Brexit: Home Office may be forced to hire European workers to register EU nationals

Stretched caseworkers would have to look after 3,500 applications each from EU nationals if staffing levels do not increase, immigration lawyers say

The report also demands better criminal and security checks at borders (PA)

The Home Office may have to recruit workers from the European Union to help with Brexit preparations as reported staffing problems cast doubt on its ability to cope with plans to register EU nationals.

Immigration lawyers questioned whether the Home Office has the resources to deliver Theresa May's plan to register the three million EU nationals living in Britain, which would leave caseworkers responsible for 1,500 cases each, according to The Guardian.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd has previously told MPs that 700 additional immigration caseworkers have been recruited to work on EU cases and another 500 will be in place by April to cope with the volume of applications from EU nationals.

However the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA), in written evidence to the Home Affairs select committee, said visa and immigration officials had admitted to "problems with growing its staffing capacity" as well as issues "enticing staff to move to Sheffield", a major hub for visa processing.

The Home Office said European work was carried out at its hub in Liverpool, rather than Sheffield, where it had no issues with recruitment, but acknowledged the jobs were not 'UK-restricted' so open to European workers.

Describing a meeting at the Home Office, ILPA said: "During this meeting, ILPA learnt that an additional 200 staff had been recruited to the area of the department that deals with applications by EEA nationals.

"It was acknowledged by the Home Office representatives, however, that this phase of upscaling was a reaction to the dramatic increase in the number of permanent residence (PR) applications made following the EU referendum.

"Thus, it was reactionary rather than preparatory, with the Home Office representatives noting that there will need to be significant further investment to deal with post-Brexit registration of EEA nationals currently living in the UK."

ILPA also warned that the Border Force would need significantly higher staffing levels if EU nationals had to join 'rest of the world' queues after Brexit, to avoid “unprecedented hold-ups that could damage the UK’s reputation on a global level”.

It comes as Immigration Minister Brandon Lewis was due to appear before the Commons committee on Tuesday, where he will face a grilling on the impact of Brexit on the border and future immigration plans.

The committee previously heard warnings from a senior immigration enforcement boss, who said MPs that officials would struggle to cope without more resources, resulting in backlogs or the need to bring in staff from other departments.

David Wood, who was director general of immigration enforcement at the Home Office until 2015, said: “I don’t think they can cope with it.

"Right across the immigration system - I don’t think it’s ever been greatly well resourced - it’s becoming tighter and tighter and budgets are getting reduced and reduced.

“So I don’t think under current resources that that challenge of Brexit can be met and certainly not met smoothly. There’s no doubt in my mind of that.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “UK Visas and Immigration continues to perform efficiently and to high standards despite increasing demand for visas and immigration documents thanks to the increased digitisation of our processes.

“The Home Office recruits on merit, not nationality, and we strive to have a workforce that is reflective of the public we serve.

"We’ve been clear that we want EU citizens living in the UK to stay and to continue playing their important part in our culture, communities and companies, including here at the Home Office.

“Applying for settled status will be a streamlined, low-cost, digital process and we will have the workforce required to continue delivering a high-quality service for customers.”