Report faults UK’s visa staff in Nairobi

British border agency staff who process visa applications from Nairobi and a number of other African capitals to the UK have been criticised for their methods in a new report.

While the UK Border Agency staff in Nairobi receive some praise for their performance in meeting targets for applications and in the way in which they work with Kenyan staff, the report from the Chief Inspector to the agency, John Vine, found a number of problems including dealing with complaints and processing complex cases involving DNA testing.

Among the criticisms levelled in the report were claims that the Nairobi Visa Section had “manipulated its performance” in relation to the agency’s customer service standards.

Long delays
It also found that there were “long delays in getting the results in cases where DNA testing was required”.

The report also found that some visa applications were turned down “on the basis that the applicant had failed to submit information they would not have known to submit at the time of application”.

In commenting on complaints over visa applications which were turned down, the report “found some responses to complaints were inadequate”.

Overall, Mr Vine, said many visas were incorrectly rejected after employees “disregarded or misinterpreted” evidence.

In his conclusion the Chief Inspector wrote: “Despite my making recommendations in previous inspections to help the agency improve, I found that little progress had been made in a number of areas. 

“This is especially frustrating considering the agency has accepted the recommendations and yet I continue to identify the same issues.”