Friday, June 3 2005 20:38 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: British immigration staff based in India have been following an 'illegal policy' of barring young and single boys and girls from entering the UK on the presumption that they would get married and settle down in the Country, an independent watchdog monitoring the work of UK visas has revealed.

Jamaican singles also face the problem, according to a report submitted to the British Foreign Secretary Charles Clarke by the immigration lawyer Fiona Lindsley.

"It is no more than an illegal attempt to limit the opportunities for Indians and Jamaicans to meet British citizens as it might lead to marriage," Lindsley said in the report, recommending that such practice should be stopped immediately.

Lindsley, whose report covered the operation of the visa system in 2003, also revealed that the refusal rate for applications has soared from 6.5 per cent four years ago to more than 15 per cent in 2003 out of 2 million applications.

She disclosed that 28,000 people who tried to come to Britain as family visitors or students were unlawfully denied the right to appeal against refusal decisions.

She said this is the result of the misinterpretation of simple, objective rules about the length of student courses and named family relationships.