No exit record of 600,000 overseas nationals who should have left UK

The Home Office has no record of the departure of more than 600,000 overseas nationals who should have left the UK, an inspection report reveals.

In a highly critical assessment, the immigration watchdog revealed the figure as he accused the department of "over-promising" when setting out plans for exit checks.

Rolled out in 2015, the Government has repeatedly trumpeted the scheme, claiming it will give a much clearer picture of movements across Britain's borders.

But a review published on Wednesday flagged up a catalogue of shortcomings that have blighted the programme.

As of the end of August, there were around 10 million individuals recorded on a Home Office system whose last period of leave to be in the UK expired in the preceding two years.

Of those, the database contained no evidence of departure for 601,222.

This figure includes 513,088 "non-visa nationals", citizens from non-EU countries where there is no requirement to obtain a visa prior to travelling to the UK as a visitor and who are typically granted entry for a period of six months.

The remaining 88,134 individuals are "visa nationals", those from countries outside the EU who must obtain a visa prior to coming to Britain.

The Home Office told inspectors that where no evidence of departure was found, this is not confirmation that an individual remains in the country, only that they have not been matched to a departure record.

As at the end of March last year, no attempt had been made to contact any of the non-visa nationals for whom there was no record of departure, according to the report from Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration David Bolt.

It also detailed how:

- The operational value of data from a system created as part of the exit check programme was "severely hamstrung".

- Tens of thousands of Chinese nationals initially identified as possibly remaining beyond their visas were found to have returned to their home country.

- Home Office staff spoke openly to inspectors about their lack of confidence in the system, with one saying: "We were certainly mis-sold the programme".

- Representatives from the travel industry lamented the planning and execution of exit checks as "shambolic".

- In response to a query from a check-in agent about a person attempting to depart the UK using an expired passport, the Home Office said: "It's up to you."

- Police warned that carriers regularly submitted data too late for law enforcement to take any immediate action.

- Of 50 "hits" for "persons of interest" departing the UK via Eurostar over a 10-month period, law enforcement was able to intercept only four individuals as the travel data was not transmitted until after the train had left.

- Some larger groups travelling on privately chartered flights were not recorded on departure - including four football teams and the entire staff of two Gulf ruling families.

Mr Bolt said: "Overall, the sense was that the Home Office had over-promised when setting out its plans for exit checks.

"The Home Office needed to be more careful about presenting exit checks as the answer to managing the illegal migrant population, which for now remained wishful thinking."

Government documents have repeatedly flagged up the "operational uses and benefits" of the checks, which were introduced to track the departure from Britain of more than 130 million air, rail and ferry travellers.

A Home Office spokesman said: "Exit checks are helping us focus operational activity better on those people who do not comply with our immigration rules.

"Information gathered has also been invaluable to the police and security services who have used it to help track known criminals and terrorists, supporting wider work taking place across government and law enforcement."

The department acknowledged that "more work can be done to realise the full operational potential of data collected".

Statistics for the first full year of exit checks data collection showed that for visa holders whose visas or extensions expired in 2016/17 without them being granted an extension to stay longer in the UK, the vast majority (96.3%) departed in time, the Home Office added.

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