramatically tightened the rules for visa applicants from countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan. Now we discover the system is riddled with holes and the checks are wholly inadequate. It's just not good enough."

Between October last year and the end of May, a total of 66,415 applications were processed through the Pakistan office by 11 entry clearance officers and two managers. They are tasked with carrying out fraud checks on supporting documents to make sure applicants and their references are genuine.

Home Office answers to Parliamentary questions from the Tories also revealed no telephone interviews with applicants were carried out over an eight month period.

Documents supporting an application go unchecked in around 20% of cases - meaning around 13,000 were not scrutinised since October, despite Afghanistan and Pakistan being "high risk" countries.

Immigration minister Phil Woolas said: "These calculations are totally wrong and paint a false picture of our decision making process. We have around 200 staff who deal with applications from Pakistan, not 11, and trained officers check 100% of passports submitted with applications in Pakistan.

"No visa would be issued without the application being checked for fraud and forgery."