The Home Office has admitted it will retrain an immigration officer at Heathrow airport who harassed an Indian migrant worker returning from holiday.

Contrary to public perceptions, a UK Minister of Parliament has stated that the number of highly skilled migrants entering the United Kingdom will increase because the new scheme has no quota.

The British government said it will not tolerate any violation of non-discriminatory border control principles after campaigners from the HSMP Forum complained of ‘humiliation, harassment and abuse’ of legal migrants by airport immigration officers.

There is a “hidden risk” for those who are thinking of applying for an extension of leave under Tier 1 of the Points-Based System from outside the UK.

A new hi-tech centre for e-Borders will be based in Manchester, and by 2010 staff there will monitor almost every foreign passenger travelling in and out of Britain.

The Home Office is launching a consultation on the proposal to reform the immigration appeals system. The reform aims at making the appeals system faster and final, with decisions that are not litigated over in the higher courts.

As a result of the changes to HSMP being ruled illegal by the High Court, the Home Office has published arrangements to deal with the affected parties. These measures apply only to those who joined the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme before 7 November 2006.