UNITED KINGDOM
The UK Home Office is to form a taskforce to review immigration cases where people have been wrongly compelled to undergo DNA testing to support visa applications.
Home Secretary, Sajid Javid (pictured) also promised a wider review to ensure immigration cases were handled fairly in future.
Mr Javid was forced to apologise after it emerged that the Home Office had illegally rejected some visa applications because applicants had refused to provide a DNA sample.
Legally, a DNA sample can be used to support an immigration application but cannot be a requirement.
However, an independent review published by the Home Office found samples had been “improperly required” in some visa and permanent residence applications, and that some applications had been rejected as a result.
The review, led by Director of the Department’s Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism, Richard Alcock, said it was impossible to quantify how many applicants had been told they were required to provide DNA.
Mr Javid told the House of Commons it was unacceptable that this had happened and pledged to “get to the bottom of what has gone on in relation to DNA evidence”.
He said the taskforce would provide advice and support for people who felt their immigration application might have been influenced by a demand for DNA testing.
“Individuals who have suffered financially because they were wrongly asked for a DNA sample will receive compensation,” Mr Javid said.
The announcement was reminiscent of the taskforce set up in April to deal with cases in which members of the so-called Windrush Generation had been wrongly deported, detained or refused visas.
Mr Javid said officials had been instructed that they must never again make DNA testing a requirement in immigration cases.
He also said he would carry out a broader review to ensure the way the immigration system operated was fair and humane.
London, 28 October 2018
